What a difference a year makes.
In March 2014, then first-year Quest University student James Blumhagen and some fellow students launched Quest Coast Sound Radio on campus.
At the time, Blumhagen, the station’s manager, was thrilled if 20 people tuned in to the station’s occasional podcasts.
Today the online station has programs running seven days a week, 24 hours a day and often has close to 60 listeners at a time; peak shows get more than 100 listeners tuning in. It’s not a huge number of listeners, unless you consider the school itself has only around 700 students and that the radio “station” is an empty dorm room.
“We are really making do with what we have and being able to produce some really cool stuff,” said Blumhagen.
Quest’s Students' Representative Council provides all the funding the station receives. All the equipment came to $3,000.
“We have high quality software, which we have purchased,” Blumhagen said, waving a hand at the small control board still perched on the box it came in.
Volunteers run the station, which currently has 50 members in its “club,” but is run by a core group of 15 to 20, according to Blumhagen.
The biggest thing Blumhagen said he has learned is that organization is key.
“And communication is even more important,” Blumhagen said with a quiet laugh.
“Also, people are really hard to manage.”
One of Blumhagen’s favourite broadcasts over the last year on air is a show called Room 314, named after a room number that was accidentally skipped in a Quest academic building.
“It is sort of this sci-fi story telling and I have no idea what is going on,” Blumhagen said, his voice rising with enthusiasm. “The story is so interwoven.”
There are other more serious shows Blumhagen is proud the station airs such as one that tackles issues around sexual health, and a show he produces called Community Update that talks about events happening up at Quest and in Squamish. Favourite guests have included bands The Boom Booms and Old Man Canyon, which is performing at the Squamish Valley Music Festival this summer.
But with the expansion of the station has come challenges, especially for student volunteers also juggling full course loads and social lives.
“One of the biggest challenges for us is getting enough content and really trying to expand out and getting more people to listen to it. I am fairly certain that the more listeners we have, the more people will want to produce content,” he said.
The station volunteers hope to eventually attract advertisers.
“Our next steps for this following year are trying to establish a more widespread name,” Blumhagen said.
The station would also like to bridge the gap between the campus and the community of Squamish.
“We often feel that just because we are up on the hill, not a lot of communication or collaboration goes between, so that is something that the radio is really working on. It is in our mandate,” he said.
But first the station needs a more suitable home. Blumhagen said space is at a premium at Quest and so the station volunteers are constantly lobbying the university administration for a proper office space of their own. Until then, they will make do in the empty dorm room, complete with a mattress next to the station “booth.”
According to Quest president and vice-chancellor, the station has become a selling point for the school. “We have been reviewing applications for admission this month and several prospective students have either asked whether or not we have a station or have expressed an interest to be involved,” David J. Helfand said via email.
“I look forward to seeing this project expand its ambitions and its audience in the years ahead.”
To listen in to Quest Coast Sound Radio, go to www.qcsr.ca
