Let's Talk UNLV

0:00:00
All right, welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNRV on KUNV. You with co-host Keith and Renee. Renee, how was your weekend?

0:00:14
Oh, it was great. March Madness.

0:00:16
Ah, don't even get me started. My bracket is so out of whack.

0:00:20
It's uh.

0:00:21
Yeah, but it's just so exciting to see these athletes playing, especially in the midst of all that they've been through with COVID. It's just an exciting tournament. And my bracket is busted. Got busted last night with Kansas' loss to USC. But I'm from, you know, I hail from Los Angeles, California, so it's nice to see USC go on.

0:00:45
What about you? Renee, coming from in the Midwest, Illinois wasn't in your bracket? Come on, you had to have Illinois going beyond.

0:00:50
I'm a Jayhawk, you know. Jayhawk or nothing else.

0:00:54
Yes, Illinois definitely took me out of the running. But you know, the March Madness is representative of this crazy pandemic time, you know, just it's unpredictable. You know, you think things are going a certain way and then boom, you know, so. But it's been great just to sit in front of the TV and just forget about everything else that's going on and just be fully immersed in the March Madness and just to sort of resemble that sense of normalcy and pre-pandemic ritual. So it's been great. Renee, it's been almost a year. A year. Since we went down this endeavor, so.

0:01:29
I know, I just thought about that this past week. So I began to think about all the things that we've accomplished. And I remember when Ashton Ridley, the general manager for KUNV, came to me and he said, Dr. Watson, we really need to tell stories about what's happening in the in-campus life. Now it's been restructured to now be student life. I said, I just don't believe that the campus knows all that's taking place. I said, really? He said, no, I don't think so. And I think that having a show to really highlight that. And that was the start of the conversation.

0:02:11
And I can remember vividly when you, hey, Keith, I got this idea about Coho's and I was, you know, I went back to different strokes. What are you talking about, Renee? You know?

0:02:22
Yeah. I mean, because it's not the kind of opportunity that's presented to senior level officials to do this kind of show. And so immediately I began to think about, well, what's the structure? You know, what is the name of the show? Do we even have the skill set, Stephen, to pull this off? Well, our supervisor, Dr. Juanita Fain, even approved of this project, and she was supportive from the get-go. So we launched it during the COVID-19 pandemic when things started to really rev up and the campus was making some decisions.

0:03:00
Well, I know I was certainly unsettled when you first brought that idea to me, thinking those same things, like, I've never done a radio show or podcast or, you know, was going to be an interesting journey. And I think it's sort of indicative of sort of the pandemic was getting outside of our comfort zones to do something that we felt strongly about that could benefit the university community by giving them access to more information around services, activities, programming, and just hearing some of the wonderful things that are going on around the campus. Yeah, so to that end,

0:03:33
one of the key factors was finding a good editor. Right? And so we have Ray Fletcher with us. Hello. Ray Fletcher is our editor. Ray

0:03:44
make everything all right. You know I try. Try to do what I can do. And so I

0:03:49
remember you know Ray saying we can start this off with WebEx. I said what? WebEx? And that's how we started. So Ray talk to us about how you thought of the idea of getting this thing started with WebEx,

0:04:04
and what's been your journey like? So this has been really interesting to me. When I first got hired here, I got hired right before the pandemic started, so this was one of the first projects that I took on was this show. And because of everything that we didn't know about the virus, like we had no idea how everything was going to operate, so we obviously went with the idea of going with WebEx. And it was interesting because the sound quality wasn't the best.

0:04:35
No, it wasn't.

0:04:36
We had a few misfires in those first few episodes.

0:04:41
Right. But I agree with what you said earlier, is like we had to adapt and we had to figure new things out just like everyone did during the pandemic. So everything was new and getting the audio from WebEx, while not the best, it was important to get some of those messages across, especially early on in the pandemic, because there was a lot of stuff that people on campus needed to know and might not have been getting that information. So it was really important to have this project.

