From left to right: Ruben de Vries, Pim ter Laan, Sven Alkemade and Luwe Groot. Student of Communication & Life Sciences Luwe Groot (22) is on the radio production team. ‘The idea came up during the lockdown in the corona crisis. Ex- WUR spokesperson Simon Vink and the chair of RTV Rijnstreek Ton van Rhoon put out a call for students who fancied making radio programmes for RTV Rijnstreek. All four of us responded to that independently of each other. None of us had any radio experience, but we got very good supervision from the broadcasting company. We had an induction period in April, in May and June we had a trial run with a few programmes, and since September we’ve really got going.’
At the moment, the student DJs broadcast two programmes of two hours: on Mondays and Thursdays from 17.00 to 19.00. Groot: ‘On Monday we start the week with the latest campus news, student affairs and the most attention-grabbing WUR publications. In short: a lot of airtime for current affairs and interviews. On Thursday it’s all about letting off steam towards the end of a busy week of studying. This programme is more informal: we go out on the street, phone up houses that are in quarantine, and try to make it a nice pre-party for Thursday night.’
Radio?
‘We were a little hesitant,’ says Groot. ‘Who listens to the radio nowadays? The young generation is used to consuming a lot of visual media: YouTube, Netflix and the like. But radio is a very special medium. Watching a video, you are very quick to judge someone on their appearance and what you think of it. On the radio, you have to listen to get your own impression of who we are and how we are creating the show. It is much more personal. Take the visuals away and it’s all about the substance, the discussions, the music – and not about the quality of the image or the clickbait that prods you to look. Radio is more authentic.’
The DJs would like to expand their team, says Groot. ‘We’d like to work towards airing Campus Radio every weekday. A woman would be a nice addition to the team.’
Campus Radio is on air on Mondays and Thursdays between 17.00 and 19.00 on 106FM and Ziggo’s and KPN’s cable channels. You can also listen on rtvrijnstreek.nl, where previous shows can be found too.
