The release of the decision to move the KJazz station off of its long-standing location on campus at California State University, Long Beach raised some concern at KBeach, a second radio station on campus.
“I was a little bummed,” said Trey McEachin, the general manager of KBeach and a senior computer engineering major. “[This is] something that kind of impacted our relationship with KJazz happened without the student voice being heard at all,”
Stephanie Levine, the station manager of KJazz, said the station plans to move to the Westwood headquarters of Global Jazz, Inc., the operating company of KJazz, towards the end of spring semester. An official moving date has yet to be determined, Levine said.
“Truthfully, it’s not the kind of thing we would be announcing necessarily to the public… because there’s nothing quite dramatic about the move,” Levine said. “It was put out there into the public by… some people who are involved with the campus and [KBeach].”
At the end of December, CSULB Foundation, the license holder of KJazz, voted on and approved the initiative for KJazz to move.
Danny Lemos, a KBeach faculty media adviser, said that Kbeach did not find out about the initiative until about a week and a half before the vote took place. He said that some concern did arise due to the timing of the vote.
“We were concerned about what it might mean, whether our contract with the foundation was in any way jeopardized,” Lemos said. “At first we thought it meant something – that it had a bigger implication to our equipment and our access to the HD3 channel.”
He said that once the foundation had assured Kbeach that the contract would be held until its renewal date in 2017, he was in support of KJazz’s move.
“Our initial response was kind of that we were losing something, but then we realized nothing that we have right now will be lost in the transition except it will be a longer commute to KJazz if you want to go into the radio station,” Lemos said.
Levine said that KJazz intends to maintain its standing student internship program with CSULB. She said the move to Westwood would benefit student interns, as they would have access to a full staff and a fully functioning office.
“We’re still very much a part of the community here at Cal State Long Beach, [and] where we physically broadcast from doesn’t change that,” Levine said.
Lemos said conversation about where to house KJazz on campus has been on the table since Global Jazz, Inc. took on operations in 2007. He said the recent decision to move was a result of these early concerns of location.
Lemos said KJazz offered to move production to Westwood to save both the station and the university money.
“That’s kind of how it was – a business deal,” Lemos said.
McEachin said KJazz is an asset to the university that is often pushed to the side. He said KJazz’s internships are not utilized to their full potential because KJazz does not set up a dialogue between Associated Students, Inc. or the journalism or broadcasting departments when filling the positions.
“…We have this professional tool for development that’s on campus that isn’t really being used for the students’ benefit,” McEachin said. “It’s being used for other reasons.”
McEachin said he wants to see more open dialogue between the student body and KJazz. In regards to the move, he said he felt that if students had a say, they could have found ways to save the station money without it having to move to Los Angeles.
“I just want to make it apparent to certain individuals that, to the students, [the move is] not necessarily a disservice, but we would have appreciated the conversation to occur with our input,” McEachin said.