0:05:09
Well, Ray, here's the important question. Okay. Now, when we came to you, like we have no clue what we're doing and we need some coaching and you just lean right in and just made us feel comfortable. Yeah. So what was your background in this field? I know you settled me quite a bit to make me

0:05:24
comfortable to move forward with this especially that first session. Yeah it's interesting I started in radio a little bit before I started with working with you guys so I was relatively new to the situation as well but I had been on air for about eight months. So I had a little bit of experience with the microphone. And I think the trick is getting someone to act like the microphone's not there, right? Because when you guys first started, we're talking in our pre-meeting and you guys are excited and you have this flow, and then we turn the microphone on and you guys kinda got down and started talking with this low, sweet voice. And it's like, just because the microphone's there we get this different mentality so that was all it was to get you guys to not even think about the microphone. We were trying to be Dr. Watson and Dr. Rogers instead of Keith and Renee. Exactly yeah just be yourself and and you guys got got there very quickly. I was rather impressed by how quickly you guys got

0:06:21
comfortable in front of the microphone. Yeah I remember asking Ashton and Ray, I was like, well, I need to take some classes, you know, point me to the best coach. Because you know, it's part of our training in education, it's part of the student affairs profession that we want to be ready, to be prepared. And I remember Ashton just kept saying, that's not how people listen, Dr. Watson. I appreciate you wanting to raise the bar, but really just be yourself and that was a bigger lesson for me, you know, to just say that I am enough and That this is the right Way to to utilize this platform. What about you? How did you make that adjustment Keith?

0:07:02
Well, you were sort of my calming voice you and Ray because I had no clue You know, I had some friends who have done radio spots But you know I had never done so and I was thinking the same thing you were, that I'm going to reach out to these different people who have the radio shows and ask for some advice. But after I talked with you to hear more about your insights on how you thought the show would work and then being connected to Ray, and I never would have thought Ray was a student. I thought Ray was a seasoned professional when we first corresponded and emailed, and he was just giving that guidance on how to structure the show and how to approach the guests and how to carry ourselves while we're on air. It just really gave me a different impression. I think I was anxious before that first show trying to figure out, okay, don't screw this up, don't mess up. But one of the things that Ray said that I think was probably the most beneficial is, and what we say to our guests is, if you screw up, just keep going and I will fix it. Ray we trust, right?

0:08:03
Right. I like that.

0:08:05
And he has not failed us.

0:08:07
He has not.

0:08:08
To date. And I think just sort of going into that first session and with that in mind, it helped relax me and calm me. And I think as you and I have interacted in this setting, we've sort of found our groove on how we approach it. So I just think, reflect back on sort of those first few episodes, especially when we were in different locations versus being in the same studio, we can see one another and feed off one another's energy and vibe. It's really come a long way and I'm very pleased with the journey that we've taken and where we are from where we started.

0:08:40
I think it's also important for our listeners to know we've never had a guest in the studio with us.

0:08:45
No, yeah, they've all been on the phone.

0:08:47
And it's all been on the phone or via WebEx. And so that's been really interesting. So Ray, talk to us about the mechanics of how you structure the show, the level of prep that you have to undergo, how do you get ready, and the transition from WebEx to the in-studio. What was that like for you?

0:09:07
So it's gotten a lot better since we're in-studio now. I gotta be honest, like the WebEx, it's a little bit of a process to get those video recordings to an audio file and then edit it all down to make it sound somewhat decent. Everybody knows the technology, it's great that we have this technology, the audio never sounds that great. Even during a meeting, people's mics cut off. Being in studio definitely helps me a lot. I think you guys do a lot better in studio as well because you have that feel with one another. You can see each other, you can see body language which you can't really do on WebEx. So as for me, preparation is not difficult. I get your music beds ready, I get your audio files together. I have to do a little bit of editing to make everything smoothly and sound good. But the overall process, it's a really simple one. And I credit you guys for being prepared for your show that makes my job easier. Well, as long as you don't come out with a blooper reel on us.

0:10:12
You know, I might do that one of these days. We've got some stuff, some material

0:10:16
that we could use for a blooper reel. Wow.

0:10:19
So talk to us, Ray, about the shows that as a student from a student perspective the ones that really kind of speak to you the ones that you know you found to be Beneficial, you know personally. Well, I have two that jump out

0:10:37
Immediately to me. The first would be the one we did recently the MSI student task force The student council, excuse me. That was that was a really fun episode. I'm a part of that student council, so it was nice to hear some of our work being talked about. And the three guests that we had on the student council were all very good and very, they're smart people. I feel like I gained IQ points just from being around them. So that one stood out in particular. And the other one that stood out, you might find this a little interesting, but the parking enforcement one, because I believe I gave you that idea. I said, look, this parking lot right here is always empty and it's dedicated for staff. We need to find out why, why no one's there. So that was a really interesting episode for me, just because it kind of affected me personally, because I could walk about a hundred fewer steps if that lot was changed to

0:11:40
student lots. You know the parking one stretched me when you lifted that as a possible topic I said what are we going to talk about the the painted line session the painted lines the the process of ticketing the process of appeal for ticketing you know but that was such an took place and how it makes our overall campus experience better. And so that topic really stretched me. So what about you? Do you recall anything from that parking podcast?

