KWUR will team up with Jazz at Holmes for a night of avant-garde jazz on Thursday at 7 p.m. featuring the Jazz X-Tet with David Stone and Peter Schlamb. The Jazz X-Tet, based at the University of Chicago, is a loose collective of a dozen or so musicians renowned for their wide-reaching understanding of jazz; their genre-bending shows feature everything from standards to hip-hop. They will be joined by saxophonist David Stone and vibraphonist Peter Schlamb. For the uninitiated, a vibraphone is the xylophone’s trippier, echoing, electric little brother.

Saturday night will bring electronic artists Paper Diamond, Robotic Pirate Monkey and up-and-coming student disc jockey Peter Kaufmann, creator of the blog “Bright Shiny Music.”

“We wanted to bring crowd pleasers,” said Matt Curry, events director for KWUR. Curry notes the performers’ dance ability and points to Paper Diamond’s recent EPs, which have earned a dedicated online following. Though many students, even some within KWUR, are unfamiliar with Paper Diamond and RPM, the night is sure to win them some new fans.

The week will come to an exciting close with Saturday’s Wave Night at the Gargoyle featuring Thee Oh Sees, Fergus & Geronimo and Flaming Death Trap. First up: Flaming Death Trap, one of the biggest rock bands in St. Louis, who recently opened for Oberhofer at Saint Louis University’s Billiken Club and even recorded in the KWUR studios last June, combine a folk sensibility with surf-rock sound. Next, Fergus & Geronimo will bring their eclectic blend of lo-fi, ’60s soul, garage rock and psychedelic-pop sound in what’s sure to be a fiery St. Louis debut. Finally, after years of refusing to perform in St. Louis, Thee Oh Sees will unleash their mix of reverberating psychedelic-garage rock to close out the night and the festival. If you want to dance, rock out, hear some fantastic music and support KWUR’s great efforts, this night is not to be missed.

All shows are free with a student ID or $5 for the public. Public tickets are available for purchase online at http://www.metrotix.com/search.php?method=search&keyword&category&venue=255&page=1, or you may pick them up in person at the Edison Theatre box office in Mallinckrodt Center.

Broadcasting 24 hours a day, KWUR’s programming is not limited to music; The station also offers news and sports programming.

“Our number one goal is to facilitate free speech on campus,” senior and KWUR General Manager Kenny Hofmeister said. “We’re one of the biggest student groups where you can go and make your voice heard.”

From the beginning, KWUR has been an entirely student-run organization. KWUR’s members crafted all facets of the station, from its constitution that is dubbed the KWUR Bible, to its software called Unicron, to its training sessions and pre-Orientation program. KWUR is operated and sustained exclusively by its constituents, which helps to cultivate an internal culture and sense of pride.

The station is run as an open forum for students, offering them a way to discuss and explore topics that are not found in mainstream media, including seldom played music.

“KWUR is really unique among college radio stations in that it really does offer a very wide variety [of programming,]” said senior Andrew Warshauer, the KWUR treasurer. “One of our stated goals is to provide music for the people of St. Louis and the Wash. U. community that you cannot find elsewhere. One of our leading tenets is if you can hear it on a different radio station in St. Louis, we don’t know if we really want to be playing it.”

Sophomore Hana Toribara DJs her own music show. “One thing I noticed about St. Louis radio is that it’s remarkably homogeneous… most radio shows seem to play a lot of Top 40, a lot of smooth jazz,” Toribara said. “I’m sorry if anyone likes smooth jazz here, but I don’t really like it, and I think it’s really good to have people be able to listen to something else, anything else.”

Wash. U.’s original radio station, KFRH, was established in 1961. Despite several fund-raising efforts to combat the station’s financial struggles, including a 136-hour marathon DJ session (a collegiate record at the time), KFRH folded in 1974. KWUR was born two years later on July 4, 1976, and has been a large part of the campus community ever since.

“KWUR has had a lot of ups and downs in its history, periods of time where it was accepted by the larger student body, and periods of time where it was definitely a more underground scene,” Warshauer said. “It’s gone through several different kinds of changes in its formatting, meaning what type of music it’s been directed to play—at one point it was a jazz station. It’s really changed over time, but it’s been around consistently…barring a couple of instances where there was either physical damage to the station or some trouble with the administration.”

