Photo by Matt Chavez

Jim Musil

Musil's station
in life: Starting anew
By Chris Joeckel

It was a Tuesday morning, and in the basement of the University Memorial Center at the University of Colorado, newly hired station manager Jim Musil sat quietly behind the reception desk of KUCB. With a calm and rhythmic motion, he tended to his work.

Around him, chaos reigned. In the beginning of November, this student radio station underwent the biggest makeover in its history when it switched from FM-cable to 1190 AM and changed its call letters from KUCB to KVCU.

For the relaxed Musil, 29, it was as if he'd been through it all before.

In fact, he had.

"It's exciting to me because I did this in Minnesota," Musil said. "I helped a station get started from the ground up."

With strong leadership skills and a true concern for students, Musil hopes to repeat his success at a new station and a new university.

Musil's 13 years of radio experience began at a public station in Rapid City, S.D., where he grew up. While attending the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he began working for the college radio station, KUOM. He would spend 10 years at the station.

"I could have gone and still could go into commercial radio and do whatever, but that's dumb," Musil said. "That's all about profit, and this is all about profit of the soul and the mind, and that's what's ultimately important. Money doesn't make you happy — just doing what you want does."

After climbing to the ranks of management in just two years at the station, Musil combined his sincere interest in his students with his equal passion for radio and helped transform KUOM.

"We went from what used to be a group of guys listening to us in the dorms to a hit commodity in the Twin Cities," said Mike Helget, program director of KUOM. "He made us what we are today. We're hip -— we're cool. We're who the insiders listen to."

Musil graduated with a degree in studio arts but continued to work in radio. Although he was comfortable with his job at KUOM, he decided to apply for the job at KVCU through the help of a search committee.

"I wasn't really sure what I was going to do next, and then this thing came up," Musil said. "I never really thought about it too much. I've just kind of done what I've always liked to do, whether it be art, radio, writing or whatever, and it always seems to pay off in the end."

For now, Musil occupies several positions at the station, including general manager, operations manager, business manager and program director. But Musil is quick to point out that his role is one of guidance and support. Ultimately, it is the students who run the station, he said.

"He's good at not telling us what to do," said junior Stacey Thompson, student general manager of KVCU. "He lets us figure out solutions to our problems instead of just giving us the answers."

"He's fitting in well, and he seems to know a lot about college radio," said senior Jordan Maness, KVCU sports director. "He's the link we've been needing to get us through this transition."

Musil has a vision for the station and for the students who work with him.

"This station is going to be a hybrid between commercial and noncommercial radio," Musil said. "Our spirit and our sound is definitely going to be public radio, meaning that we're not going to have a whole lot of in-your-face commercials, and our music is going to be a little bit more out there — music that commercial stations can't play because they won't take the risks.

"It's nice to be a part of this because, for the students involved with this, it is something they are going to live with for the rest of their lives," Musil said, as he continued his work at the reception desk. "They're going to be able to look back and say, 'Damn, I started a radio station — there are only so many radio stations in the country, and I started one, and I was a part of that.' They'll never forget it."