0:12:20
I just remember how in-depth and more formulated it is with determining the open space counts and the overall number of spaces, how they've grown and how they also work with risk management and like with the crosswalks and monitoring accidents. And just, you know, the other thing that was been, that was informal was the motor assistance program, if I remember right. Just with, you know, with the tire inflation and jumping batteries. And it was surprising that they don't, they don't have to break in your car anymore, right?

0:12:49
Right, right, right. And then, you know, just even their understanding during COVID of how we had to relax on the parking permits. It's something that you don't think about, but for a lot of students and families that are hurting, you know, that extra, you know, dollar or so or more really, really helped and was a sign of being gracious and kind, you know, but they had to obviously sustain some losses with that. But being a team player and saying this is the right thing to do by holding off on charging folks with those permits was another way to be a good rebel, if you will.

0:13:25
Well, that and it's such a thankless job. Like nobody goes around and says, oh, thank you for enforcing parking today. You know, like they have to do this job that nobody wants to deal with, but they still do it. And the guests, they had a smile on their face you hear it through the phone when we were talking to them even though that

0:13:43
that's the type of job you have to do. And I think everybody was excited to hear some of the new projects that are underway to increase parking availability and also just improve traffic flow yeah in and out of campus

0:13:55
so that was that was all positive. Yeah I think one of the shows that really out to me was the one with Dr. Marta Miana.

0:14:03
That was going to be the one I was going to say. I got there first.

0:14:07
Pick your own.

0:14:11
But one thing that she said to me, which really stood out, was I said, well, how do you deal with your haters? And she said, well, sometimes your haters have a point. And that really stuck with me about the need to really invite even our haters or those who might be in opposition to the table Sure and to be open to listening and feedback and that's just the role of leadership and you know You really can't escape that and so to hear that from her Like I said then and I'll say it again It's a lesson that we learn in leadership that you only find out from those who've experienced it. Not it's not a theoretical You know way of looking at things, but it was really eye-opening. But then to just talk about how she just had to come into the role. She did not plan to be a president. She was answering a university call in need. And I think in our profession we think about the trajectory of our career, that we got to be a director, that we got to be, you know, AVP or associate vice president, that we have to be a vice president and president was never in her list of jobs that she aspired to but once the position became available and the university called on her she was ready to take on that challenge and so that really framed in my mind to just take every opportunity that comes along as part of that journey and so what was your most takeaway or the biggest takeaway from that podcast with Dr. Mianna?

0:15:38
Well, you've already taken all my points. Renee, you can play the tape back and confirm. I'm sure some of those are my takeaways. You know, Renee, she's that first mover strategy on the mic. I got to get ahead of her on that. But I think one of the things, you know, in addition to what you shared, Renee, that resonated with me was that she was true to who she is.

0:15:59
Yes.

0:15:59
That she didn't try to be someone that she wasn't going into the position, not going into the position thinking she had all the answers, but she was going to lean on what had gotten her through her career to that point as becoming dean and special assistant to the vice, I mean, to the president. And she stuck to being true to herself. And I think that's what made her successful, what made her beloved and supported throughout campus and beyond while she was in this role. And I think the other thing that I took away with it is that she knew that she sort of responded to the call, but she was also very happy to be returning to her true passion, back to the classroom, teaching, researching. And so that was great to hear her just be so authentic in that way, and that some people you envision, they get into these high-powered positions, and then it becomes, what's the next big position I can go to rather than you know I want to go back down to a lower position so I can really you know respond to what my passion is and you know just sort of finish it out her her career in that setting. So that was those were the things that they really resonated strongly with me.

0:17:07
And I certainly believe that her exit did provide in my opinion this is just my opinion, Dr. Winfield with a lot of, you know, pickup wins, low hanging fruit. She'd already set it up so that the hay red mascot had been removed, but there was still conversation of which direction the university might take, whether we remain a rebel or whether, you know, we go with something altogether different. And I think that was an action on her part that she knew would be a great way to end her presidency, but also set the new president to either, you know, go a different direction or, you know, re-look at this notion of what it means to be a rebel, which we've already decided now that rebel represents more of a spirit of who we are, and it's really germane to our city and what it means to be, you know, in this context, a rebel on our campus.

