Copyright 1985 The Times Mirror Company  
Los Angeles Times

 May 7, 1985, Tuesday, Home Edition

. . .

WHAT'S BRUIN: The signal of UCLA's KLA-AM (530) is so weak that you can't even pick up the station in its campus-based studio.

Such is life for the student-run station where you'll find:

-- A closet-size, cluttered engineering studio crammed with antiquated equipment, most of which doesn't work.

-- A collection of albums that's so small there's barely a need for shelves.

-- Live broadcasts of both men's and women's volleyball, the undiscovered radio sport.

-- A play list that mixes the Meat Puppets with Joan Armatrading.

Yet, in its own quirky way, KLA succeeds as a combat-zone training ground for broadcasting, giving UCLA students something no student receives at USC's KUSC-FM (91.5): hands-on radio experience.

Unlike KUSC, which employs professional announcers, engineers and managers, KLA takes its entire crew straight from the classrooms.

"Some people come here for the social aspect," said KLA general manager Vince Landay, a senior majoring in political science, "and some disc jockeys refuse to play any music they don't like, but most really want to get on the air."

Consequently, KLA's staff of 200 now broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The station hasn't suffered a programming lapse since an unattended tape snapped in the middle of the night during a recent school break. "I remember turning on the station at 7 in the morning," recalled Landay, "and hearing a nice hum."

He was fortunate in one respect: He could, at least, hear the station. As KLA holds no broadcast license and transmits on a "carrier current," it must ricochet its signal off the campus dorms, hoping it will careen toward some student's radio. KLA is also piped into the school's cafeteria, student union and video arcade and has recently been added to Group W's FM cable, at 89.9.