Radio KZSO coming soon to Sisters

This fall a group of student volunteers plan to start Radio Station KZSO. The radio station will be located at Sisters High School in a room close to the gymnasium.

Amanda Sarles, who will be a senior next year, is slated to be the station manager. Business teacher Bill Blevins will act as the faculty advisor and there will be an advisory committee made up of community members.

“Planning for this radio station has been in process since 2000,” said Sarles. “We finally managed to have space for it in our new building. It’s said the radio station will have the possibility of reaching a three- to seven-mile radius around Sisters.”

KZSO will operate 24 hours, seven days a week, run entirely by student volunteers. The station will run in part through the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) class that will be a new offering next fall. Students will receive a credit for class depending on their participation level in the radio station project.

Sarles told The Nugget that plans are to get four students to cover high school sports activities, including football, volleyball and soccer in the fall. It has yet to be determined whether an entire game or just segments of a game will be broadcast.

“And of course we will be playing a variety of music,” said Sarles. “We plan to broadcast local performances, including student ensembles, choir and band performances, jazz festival, musical drama productions and much more. We plan to broadcast some recordings that would include interviews from the Americana students and their recently recorded CD, entitled “From Note To Tone.” The CD contains original songs written and recorded by students in the Americana project.” (see related story, page 3).

Folk and jazz recordings will also be a part of KZSO’s musical variety and Sarles said that requests will be welcome from the community.

“This is all just in the making and brand new,” Sarles said. “We still have a lot of details to work out but we’re well on our way. We want to involve the community in as many ways as possible. Right now we’re focusing on getting sponsors to support our student-based radio station.”