Southeast students begin reporting partnership with local radio station

Cape Girardeau's National Public Radio affiliate, KRCU, has joined forces with Southeast Missouri State Unversity's student-run newspaper, The Arrow, and so far this semester the work is going smoothly, said Tamara Zellars Buck, faculty advisor for the publication and multimedia journalism coordinator.

"This has been in the making for several years," Buck said.

Buck said the Department of Mass Media had a radio station for a time, Rage 103.7, but when the department's curriculum changed in 2014, the radio station went away.

Since then, Buck said, the department has been looking for a way to give students another facet of experience, and this opportunity with KRCU came about.

Dan Woods, KRCU general manager, agreed.

"The idea is, students at The Arrow are doing primarily campus news, but will go out for special coverage," Woods said. "If it's a story we were interested in, especially if it has broad appeal to our audience beyond the campus community, we'll ask them to capture audio, too."

That way, Woods said, when the student is writing a story for digital or print publication, a 60-second wrap can also be written up.

"It's just another way to extend what they're doing to another platform," Woods said.

Woods said KRCU's student reporter and morning-show host Lindsey Grojean handles most of the news reporting, and having more students contributing means the station has more content.

"It's a win-win," Woods said: listeners get more content, and students earn valuable experience.

Buck agreed. "The winners are the students," she said. "They get more than a classroom experience. It's experiential learning between courses, and a bigger experience with professional partners."

"There's always been a little bit of collaboration, but not anything structured," Woods said. KRCU staff visited The Arrow's planning meeting this summer, he said, and since the beginning of the semester, they've been working together.

"They're doing great," he added.

One story was about the growing problem of "jungle juice" at student parties. The other detailed former Southeast student Kevin Windham's run for election to the Missouri House of Representatives in the 85th district.

That story has gained traction on Twitter, Woods said, where faculty members who presumably knew Windham during his time at Southeast shared the link.

"This university is all about real-world, practical experience," Woods said. "This feeds right into that."

And, he said, the students bring a fresh energy and new ideas into the KRCU newsroom.

If the students can cover more campus-related stories, he added, that might free up Grojean to cover events such as city council meetings.

"We're looking forward to a lot more stories," Woods said.

Buck said, in her role as multimedia journalism coordinator, this opportunity helps demonstrate students' versatility.

"Our students are more than just one-note," Buck said. "They can produce for more than one platform. It's a true 21st Century learning experience. We're ecstatic."

Buck said KRCU began in Southeast's Grauel Building, and KRCU's website notes, in 1976, the station's original tower atop Academic Hall was only 10 watts -- the signal carried only as far as Capaha Park.

Increases in power in 1981, 1994 and 2006 further expanded the station's broadcast area, according to the website -- KRCU now reaches beyond southeast Missouri into southern St. Louis.