MSJC’s Eagle radio is on the air — in United Kingdom
Eagle radio hit another milestone Monday and can now be heard on satellite radio in United Kingdom.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Bing Bruce and Dave Parrott are the BAD morning team for MSJC's eagle radio.
Bing Bruce and Dave Parrott – better known to many as the BAD morning team — may not have envisioned what would happen when they started a program at Mt. San Jacinto College to teach students about the world of radio.
“We did not expect there to be anyone listening,” said Bruce, recalling the early days of Eagle Radio. The start was only a few years ago when school officials decided they needed a transmitter to help students – would-be radio personalities making remote reports — be able to hear the station outside the San Jacinto building where the signal is generated.
No one knew there were others out there hearing the music and the BAD morning show.
“We shut down the transmitter for repairs and then we starting getting calls from people wondering what happened,” said Bruce, as he walked through the building that serves as the radio station.
Now Eagle radio hit another milestone Monday when Technisat, a digital satellite radio company based in Germany and broadcasts in the UK, added Eagle radio to its list of satellite radio stations, said Karin Marriott, spokeswoman for the college in a news release.
Transmitting locally on 1620 AM and online, the Hemet and San Jacinto residents discovered and embraced it as their own local station. The popularity grew and within two years, Eagle radio was being tracked by Arbitron, Marriott said. The Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Chamber of Commerce supports Eagle radio and includes them in their large events. Earlier this year, Eagle radio became a regular station on Windows Media.
The community college district, which also has a Menifee campus, stretches from Temecula, Menifee and Winchester through the Banning-Beamont area.
Bruce, who acts as station engineer, said they were very excited about the latest news, although they really do not plan any changes to their morning show and play to their new audience “across the pond.” The pair – Parrott is a professor and station manager-have been together for years and met while attending classes at MSJC.
Bruce said he is pretty sure the new listeners want to hear the 80s contemporary music that is popular in the United Kingdom, rather than the back-and-forth of the morning team. That does not stop them from “making fun of anything and everyone” or the themed days, like Thong Thursday or Nude Monday (listeners are urged to wear the tiny undergarment or listen in the buff on those respective days).
With so much fun, it may sometimes be hard to remember this is all educational.
“The radio station is a training facility and was never intended to be a community station or even active full time,” said Dr. Phill Morrione, department chair, in a written statement. “Technisat’s interest is really an achievement for Eagle Radio.”
The Audio and Video Technology Program not only trains students for careers in radio, but television production, studio recording, live sound re-enforcement, and post production sound, Marriott said. The Audio and Video technology program recently made headlines when the Disney Feature Animation studios in Burbank donated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of audio and video equipment to them and continues to support them.
Bruce and Parrott said the next step is a campus-based television show, which they hope to get operational by the end of the year.
To listen to Eagle radio online go to www.msjc.edu and click on the radio link or go to Windows Media and select “radio stations” and type in the 92583 zip code. Eagle radio will then appear on the list.
Tags: bing bruce, dave parrott, MSJC, SWRNN
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