Matt Shimanovsky wants to get people excited about radio again.
Now in his second year at KRNL-FM – the student-run radio station at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa – this graduate of Niles West High School has been busy reforming, reshaping, and, he hopes, rejuvenating the lost art of the college radio station.
Shimanovsky never particularly intended to be part of Cornell’s own radio renaissance.
“Basically, I walked into The Commons at the right time,” he says. A baseball teammate was taking applications for the 2008-09 KRNL executive board, and Shimanovsky was hired as program director, a position he said involved “a lot of grunt work.”
But his efforts as a liaison between the executive board and the DJs, coordinating shows and training activities, prepared him for a larger role with the station.
This year, as the general manager of KRNL, Shimanovsky is shaking things up and working to create a station that’s not the same old song and dance.
Shimanovsky said his primary goal for KRNL is the expansion of its listener base. “We need to be constantly expanding, not just cater to the same, small group,” he said.
In years prior, KRNL had languished under the weight of technology that lagged behind the curve and a lack of mainstream interest from the student population.
To help combat those issues, KRNL has increased and expanded its coverage of Cornell sporting events. The combination of sports programming and online broadcasting has allowed the station – which, prior to about 6 years ago, was music only with a broadcast range not much larger than the booth – to reach parents and alumni interested in live broadcasts of Cornell sports, an audience the station had never previously captured.
And on campus, KRNL has increased its visibility by sponsoring concerts, inviting professional DJs, and hosting dance parties.
“If we want to be successful,” said Shimanovsky of the new endeavors, “we need to restructure the way the station is run.”
This restructuring would involve turning the entire station on its head, making it “more like a real station and less like an extracurricular activity.” DJs would have to apply for shows, and would be on-air three to five days a week, as opposed to the one day they are currently.
According to Shimanovsky, the station’s biggest challenge is overcoming itself. Under his guidance, KRNL is working to “rebrand” its image, though he admits there are often disagreements among his staff about who the station should cater to on and off campus.
“Through these competing ideas, good things come out of it,” Shimanovsky said, adding that the wide range of viewpoints among the staff allow creative solutions.
As much as he does for the radio station, Shimanovsky’s non-radio plate is pretty full too. In addition to playing baseball, he is a double major in politics and philosophy, referees intramural sports, and is applying to law school.
As Shimanovsky’s college career draws to a close, he is preparing himself for life after KRNL and starting to make plans. He hopes law school is in his future, although he is still figuring out where he would like to attend next fall. His dream job would be to secure a position as in-house council for a professional sports team, but he is also interested in a governmental appointment.
His back-up plan? Shimanovsky thinks tackling other mediums as a professional philosopher has a certain sort of appeal for a former radio man.
“I would write a book,” he said, “and get Oprah to sell it.”