Voice of FJU – A Campus “DreamWorks”
-Jolin Liu
Voice of FJU begun in 2001 is a student-oriented Fu Jen Catholic University campus radio station, featuring an integrated and multi-modal format with podcasts and traditional radio shows. This multimodality allows students to pursue their dreams in mass communication fields by providing internship opportunities while incorporating new media forms.
Podcast is a more influential medium than radio today. Simply put, podcast is a term combining “iPod” and “Broadcast” that offers digital audio programs, which are available on the Internet so that people can listen to them anytime. Generally, podcasts are run by numerous podcasters who focus on a specific topic and niche market. However, Voice of FJU merges the characteristics of these two media, and the public can enjoy the informative and amusing contents conveniently and instantly through visiting the official website or just turning on the radio to FM88.5.
“Since senior high school, I have always wanted to realize my dream of creating my own podcast channel!” Regina, a veteran of Voice of FJU, said. She added, “After learning that Voice of FJU provides rich resources and complete professional radio equipment, I was eager to join this institution.” Yoyo Wu, a senior news department representative, who also finished all the rigorous training courses with Voice of FJU said, “I like to interact with people and have been interested in the mass media industry since senior high school. After attending the student recruitment promotion of this radio station, I found that the members are eloquent and have surpassing communication skills. So, I decided to submit my application and desire to be an intern at Voice of FJU.”
Voice of FJU provides students with internship opportunities to allow them to be closer to the “real” mass communication industry. This campus radio station welcomes all undergraduate students and invites them to join the group by holding the recruitment and selection. Voice of FJU is equipped with four professional departments, including programming, news, public relations and engineering. The students are assigned to all four departments in rotation so that they experience different training, gain practical experiences and develop management skills.
A recording studio in Voice of FJU
First-year students mainly do the basic work, including special guests’ interviews, recordings, script writing and programs hosting. In the second year, students can realize their dream of being radio-makers. For example, Regina and her partners’ channel called “A Psychological Chamber Lives Three Landlords” focuses on dialoguing about kinship, love and friendship. Yoyo and her partners’ “Hotteok & Tteokbokki Hot Pot,” shares and discusses the latest Korean trends, culture and music. “Hotteok & Tteokbokki” refers to two Korean traditional cuisines because the creators hope the audience can “taste” everything in Korea by listening to their program.
Regina says the learning process at Voice of FJU is tough but meaningful, with challenges such as scheduling, made especially difficult during the pandemic, and the pressures of being a creator of her own channel.
However, Regina said, “Indeed, we faced obstacles on the path, but I learned how to communicate effectively with people and became adaptable and flexible through creating radio programs.”
For Yoyo, the Voice of FJU advances her communication skills. As a manager, she thinks the common difficulty is to organize work content for members and make semester curriculum plans with the deputy director. She said, “At first, I realized the radio station was not as wonderful as I thought it would be. But I think the tasks and even trivial stuff are a kind of training, which strengthens my social skills so that I can interact and cooperate well with interviewees and classmates.”
As a campus radio station, Voice of FJU plays a crucial role in Fu Jen Catholic University. On the one hand, this campus radio station offers chances to the students in the College of Communication to put what they learn into practice. On the other hand, it is a pipeline which provides opportunities for students from other departments to step into the mass media industry. Regina said that their channel can reach even high school students, and several applied to Fu Jen Catholic University because of the Voice of FJU. For Yoyo, Voice of FJU is a goodwill ambassador for the reputation and image of Fu Jen Catholic University. She said, “Usually, our guest speakers would say to others that they came to our university for interviews instead of indicating the name of the radio station. So, I think one of the core values of Voice of FJU is that it represents our university to some degree.”