Garfield’s reputation is built on the backs of long-standing quality institutions, such as our Jazz program and Freestyle Rap Club. But in spite of the way that we’ve taken over the worlds of rhythm and rhymes, there hangs in the air a frontier yet to be dominated by Bulldogs. It looms every time I press the “seek” button on my radio in search of a new set of jams in the lower FM radio frequencies.

Unbeknownst to many, the dance radio hotbed of C89.5 is a primarily student-run public radio station, managed by a staff of about 35 kids and adults from a wing of Nathan Hale High School.

A fully licensed radio station, C89.5 brings beats and synths to all of the central Puget Sound area. For seven periods a day, as well as a few sets after school and on weekends, student DJs feed a mix of live and prerecorded playlists, traffic reports, and NPR-style mini-ads through a stack of processors and computers, and out a wire to the top of Cougar Mountain. From there, a combination FM/HD transmitter lets 130,000 total weekly listeners tune in 24 hours a day. The station staff takes care of the hours they aren’t in the studio by cueing prerecorded segments to play throughout most nights and weekends.

The station has done more than simply stay on the air, explains Student Music Director Simon Thwaits.

“We picked [Lady Gaga] up before anyone else did; we tend to do a good job of that,” says Thwaits.

A few years back, Gaga came to Hale, performed, and left with a C89.5 beanie in hand and a regular spot in the station’s playlist.

The radio business isn’t all bumpin’ fresh cuts. The station has to raise almost all of its funds through two yearly pledge drives. As the Hale folks finish up their fall drive this weekend, they’ll use the money on everything from regular maintenance to paper and pencils. The drives are essential, as the station receives little to no support from the school itself. The school does at least allow them to stay open, points out adult station staff member Matt Cohn.

“We don’t make the school look bad, and they let us keep running,” says Cohn.

But with the breadth of the station’s listenership, meeting their pledge drive goal of $140,000 is rarely an issue.

They didn’t get their respected status as a high school radio station from playing the same Black Eyed Peas song all day. C89.5 frequently features sets by a plethora of local DJs, including ex-American Idol contestant Blake Lewis.

Those Hale kids may have Lewis and Gaga on their side, but there’s no reason Garfield couldn’t join the ranks of the broadcasting, giving our favorite tunes a shot to travel at the speed of sound.