Oh! Zone Radio in Taiwan
I just learned about a soon-to-be-launched online radio station in Taiwan called Oh! Zone that will be programmed entirely with foreign content from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. What’s cool to me is that the station is picking and choosing specific programs from college radio stations in an attempt to give students in Taiwan a taste of campus life in other countries. It’s all part of a broader study abroad program, so in a sense is a promotional tool to hype various universities around the world. According to their website it’s also a way for students to hear a variety of English-language accents.
This is all such a revelation to me that college radio could actually be exported in order to provide a glimpse of U.S. college culture.
What sort of picture of a campus does college radio provide? Since college radio’s role on any given campus can vary tremendously, the answer to this is wide-ranging and is dependent upon the specific station and the individual DJ. I’d imagine that sometimes it’s a very accurate depiction and other times not.
Many stations broadcast campus events and sports, regularly host discussions with faculty, and have a high percentage of student DJs. On the other hand, there are college radio stations that seem a bit more disconected from their home universities. They may not air many campus events and may have more non-student DJs. This is certainly the case as public radio-affiliated stations, which often have more national vs. local student-produced programming.
If you’re a college radio DJ, what sort of message do you think your show is sending to listeners from afar?