0:18:01
You know, another session that's fresh on my mind is when we had the students, you know, on CSUN government officers. And just to hear, you know, the amount of time, you know, CSUN one and then also the. Scarlet and Gray. Yep. Scarlet, Scarlet and Gray. Those two sessions really impressed me with just, you know, I think it reflect back on when I was not nearly able to rise to that occasion of level of responsibility, time commitment, discipline, while still being a full-time student. And just to hear the students' passion about doing this extra work above being a student and how they devote so much time to fulfill those obligations was extremely impressive to me and made me want to more support the work that they're doing in those different spaces.

0:18:52
Yeah, so I would agree with that. I would also add that I just ran into Josh Padilla or, you know, CSUN president last week and I said, oh my goodness, like your presidency is coming to a close. You know, thinking back, I mean, who would have thought that you would have ever imagined than if it had just been a traditional normal semester. And so I said, so as you transition out, is it bittersweet? And he said, you know, yes, but he's also very excited to see a number of new leaders that are emerging and ready to take on the charge. The student group from the MOCA, the Men of Color Alliance, was a very interesting podcast. We talked about the need for community and how that's been really a hardship on them given this environment, but certainly needed. Ray, what about you? What stands out from the student segments that we've covered? Yeah, I think the CSUN segment was a really good one.

0:19:57
It's, as a student We get a lot of emails as students and I'm gonna be honest most of those just go straight to the trash

0:20:07
They don't wait wait wait wait you mean to me. You don't read all those emails

0:20:11
I mean I read probably more than most students. I'll tell you that Yeah, but you know like we don't get a lot of information other than email So it's nice to have another format to have audio, the radio program, and you know we're in the student halls now with our speakers that broadcast our HD2 signals, so the show is making it to students and they're forced to listen to it because they're playing pool and it's on. So that's a good thing to be able to disseminate messages that might not reach students even though we sent 10 emails about it, you know? So I thought that was a really informative episode and did a lot for the students.

0:20:55
So you touched on something. Talk about that, the need to have the speakers in the student spaces. You mentioned the residence halls. Talk about the evolution of that project.

0:21:05
It's a long time coming. And as a student-run radio station as the HD2, it's nice that we have the opportunity for students to be able to learn to be broadcasters, to learn to be DJs and program directors. We have all these opportunities, but at the same time, we want to interact with the community and interact with the campus in particular. So, we've been focusing on trying to get this message out there. And the first step was getting speakers on and around campus. So, as of now, we're in the Dayton Hall South I believe. I think we're this week we're going to be in Tonopah and there's another one we're getting in I'm not sure if it's this week or next week but that is is crucial because like when the when the pandemic first started right and everything was getting shut down the campus was shut down we launched a program called impact which talked about the impact of the coronavirus in Las Vegas in particular. And this program, you know, it gets the message out on our FM airwaves, but to get it to the students as well, we needed these speakers placed around campus. So now we have the ability to talk directly to students, whereas before they would have to search us out to find us. And now we're just on. You walk through the buildings and you hear us. So that message is getting out. It's not only music, because it is a radio station, we do play music, but we have talk shows. We have this show, Let's Talk, UNLV. We have another show run by one of the MSI student council members, Karen Jean Charles, and she does a student run program very similar to this one.

0:22:42
It's called You Gone Listen.

0:22:43
It's called You Gone Listen. I think it's important that those messages are spread throughout the student campus.

0:22:50
And then talk to us about the mobile equipment that we have that will be really used in the fall when we return to campus and have a more in-person experience how that is also going to

0:23:01
change how the messaging gets out. Yeah absolutely part of my involvement with the MSI Student Council was was putting together a proposal for the ability to broadcast mobily. Granted I did it during a pandemic, but you know, it is a long-term project that we can do stuff with in the future. So anytime that we have big events, we can put together a whole mobile broadcast, just like you see the professional commercial radio stations do, right? Like you got these radio stations that pop up at car dealerships or at the vaccination clinics that they pop up and they put a whole performance together, right? You got music out there, you got food trucks, and people

0:24:03
broadcasting where you could be interviewing, you know, people walking in to get a vaccination, tell me about your experience, whatever the case may be, but the ability to, like I mentioned earlier, reach out to the community and interact with the community, I think is something that just, you know, is And you know, one of the things I've appreciated with the show thus far is just the timeliness of the topics that we talk about on the show, that they are relevant to what's going on in the moment here on campus. And I think of utmost importance to the listeners that we have, you know, just like we first started, you know, we were just really getting into the pandemic and we were able to get Brian Labus, the leading epidemiologist within the state to really come in and answer questions and provide us with, you know, information that we otherwise probably would not have had direct access to here, you know, as they say, from the horse's mouth concerning how UNRV is approaching the planning and all those things that they were unfolding

0:24:45
at the time. Yeah, I really enjoyed the balance between the admin faculty at the senior level, but also the amount of students that we've had, but also faculty. We've highlighted their research. We've highlighted their interests, their passions. We've talked about different campus conversations, which really is timely, as Keith said. So, like I said, we've covered a lot. I think, what, 30 plus episodes have been recorded and and counting. So it's just been really really a

0:25:17
fun ride. And I will be remiss if I didn't mention one other episode. Okay. That I thought was a really informative to me. I bet you're gonna say grant writing because that's his.