Since 1976, KWUR has broadcast on 90.3 FM using a tiny 10,000-milliwatt signal. The KWUR transmitter sits atop the Olin Library, and the signal reaches only a mile beyond the Danforth campus. KWUR has appealed to the FCC several times to increase its broadcasting signal to 100 watts, but the appeal has never been approved. To put this into context, city-wide radio stations usually broadcast on 10,000 to 100,000-watt signals.

To compensate for the lack of wattage, KWUR is now streamed online so that shows can be listened to live around the country.

“It’s fun if you get all of your friends to listen,” Toribara said. “My friend Chris called me from Tufts during my radio show, on the KWUR line, and we chatted for a long time in the middle of my show.”

KWUR also works to integrate itself into the Wash. U. and St. Louis communities. On the campus side, the station rents out audio equipment to student groups and also DJs all of the College Programming Council’s Happy Hours. Within St. Louis, the station works with artists to support the local music scene. DJs bring in St. Louis artists to the station for live “Stack Sessions” and participate in community events such as St. Louis Open Streets. The station also hosts KWUR Week in the spring, putting on shows and events for students on campus.

Ultimately, KWUR functions like most student groups at Wash. U. It creates a close-knit community for students with a common passion and provides them with an outlet to express this passion. For some members, the bond formed with their listeners and fellow DJs makes involvement enjoyable. For others, it’s something greater.

“It’s more about the community. That’s what I care about,” Hofmeister said. “I feel like it’s easy to get caught up in yourself on campus, like, ‘here’s what I’m doing’—and that’s obviously a part of KWUR, but the ultimate end is not about one person. It’s not about me, it’s not about a particular DJ, it’s about contributing to the KWUR community as a whole and, by extension, the Wash. U. community, the St. Louis community and beyond.”

Sam Schauer | Student Life

The Law School library

The Goldberg Formal Lounge, located on the second floor of the DUC, is a nice place to relax. The room is well lit, generally quiet, and students can be found napping on couches. For music lovers, there is also a Steinway piano located in the lounge—available by reservation. The fireplace situated on the far wall of the room adds to the intimate environment.

The Ann W. Olin Women’s Building is home to many different student groups and activities. KWUR, the campus radio station, has its studio in the basement in back, its walls filled with thousands of albums and CDs. Dancers will find that the Women’s Building proves perfect with its multiple dance studios of various sizes. Student Records is located in the building for freshmen who have yet to take their ID pictures.

Grace Fung | Student Life

The Chemistry library in Louderman Hall

Located in Eads Hall, Holmes Lounge, with its extravagant, red décor, has an array of made-to-order carvery wraps and paninis. Housing the well-known “Jazz at Holmes” every Thursday night from 8-10 p.m., the lounge is a nice place to relax and study while listening to live music. The room, which housed the Queen’s jewels during the St. Louis World’s Fair, is beautifully decorated.

The Observatory, located on top of Crow Hall, can be accessed through the south door Monday through Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m. With the large telescope, students are welcome to gaze at the stars, and it is even possible to view the arch and city lights at night.

Windows surround the top floor of Olin Library. The natural light that filters through creates a comfortable and quiet setting for studying. If you are interested in history, the bookshelves on the third floor are lined with the library’s collection.

Nneka Onwuzurike | Student Life

KWUR

For the musically-inclined, Tietjens Hall provides a number of soundproofed practice rooms, some including pianos. The Sachs Electronic Music Studio can also be found in the building. Protruding windows make the brick building one of the more unique architectural structures on campus. Next-door is the Gaylord Music Library, which provides rentable sheet music and recordings.

Upstairs on the second floor balcony of Louderman Library, embedded between bookshelves, is a clandestine space where quiet studying is easy and made comfortable by the cushioned bench nicely positioned below a window.

Though it may be hard to figure out which is the easiest to climb, the tree outside of Olin Library, on the South East side across from Eads Hall, has low branches that are accessible and regularly hold the weight of Wash. U. students. You may even see modern dancers maneuvering through the trees. It also provides great shade for studying on warm and often humid St. Louis days.

Nneka Onwuzurike | Student Life

KWUR

Sam Schauer | Student Life

Golberg Formal Lounge

Drakkar Sauna will be performing in the Gargoyle on Wednesday night. (Courtesy of Drakkar Sauna)

Wednesday is Folk and Blues Night, and Drakkar Sauna and Illinois John Fever will perform. Thursday is the Dance Party and DJ Showcase Part Deux, with Phaseone, DJ Invisible Cola and DJs Neil and Greg taking the stage. Sadat X (of Brand Nubian) and Dudley Perkins perform Friday on Hip-Hop Night. The last night, Wave Night, has three, count’em, three bands going: Boogie Boarder, Darlings and Spelling Bee.

