In the first official collaboration between LMU’s KXLU radio station and the music department, a new show titled “LMU Music Presents: Music from the Bluff,” is hitting the soundwaves. The show will be broadcast live on the second Thursday of every month at 6:00 p.m. and will feature music and interviews from LMU Music students, alumni, and faculty.
The new show will feature a variety of music, from classical selections to pop music. The first show, which premiered Thursday January 14, included a guitar ensemble arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody and a few pop cover songs, as well as many selections from the classical canon. The show intends to also feature world music, such as Indonesian gamelan and music technology.
The idea for the radio show came about over the summer when Professor David Carter, an Assistant Professor of the Music Department, was brainstorming ways to raise the profile of the department by collaborating with other areas of the university. “As I learned more about KXLU, I learned what a great resource the station is to the university and what little connection had been made between KXLU and the music department,” said Carter. “When I proposed the idea to highlight the music department on the station, I was met with enthusiasm from both Lydia Ammossow, the radio station director, and Lilly McCarty, the student general manager of KXLU. It seemed like a perfect fit between an academic music department and an educational broadcasting station. I’m so glad we’ve decided to explore this collaboration and I’m excited for what is to come.”
The goal of the new radio show is to provide an outlet for music students and recent alumni to share their work to a wider audience. Ammossow and the KXLU team have seen this relationship as an opportunity for the radio station to connect with the more academic side of LMU as well. Carter has been working on the show along with students Joshua Thompson and John Reichmuth. Josh and John both have a technical backgrounds and Josh is the creator of the intro and outro played during each program.
McCarty, a music theory and composition major, is hosting the show. “I am hoping the show will be a space where our home-grown musicians will feel empowered and encouraged while our KXLU listeners will discover the richness and creativity within the music department,” she told us. “To be able to lead this project from a mere idea into a polished creation is extremely meaningful to me and I am optimistic it will create a lasting bridge between the musical corners of campus.”
The second show will be broadcast live on Thursday, February 11 at 6:00 p.m. on KXLU, with replays on the off Thursday evenings at the same time.
