Randall Chapman Hints at the Future of KMHD2 Radio on Campus

Graphic by Randall Chapman

To the late artist Jean Michel Basquiat is often attributed to the quote, “Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.”

If you decide to stroll around the Mt. Hood Community College Gresham campus, you’ll see that there’s a certain lack of art – and music. But it hasn’t always been that way: Once upon a time, MHCC’s student-run radio station, KMHD2, broadcast wonderful melodies carefully curated by students through some of the open, outdoor corridors.

I’ve always loved music, and I’ve always loved radio. I have a lot of fond memories of listening to the morning radio shows in the car on the way to school and of staying up late at night to hear the more emotional and “late-night” shows on air.

This medium has always intrigued and inspired me. So I decided to sit down with Randall Chapman, the current studio operations manager of KMHD2, Randall Chapman, and talk a little bit about how students can get involved with the all-streaming KMHD2 and what the future of radio broadcasting at Mt. Hood might be. It was definitely a pleasure on my end to hear firsthand Chapman’s passion for radio and about plans to grow it at MHCC. His surrealistic wall hangings, illuminated by black light in his studio opposite the Planetarium entrance on the Main Mall, put his enthusiasm on display for all to see.

I also plan on getting involved with KMHD2, and if you’re considering the same, I highly recommend stopping by the Integrated Media building (Building 13) to speak with an IM faculty member about it.

Advocate: Who are you?

Randall: I’m a [second-year] student in the Integrated Media video program. Also, I’m an alumnus of the cybersecurity program, as of 2021.

Advocate: How did you get involved with KMHD2?

Randall: I originally approached [longtime IM instructor JD Kiggins] about doing a radio show. And because of my networking skills, all audio is on digital, so I got involved in the actual “behind the scenes” kind of thing. During the summer, I was tasked with going down to cold storage and reorganizing the room and since I did a great job, with my enthusiasm and my belief that music is the blood to the soul, the life of all reality, I impressed JD enough that he actually made me Studio Operations Manager at KMHD2.

Advocate: What does a Studio Operations Manager do?

Randall: Basically, I help with keeping KMHD2 on the air and making sure that the tech is working. Like, if one of the servers goes down, I’m actually one of the people that goes into it and sees what’s wrong with it.

I facilitate people getting into the radio station or doing voiceover work [for various film, television, and commercial projects]. On the student side, I just kind of oversee all of KMHD2, which is going through a little bit of a growth spurt.

Advocate: What do you enjoy the most about your role at KMHD2?

Randall: All of the trust [JD] entrusted me with. Basically, if I get an idea, I’ve got full support in trying to improve things.

Advocate: What do you enjoy the least?

Randall: Not having enough time for it. Being a [second-year] Integrated Media student, it’s just a real busy life. I wish that I had so much more time that I could give to the radio station, but I’m actually going to stick around after graduation and see how much I can continue to be involved with KMHD2 because Mt. Hood Community College needs this radio station. It’s one of the things that can make the morale of the place even better. We’re working on a project to get sound back in the corridors.

Advocate: What advice would you give to students interested in KMHD2?

Randall: Speak up. If you wanna get involved, track down JD ([email protected]) or myself and I’ll get you connected with JD. We could really use more people, especially with the new project that’s coming. We’ll need people to help with inner-college advertisements for services the college provides, voiceover work – you know, royalty-free music sourcing, all that kind of stuff – so it’s going to get exciting pretty soon.