You don’t need me to tell you this, but it’s going to be a blast. Wash. U. kids get in for free; others pay $5. And remember that you have to be 18 or older to board the ride. Otherwise, it’s all systems go, so make sure to check it out. For more information, visit www.kwur.com/blog.

The live performances —called Stack Sessions—feature a mix of local acts and nationally or regionally touring acts who have made their way to St. Louis. Stack Session is the brainchild of junior Kenny Hofmeister, one of KWUR’s music directors.

“There’s not much going on over the summer, and I was here for the summer, so [I thought], ‘Let’s give this a shot,’” Hofmeister said.

The program would have been difficult to conduct before the summer due to the large amount of regular programming that KWUR has on its schedule during the semester.

Stack Sessions has earned KWUR coverage in the Riverfront Times, a local news, dining and entertainment newsletter.

“It really helps us get involved in the St. Louis music community,” Hofmeister said of the mention. “It was really nice to get that quick little blurb. We’re always looking to get the word out.”

Despite the fact that KWUR’s full DJ lineup has returned to school, there are plans to continue the Stack Sessions.

“We’re in the process of getting more bands to come,” Hofmeister said. “It won’t be quite as much as over the summer because of programming, but we plan to continue [the sessions].”

He is optimistic that listenership and publicity surrounding the live performances are on the rise.

“Now that people are actually back, I feel like there will be a lot more listeners and people will be a lot more into it,” he said.

Besides being a driving force behind the Stack Sessions, Hofmeister was one of the DJs who performed at the DJ Showcase that KWUR hosted in the Gargoyle on Sept. 12. The event featured multiple KWUR DJs performing different genres of music, including hip-hop, electronica, funk and Afro-pop.

Nearly 2,000 students received the showcase’s invitation on Facebook, and the Gargoyle was filled to capacity before the event was over.

Junior Tara Pham, who is in charge of audio services for KWUR, organized the DJ Showcase. Pham planned the event as a way to publicize KWUR and give students an opportunity to have a good time.

“There’s still a large section of the student body that doesn’t really know about us, so we planned the Showcase as literally a showcase to show [students] what we can do,” Pham said.

When she first came up with the idea for the showcase, she did not intend for it to be a party open to the entire student body.

“It started as an idea where we would get all the social chairs [of Greek organizations] and presidents of student groups, so they could see us and they could hire us,” Pham said. “And we thought, ‘What’s the fun in that when we could invite everybody? We could have a dance party.’ And that’s kind of what it developed into.”

Since the showcase was so successful, KWUR is interested in making it a regular event on an annual or semesterly basis. Plans would likely be altered, however, so that more students would be able to attend the event in the future.

“The only real issue is that we hit maximum capacity, so we’re working with Event Services and our advisors to try to figure out how to increase capacity and ticket sales so more people can get in,” Pham said.

The number of people who listen to KWUR has already been on the rise, according to Pham. She gives credit to the publicity generated by the Stack Sessions and the DJ Showcase, as well as to other members of KWUR and the work they have put in.

“We have a very passionate group who’s really trying to increase listenership,” she said.

KWUR’s recent efforts have not gone unnoticed by the student body.

“[The showcase] was really fun,” sophomore Catie Gainor said. “There were a surprising amount of people. Everybody there was really excited, and it was a cool alternative to other weekend options.”

Besides attending the showcase, students have observed that KWUR has been making itself more visible this semester.

“I’ve noticed that they’ve been upping their PR,” Gainor said. “I’ve been seeing their signs in the DUC all week.”

KWUR is continuing its trend of new content this semester with plans to host a speaker, show a screening of a music documentary and possibly host more showcases.

To listen to KWUR, tune your radio to 90.3 FM, or stream its music online at http://www.kwur.com.

In an e-mail sent out to executive committee members, Student Union (SU) Vice President of Administration junior Jeff Nelson stated that he wanted to ensure that every Treasury member felt comfortable with the pace of progression and to that end, decided not to hold a vote at the meeting.

Nelson said that many of the executive committees do not understand the proposed plan.

“I think the biggest issue is a lack of understanding of what is actually being proposed,” Nelson said after the meeting.

