Listen Up, Communication Majors!

Zorina E. Jerome
Staff Writer

Elkhart’s public radio station, WVPE 88.1, is available to you! If you want to get a feel for how a public radio station works, WVPE is always accepting volunteers; specifically, for this month’s campaign to answer telephones and/or clerical support.

Although this community work is not an intern program, students can still benefit by gaining public relations knowledge. It is also an experience that can be added to your resumé.

According to the station manager, Anthony Hunt, WVPE provides news and information that has substance and credibility. The station hopes to accurately provide a process of idealism of public life and culture.

“I think that there should be a space for media whose purpose is higher than commercial profit,” Hunt said. “The number one factor for public radio is education.”

Hunt goes on to add that the type of listening audience WVPE attracts are people who want to get educated on matters that are discussed with tact and poise. NPR programs such as “The Diane Rehm Show,” “Fresh Air,” and “Talk of the Nation” provide topics from conversations with journalists and public figures to elections.

In addition to informative talk shows, WVPE plays music as well. The station caters to listeners who prefer a different sound from the majority of music that stays in heavy rotation within the urban and contemporary radio stations in the community. Some of the music played is live jazz, classical, blues, country, and other varieties.

At any rate, WVPE is a 24-hour public radio station. Ideas, money, and manpower are consistently fed into this workstation. It is owned by the Elkhart schools and must always keep in mind the integrity that it ought to uphold. There are many sponsors and underwriters.

If volunteering is something that might interest you, contact WVPE at 1-888-399-9873 or log on to wvpe.org.