What started as a class project for Professor James Manley's CLS201 Digital Media Arts class, turned into the creation of the radio station Cal Poly Voice.
The station is the brainchild of two students, third-year International Business and Marketing student Roy Sivan and second-year Mechanical Engineering student DJ Sofer.
"[For] our class project, we ended up giving them a preview of a possible radio station," said Sofer. "And we continued to improve on the idea of a radio station, when our professor gave us his approval saying 'it was the niche that needed filling' here at this school."
And the rest, as they say, is history.
As of right now, the station only plays on campus.
"You can only listen if you live on campus (or in the Village)," said Sivan. "You have to be connected to a port on campus."
He adds that you can listen (while on campus) by going to cppvoice.hopto.org:8000 and clicking on "listen" and downloading the playlist. The station is available 24 hours a day.
"For now since we're doing testing locally due to the campus firewalls, you can't listen off campus," said Sofer.
They are trying to fix this. It is an ongoing project for the two, with the help of some of their friends. According to Sofer, there are still some things to work out.
Sofer also adds that the server tends to break down at times, or not work at all. They hope to remedy this by being funded. They also plan to advertise more with these funds. Until then, they remain an "unofficial" station.
Most students had no idea that the station existed.
"I didn't even know we had one," said fourth-year graphic arts student Kelly Kuramoto. "Maybe if they advertise more on campus, it will help them get noticed."
"We have a radio station?" said second-year biotechnology student Maria Arce. "If they broadcast off campus, then maybe I will listen to it. I'm just not on campus enough."
"I've never listened to it, but know about it through Inter-Hall Council," said first-year mechanical engineering student Jared Nojima.
Kuramoto offers sound advice by adding that since a lot of students don't read The Poly Post, maybe a radio station is the next best thing for students to find out what is going on around campus and in the community.
The real question of the day would have to be this: "What can one expect to hear when dialing in to Cal Poly Voice?"
"Only Classical tunes for now," says Sivan. "Until we can get money to play royalties."
"We have DJ's lined up and they will play what they want," said Sivan. "What they feel is good music, so eventually we will have a good mix."
The duo prides themselves on being a station "by students, for students".
The two admit to having open air time that can be handed out to interested students.
"What we are setting up is a kind of hour rotation of DJs who will sign up with us for no pay," says Sofer.
However, "We're handing out timeslots to whoever wants, although more and more people are starting to demand time from us instead of request it, which is getting annoying," says Sofer.
He also adds that the schedules are fit for anyone, since they are on the air 24/7. Needless to say, there are still some open time slots for aspiring DJs. One just has to ask nicely.
They noted that around 30-40 people have shown an interest in helping to fill these time slots and DJ for a while. This in and of itself has presented some problems.
"The problem is we can't give them a studio to record in," says Sofer. "There are some audio recording studios we are hoping we can allow people to use to record in."
They hope to remedy this soon so that they can become a station known across campus. They plan on being funded through a club that they will make when they have the time. Right now they are getting backing and support (but not necessarily funds) from the Digital Media Arts Club.
"We hope to become official and have the school support us," said Sofer.
Holley Montoya can be reached by e-mail at news@thepolypost.com or by phone at (909) 869-3747.
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