ON THE AIR

Cave City student-run radio station one of two in state

Cave City High School seniors Nick Gay, left, and Nate Ayers go on the air in the studio of KVMN 89.9 FM, one of only two high school radio stations in the state.
Cave City High School seniors Nick Gay, left, and Nate Ayers go on the air in the studio of KVMN 89.9 FM, one of only two high school radio stations in the state.

Anyone who is driving through Cave City and tunes in to 89.9 FM will not hear typical disc jockeys. These DJs are students in Ben Johnson’s radio class at Cave City High School.

The students run KVMN radio — short for “Caveman,” which is the school’s mascot. During the six class periods Johnson teaches, students come up with the programming for the station, which runs 24-7.

He has about 85 students in those classes, ranging from ninth- through 12th-graders. Cave City is one of two high schools in the state with a student-run radio station, Johnson said.

Johnson was one of the students who initially worked for the radio station when it started in late 1981.

“Students operated it from the beginning,” he said.

Johnson said that after graduating from Cave City High School in 1982, he went right to work for an AM station in Horseshoe Bend.

“I was called by the general manager of KWOZ in Batesville, and he said they had part-time jobs available,” Johnson said. “I stayed with them for 23 years, until the superintendent of [the Cave City School District] called me to let me know the radio-teacher job was available.”

Since 2005, Johnson has been teaching radio at the high school and has focused on trying to make the station more school centered.

“They hired me specifically to teach radio,” he said.

Cave City built a new school in 2007, which allowed Johnson to tell the district what his class needed to make the radio station as functional as possible.

“We did a start-up grant that allowed us to buy a lot of professional equipment,” he said. “This classroom was built specifically for radio.”

With four complete, functioning studios, all with professional equipment, students get “real world” experience when they step into Johnson’s classroom.

“The kids do everything,” he said.

Students have the chance to come up with their own radio shows that play throughout the day, and some even get to call home basketball games on Tuesday and Friday nights.

Johnson said his students take the class seriously, and he enjoys the kids he comes into contact with on a daily basis.

“Every day is something different,” he said.

KVMN radio is an educational station and pays a flat fee for the music it plays, Johnson said.

He’s seen some students go to college and major in radio communication and become successful.

Nicholas Gay and Nathaniel Ayers, both seniors at Cave City High School, have been involved with KVMN for a while.

Gay has been involved for four years, but the program is set to last only three years, he said.

“We have to get special permission from the state to complete a fourth-year curriculum,” he said.

Gay got interested in radio by chance.

“[In ninth grade], I had an agriculture class on my schedule, and I didn’t want to take it, and there was a radio opening,” he said. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but it’s been a lot of fun.”

Ayers didn’t start the radio class until his sophomore year.

“When I started, I was a quiet person, and I didn’t think about radio,” he said. “It really will break you out of your shell.”

Both Gay and Ayers said Johnson keeps them coming back to class excited each day.

“He’s a blast,” Ayers said.

“He relates to students better than some other teachers do. He’s got a great sense of humor, and you never know what’s going to happen next.”

Gay said he benefits daily from Johnson’s experience in the radio field and his personality.

“He’s done [radio] for a long time,” Gay said.

Ayers said even though he and his classmates are in the radio class for credit to graduate, they treat their time in the studio like a job.

“We treat it like a business,” Gay said. “It’s a way to bring us students into the professional world.”

Students in the radio class have the opportunity to be a part of SkillsUSA, a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure that America has a skilled workforce.

“SkillsUSA is another way to turn this into a business atmosphere,” Gay said.

The students compete at the state and national level at SkillsUSA competitions in radio production, along with other competitions in speech writing and public speaking, Johnson said.

Although the programs are recorded, Ayers said, he does whatever it takes to show his dedication to the radio station.

“I would be up here at midnight if I could,” he said.

Staff writer Lisa Burnett can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or burnett@arkansasonline.com.

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