0:25:26
Well you know that's my life, grant writing, right?

0:25:29
But you know when we had Dr. Kendra Gage on. Oh, yes. You know the professor from, you know African-American studies and just hearing her talk about implicit bias and just up front telling her students that, hey, you may be surprised. I'm a white professor teaching African-American studies. So that was a bold sort of statement to start the conversation. But it was just very engaging to hear how diverse her curriculum is, how diverse the readings are, and just hearing her talk about that rise and revolution component of the course. So that was one that I really enjoyed that show, and it was very informative.

0:26:12
Yeah. So I guess let's talk about moving forward. What topics and guests we might want to have in the future? I know most recently Melissa Bowles-Terry was appointed to director of the Faculty Center. We haven't had Melissa on the show. We haven't had Dr. Whitfield. Certainly could invite Dr. Whitfield to our show. We have a new UNLV

0:26:39
head basketball coach, former student and alum. Kevin Kruger, yes. Yep, great to have Coach Kruger come on the show and maybe have his dad call in during that time and give them a little business.

0:26:51
Okay.

0:26:52
Okay.

0:26:52
That'd be awesome actually. If we got a lot to call in at the same time, that'd be great.

0:26:57
What about Ray?

0:26:57
What do you think?

0:26:58
What is some?

0:26:59
Well, as a student, I think a lot of what's going on with the CSUN would be nice. They have the elections coming up. So I've actually been trying to work with CSUN to see if I can broadcast their debates and whatnot. So that, you know, something along those lines maybe the senators from specific colleges to kind of see what's going on in that college at this time what they're working on because they have a lot of information and a lot of their information like I said gets sent to students in email and having that vote voiced I got one of the CSUN senators emailed me about some scholarship opportunities they have available for students that they're not getting enough applicants for.

0:27:41
So, you know, having that type of information from a student perspective would be really crucial. And, you know, another topic that just popped in my head is now that we have, we're going to have an in-person commencement, maybe having some of the upcoming graduates maybe speak about, you know, the importance of having an in-person commencement and sort of how their morale has perhaps changed from believing there was going to be virtual, now there's going to be in person, and now they can invite some family members, and maybe to get some shared stories from our upcoming graduates, I think could be good too.

0:28:11
Yeah, that's exciting to know that we're going to be doing that, and that's for the class of 2020 and class of 2021, what a huge commitment on the part of the university. But also I think what would be interesting is the planning and the coordinating, and the permissions and approvals that you need to have in order to have this big event, but also to do it safe and, you know, under the CDC guidelines and taking all those precautions. So that's about what 10 podcasts right there.

0:28:37
Yeah, that would work.

0:28:38
And I think that the graduation would actually be a great time to test out this mobile equipment.

0:28:43
Oh.

0:28:44
Preach, Ray. You know? Preach, Ray. Interviewing graduates as they walked off the stage. Hey, come talk to me for a few... I think that'd be awesome.

0:28:53
Then Renee get to use her Facebook Live feed.

0:28:56
Oh, there you go.

0:28:57
Absolutely. And then I can wear my regalia because, you know...

0:29:00
Now, Renee, you're gonna rock yours. I'm gonna have to... You know, I'm gonna have to go rock mine too now. You should.

0:29:06
Make it more than a one-time-use outfit, you know? Absolutely.

0:29:11
Well, it's been great, Keith. This is a great time to walk down memory lane.

0:29:17
Yes.

0:29:19
So thank you for your commitment, Keith. I couldn't have done this without you.

0:29:22
And you know, Renee, I'm just thankful that you reached out to me and you didn't let me shy away from the opportunity and sort of really had confidence that we could do this and confidence in me. And it's been a great experience. I'm looking forward to the next year of doing the podcast. And eventually having some guests in person, right?

0:29:42
For sure.

0:29:43
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of KUNV Let's Talk UNLV. For my co-host Keith, I'm Renee. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12, on KUNV 91.5 Jazz in the Morning.

0:29:57
That's a wrap. That's a wrap.

0:29:58
.

Transcribed with Cockatoo