Daily Iowan: What’s new with KRUI this semester?
Quinn: The new website launch for us has been huge; it’s something we wanted to do for a long time, and it puts us on a different plane as far as a media supplier goes. We’re not just a radio station anymore. With the new website, the Lab is our online radio station that’s been around for a year, and we have a new concert series called the Low Frequency Series, so it’s been a big year.
DI: Tell us all about the new features for the website.
Quinn: We have our staff covering music, news, and sports. We have show reviews, CD reviews, ticket giveaways, and soon you’ll be able to live chat with the DJs online.
DI: What’s the purpose of the Low Frequency series?
Quinn: We’re taking bands that are going be big, or on the verge of breaking through, and providing it for the Iowa City community a year to six months in advance. We have a great staff, and we’ve got to work with all the awesome venues in Iowa City. They’re great shows with bands that you probably haven’t heard of them yet, but you’ll definitely hear about them in a year or so.
DI: How has KRUI been able to grow and network around Iowa City?
Quinn: Every year, we work with SCOPE to put on a KRUI show. Last year was the Cool Kids, then the Black Keys, and now we got the Decembrists to stop by. We’ve also worked with the Art Museum, we’ve worked with the Campus Activities Board, we’re now doing something with Habitat for Humanity. I just think that it’s crucial to build these relationships because we’re all doing something for the community. The nice thing about collaborating with student groups is that everyone has the same goal, and it’s great to work together to put on awesome shows.
DI: How is KRUI able to lure big-name artists to the studio for on-air interviews?
Quinn: We look at who’s coming to town, and we reach out to them and explain we’re not too far from the venues and see if they’d like to come in for an interview. But the people at the venues downtown encourage artists to stop through here, as well as our name has gotten bigger in the last year or two. We’ve had Kate Nash, Girl Talk, Broken Lizard, the Cool Kids, and many other big names, so it’s nice when bands come to town and ask about us.
DI: In this new technological era where people can get their music just about anywhere, what is KRUI able to bring to the table?
Quinn: What it comes down to is that the radio station has the music that we play much like our Low Frequency series. KRUI is really for the people who want to discover great new music. I think that with the new website, we’re putting radio on a medium that’s more accessible and friendly to our students and generation, with people like you who are picking the music, so it’s a more intimate experience, too.
