A Jack of Many Trades
“There’s a new emergence of these new artists for creating music… I think that’s also the genre that’s going to draw in a lot of people who aren’t necessarily Christians who don’t even know that they’re listening to a Christian station until they hear our hosts and they hear our programming.”
Ashley Owen is a senior, majoring in Multimedia Communication with a concentration in Radio and Record Industry at Olivet Nazarene University, and practically is running the next generation of radio. Pouring her heart and soul into the revamp of Spark HD, Owen uses the skills she’s been learning here at Olivet to not just spiff up her resume, but her dreams.
In the Unexpected
“I would absolutely love in the future to be able to program Gen Z radio stations.”
ashley Owen
The dream of radio programming didn’t appear until Owen’s senior year of high school in Cedar Lake, Indiana. After signing up for a TV and radio class, her teacher spontaneously put Owen live on their radio station, then dubbing her as the class’s host of the school year.
“I totally fell in love with it and I heard that Olivet had the [Radio and Record] program and I was like, ‘I guess it works for now’ and its worked for four years,” she said.
Questions have risen to whether radio is still alive.
Owen is the perfect evidence that it indeed is and will continue to exist. Edison Research shows that radio reaches 44 million teens weekly, which is almost a quarter of Americans. People shape media forms as time goes forward. From Text Groove, Gen Z is shaping radio with the use of texting. Less phone calls are being made to radio stations with texting as the substitute.
This is just one way the rising generation is making their mark on media.
Radio In Owen’s Eyes
Owen’s goal with Spark is to cater towards Generation Z in all aspects.
“I feel like Christian radio right now is all CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) and that’s great, but that’s what Christians listen to, and if we’re trying to reach people who aren’t Christian who don’t listen to worship music, they’re not going to like it. They’re not going to enjoy the music because they didn’t grow up in the church like a lot of us who do listen to Christian radio did.”
ASHLEY Owen
Looking at other university radio stations, there is not as much interactivity or uniqueness to the webpages compared to Spark.
Most campus radio stations play CCM music, and as of the 2023-2024 school year, Spark has flipped the genre model, containing indie folk, rock, and much more.
Being Station Manager
Owen is responsible for everything that makes it on the air of Spark from songs to content on-air personalities say.
The station manager must also set up meetings and help generate ideas members of Spark can help be a part of according to their position.
“I’m also in charge of contacting all the people we need to contact to get things done like getting our slides up on chapel or getting Spark in the quad,” she said.
“She’s figured out what she loves, that’s what it is. Going to Nashville showed that she didn’t like the industry part of music. Because of her internship with K-Love, she found radio programming and ran with that [through Spark].”
Professor Brian utter
Owen is very proud of everyone involved with Spark as they have been nominated for CMBU Station of the Year.
“It’s a pretty big deal because if we win,” she said. “We accept we accept an award in front of everybody in the industry at Momentum, which is in the summer. I think we have a pretty good chance of winning this year.”
Owen has been collecting all the needed content for the nomination, another responsibility for the Station Manager.
What’s Next for Ashley
As Owen’s final semester comes to an end, the future is looking mighty bright.
“I would absolutely love in the future to be able to program Gen Z radio stations. I think there is a huge absence in radio for music that is for Gen Z, which is a lot of why I am doing what I’m doing now for Spark,” she said.
More ONU Comm. Creatives
For more ways Olivet Nazarene students are using their skills from their major into other projects, check out Justin Hilliard with his media business, Devonte Thomas creating music with his own beats and tunes, and Owen Smith with the rise of the Perchance podcast.
