Thursday, January 29, 1998
Hey,
KLA:
He's a lean, mean, broadcasting machine - he's campus radio KLA general manager Mark Liu
By Trina Enriquez
Daily Bruin Contributor
"You'll have to forgive me if I'm wincing in pain," says Mark Liu, pacing around the office of KLA, UCLA's student-run FM radio station. "I took a nasty face-plant and kind of twisted my back while snowboarding this weekend. Had a big yard sale," he added, grinning a little.
Liu, KLA's general manager, is referring to an ignominious tumble he took down Bear Mountain. In the said "yard sale," every bit of gear not strapped onto him was found littering the slope.
Despite a face-plant or two, however, weekly snowboarding excursions provide a major stress-reliever for Liu, a fourth-year political science major/business administration minor, and founding father of Pi Kappa Phi, the newest chartered fraternity at UCLA.
Liu has been a part of the KLA scene since fall quarter of his freshman year. Over time, he eventually worked his way to his present position as general manager. He oversees daily operation of the station, from setting policy to tying up loose ends - a position paradoxically placing him at both the bottom and the top of the totem pole in terms of duties.
Routinely, the KLA office is the first place to which Liu goes in the morning as well as the last place he leaves at night. On this particular morning, he empties trash - "Not one of my regular jobs," he grins - before leafing through mail and going over program logs. Logs serve as the 'script' of station programming, making them an essential part of operation.
While flicking quick glances at the paperwork, Liu alternates between sitting down and pacing around the small rooms in a sort of state of frenetic activity.
"All riiight!" he exclaimed. "We have commercials! This is a (major) source of income for KLA. Here, take a look at this," he went on, holding out a Job Alert from the Southern California Broadcast Association. In it, KROQ had advertised a position as a part-time music coordinator, so Liu sent in his resume in hopes of being hired by the alternative rock station.
"It'd be like a dream come true," Liu said, "but I wouldn't give up my job at KLA."
Liu's schedule is such that he only has a glass of water and some vitamins before heading out the door in the morning. "I bought a toaster earlier this year, just so, you know, I could have toast for breakfast," he explained. "But I never use it."
So, after a quick stop at the KLA office, Liu heads off to several straight hours of lectures and discussions. He eats lunch on the run.
"I'm too busy and too poor, so I just pack a lunch. I'm no stranger to eating in class, although I had to give up Taco Bell."
After he's finished class for the day, Liu heads back to the radio station, where he remains until evening.
Amidst the walls plastered with colorful band stickers and shelves lined with CDs and vinyl records are already several other members of the KLA team. The small rooms make for rather cramped quarters as other DJs and directors file in and out of the office.
As Liu enters, music is emanating from two adjacent rooms. One of these is the DJ booth, where another DJ spins records for her shift. In the other room is Jason Preston, KLA music director and 96-97 general manager, sorting and testing sundry discs to determine which songs to put in rotation.
"Jason's an MVP because he distinguishes between playing music he personally likes and playing what's good for the station," said Liu, watching him work. "He's one of the best KLA's ever had."
Liu then launches into discussing an upcoming training session for interns and a staff meeting while simultaneously checking up on the DJ currently on the air. Almost as soon as he's in the door, he's out again - this time to meet with Arvli Ward, UCLA's student media director.
As the liaison for KLA, Liu meets with Ward about four times a week to discuss administration and budgets along with picking up office supplies. Currently, KLA and Student Media are negotiating the installation of an FM transmitter on top of Ackerman Union or Hedrick Hall, which would allow students within a 1-2 mile radius to receive KLA without the cable presently required to tune into the station.
Most college radio stations operate using this special cable to transmit their signal to listeners, but KLA seeks to widen its base by adding the 1-watt FM transmitter. Ideally, listeners out to Veteran, for example, will be able to pick up KLA's signal.
However, the gulf between this goal and the cost of installation remains to be bridged, and KLA is on a tight budget. The logistics of the issue arouse some visible frustration among several members of KLA.
"With the transmitter, there's the possibility of attracting a bigger, more specialized audience," Liu said. "College radio is one of the last places in America where people can listen to non-corporate music, like amateur bands from the L.A. area - the newest music that's gonna break soon."
Upon his return to the office, Liu settles in to begin his two-hour shift as DJ. He usually performs at least one shift a quarter, and sometimes does two or three. Currently he also hosts "The Only Entertainment Show," a talk show on which, among others, the cast from UPN's "Team Night Rider" is slated to appear.
"I thought I'd just be sitting around, talking to shmucks or something," he said. "But we've actually had some pretty prominent people, like actors from "Days of Our Lives," and indie directors from the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals."
Once on the air, he spins the records, intermittently inviting requests and incorporating sound bites of Quentin Tarantino and KROQ's Kevin and Bean essentially saying "YOU'RE listening to KLA!!"
He dons headphones and works the knobs and buttons of the board in between talking to others popping in and out of the DJ booth.
"The only time of the day I can relax is when I'm DJ-ing," Liu said emphatically.
Manipulating the equipment so that everything from soundbites to newscasts flows well together looks pretty tricky. But, says Liu, "once you get used to everything, it becomes very therapeutic.
"My father, a pilot, once described his job as hours and hours of boredom followed by moments of sheer panic," he continued. "So being a DJ is like minutes of boredom when you're playing the songs, followed by moments of sheer panic at equipment problems or miscalculated time."
After his shift wraps, Liu briefly checks in with several other directors before calling it a day. He runs an errand at the UCLA Store and grabs a drink at Panda Express--"throat gets dry after doing a show" - before heading back to the Pi Kappa Phi house, a new fraternity at UCLA which he founded with several other students.
"When I rushed my freshman year, the idea of helping start a fraternity and shaping its future really appealed to me," he said. "My best friends are these guys; we've been through so much together to organize the fraternity. It's nice to have them right there."
If he's lucky, Liu can catch dinner with the other guys in his house, but he usually misses it on account of working late at the radio station. So after returning home, he spends time responding to e-mail and contacting various record labels with web sites on the Internet.
Afterward, he begins studying, taking a break after a few hours to play "this game called Quake World on the Internet. It's nerdy, but I get to blow people up - you know, harmlessly relives aggression."
So after an hour or so of computerized violence, Liu goes back to homework and is usually asleep by about 1:30 a.m. "I wish I were one of those people who could pull all-nighters and function on two hours of sleep," he said, "but if I don't get five or six, I'm useless."
That would be a minor catastrophe for a guy who's learned to live by his planner. "It's the only way to stay organized. I've taught myself so that the instant I have a thought, I write it down."
In the meantime, Liu is keeping his fingers crossed for that opening at KROQ, although he has been a newsroom intern at KABC-TV since last quarter. As a career, he's hoping to pursue music radio.
"I'd be so jazzed to move from college radio to professional radio before I graduated," Liu enthused.
For now, however, he's still focused on KLA. "I know it sounds corny, but with a lot of hard work and a little love, this station can really just explode."