Junior Dylan Suher, general manager of KWUR, an executive committee, was pleased to see SU take more time with the proposal.

“Student Union did the right thing to take time and really think about this,” he said. “Overall, there needs to be more, not just transparency, but collaboration on these type of things. Looking forward, that’s what we hope to see.”

One of the reasons for the postponement was that the proposal raised a wide range of issues that Treasury members wanted to address; some members discussed the pros and cons of charging students to rent equipment while others discussed the makeup of the Equipment Board.

In order to remedy that problem, SU Treasury Adviser Julie Thornton suggested making a concentrated effort to continue the discussion and work through the problems.

“One thing [that] I think is lacking is a true committee to do this. Let’s have a small group talk about this rather than just have Jeff do it or just have a couple people from Treasury work on it,” Thornton said.

According to Nelson, SU hopes to continue to move forward with the proposal throughout the next month or so.

“The plan is to continue to work over this over winter break and to get a small group of representatives from Senate, Treasury, Executive, the groups themselves and whoever wants to come to say, ‘What are the problems with this, and what are the solutions,’” he said.

Nelson said he hopes members will be able to come back in January ready to pass the proposal.

Treasury representatives expect passing the proposal to be a long process. The proposal contains statute changes that require a two-thirds majority vote by both the Senate and Treasury. The proposal also requires a constitutional amendment that would have to pass through both bodies before it comes to the entire SU body in a referendum vote.

SU is hoping this issue will be on the March ballot during the same time as elections for SU representatives and executives. This would allow time for a transition period before the next budget process.

In order for this to happen, SU must approve the proposal by mid-February.

“A lot’s got to happen in a short period of time,” Thornton said.

But even Suher, who has criticized the proposal, believed that the timeline is possible to maintain.

“I think it was clear that we weren’t way far apart and that there was middle ground that can be achieved,” he said. “I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t be on the ballot and approved in March.”

The project is unique because the medium of radio theater or “movies for the mind,” as audiotheater.com calls it, has been practically lost since the height of its popularity in the 1940s. KWUR is among a small number of college radio stations and other groups worldwide that plan to bring it back.

Shows titled “Sky Pirates,” “Simon Colt” and “The Human Chord,” along with miscellaneous sketches and improvisation, will air on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. beginning next semester on the KWUR show Theater of the Air.

The shows are meant to appeal to “anyone with half an imagination,” according to senior and KWUR member Alex Jensen. But, because radio theater has never been attempted at the University, the members of Theater of the Air are not entirely sure how students will receive the show.

That uncertainty coupled with the work involved means that the endeavor carries a great deal of risk, according to junior David Rheinstrom, the producer of all three shows and lead writer of “Sky Pirates.”

“If we’re going to fail, we’re going to fail huge. If I’m going to die, I’m going to die on fire,” Rheinstrom said. “This project is very impressive, because we’re writing three first seasons of three different shows and using campus-grown talent to write and staff our shows.”

However, the whole show is practically “a gamble,” Rheinstrom said.

According to Jensen, the idea first came to KWUR as the group was working on a past radio show.

“It started off as something small, cute and fun, and we took it to the next level and the level after that until we had this huge backlog of great plays,” he said.

The shows toy with the conventions of classic serial drama. Rheinstrom described “Simon Colt” as “an old-fashioned occult western, with a cowboy that fights zombies and deals with banshees in the wild spaces of the Americas.”

“‘The Human Chord’ is a funky superhero action comedy about a superhero who uses funk to fight crime in the city of Harmonious,” Rheinstrom said.

According to sophomore Tim Lemieux, “Sky Pirates” is “like a crappy movie from the ’30s” with roots in ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ and ‘Freakazoid.’”

Despite the uncertainty of the show’s reception, the group is aiming for top-notch production quality.

Senior Robert Panico is writing and conducting the scores for the shows, as opposed to using canned music.

“It’s been demanding because we’re trying to avoid synthetic [music]. We have string players from all over campus,” Panico said.

KWUR’s new recording space in the Danforth University Center (DUC) has served as a great contribution to the group’s production quality.

“We have this beautiful resource in the recording studio in the DUC,” Rheinstrom said.

According to KWUR, the only easy aspect of planning Theater of the Air is actually paying for the show. One of radio theater’s biggest advantages is that it is cheap.

“The beauty of it is, you don’t need expensive sets to create zeppelins from 1933,” junior KWUR member Evan Kuhn said.