Interview with Hofstra Student, Taryn Teurfs

If your student is serious about working in broadcasting, there is no better place to polish his or her skills than Radio Hofstra University. Regarded by many to be the best pre-professional broadcast training in the world, WRHU-FM offers a potent mix of deep rich training in state of the art studios, amazing on-air and off-air opportunities, constant mentoring by numerous in-house broadcast professionals, powerful networking sessions with industry leaders & thousands of Hofstra radio alumni. The WRHU staff have been honored with numerous (over 60) awards (many national) over the past few years. Since WRHU is located near Manhattan, staff can learn and grow at Hofstra with internships at the most exciting cutting edge broadcast companies in New York City. No other college radio station in the world can match the WRHU experience.

Taryn Teurfs (pictured below) is the host of Radio Hofstra University's alternative/indie program Airwave. She was kind enough to sit down with me and share her story on how she got so involved in Hofstra's on-campus radio station, WRHU.


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Before we begin, could you introduce yourself?

My name is Taryn Teurfs, I am a junior here a Hofstra and a Computer Science major.

Computer Science? So, what got you involved in the radio station?

Well, I heard about WRHU before applying from my sister who worked there when she went to Hofstra--and she told me that if I worked at the radio station I could engineer my own show, which really appealed to me as a wonderful opportunity. It was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity and something I wouldn't be able to do if I went to a specialized school. So, I wanted to take advantage of that chance.

With that in mind, could you speak on the application process?

Sure, during our New Student Orientation they took us on a tour all around campus--including the radio station (located in Dempster Hall). When we arrived there, they had applications ready and told us to take one if we were interested. So, I filled one out and around late August I heard back that I was accepted. Following that, there was a training class that went, I believe, the entire fall semester of my first year where they introduced us to what goes into the programming here. Once I completed that, I was able to put in a request to host--you send in a demo of you doing takes with different cuts of music and then a list of your top four choices. They're normally very good about giving you your first choice of show.

Now, you host Airwave at WRHU, which broadcasts alternative rock, correct?

Yes, that's right.

So, would you say that genre is your favorite type of music?

Well, I listen to Z-100 just as well as what's on my show, so I do like the modern, poppy songs as well; but I really do enjoy indie-rock too. You don't get to hear it too often, so it's really unique. I really enjoy getting the chance to play it during my show, and I think it's good to get that sound out there. But, personally, my favorite artists have to be Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Kate Nash, and Kanye West--and as far as bands go, I really like The Script, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

You mentioned earlier how great an opportunity it is to be on the radio; is there anything you would like to say in closing about the importance of having a campus radio station?

Of course. We have much more than music at the station. Some of the other shows, such as the Women's Show, are great platforms that I really like, and give students a chance to get their voices out there. There's such a variety of people and opinions, it's really a wonderful resource to have. Not only for the opportunity it gives students who work there, but for the ways it lets them get their views across.

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Airwave can be heard on WRHU (88.7 AM) Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., and online at www.wrhu.org.