Brian Reyes, 7/10/06
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Bringing More Than Music to the Airwaves
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Brian Reyes [SFTV ’06] grew up listening to KXLU, LMU’s much-beloved, but sometimes-overlooked, radio station. Now he’s the general manager.
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Brian Reyes [SFTV ’06], is the general manager of KXLU, LMU’s FM radio station, 88.9 on the greater Los Angeles dial, and webstreaming at kxlu.com.
The station is an all-too-often overlooked Los Angeles cultural treasure – sometimes underappreciated on campus, but beloved in influential, creative pockets of the city and beyond by trend-setting hipsters, salsa fanatics, local and touring musicians, and record label employees, to name a few.
Reyes, himself a bassist with the band the Little Ones, is a Los Angeles native. He first tuned in to KXLU as a 9- or 10-year-old, when his older brother, Edward Reyes [CFA’98], was a deejay. “KXLU is one of the reasons I came to Loyola Marymount,” he says.
Reyes graduated in May with a recording arts degree, and will return in fall ’07 to complete a business degree.
During the second semester of his freshman year, Reyes joined the station’s on-air roster, honing his chops deejaying an overnight show. He’s had a slot ever since – the latest iteration featuring a blend of psychedelic rock from the likes of 1970s glam power rock icons, T. Rex.
As general manager, Reyes oversees the on- and off-air goings-on at the student-run station. Reyes also serves as KXLU’s liaison with university officials. Last year, he was a program director.
KXLU is perhaps best known as an incubator of new, independent rock acts. Deejays with rock shows are required to play fifteen particular indie tracks per four-hour show. Otherwise, deejays are free to do what they please, within FCC limits. Punk tunes fade to hip hop. Vinyl records segue to CDs. Sans the producers and engineers a commercial station might employ – and, save public service announcements, sans the commercials, too.
In short, just the sort of sophisticated, complex, diverse, and engaging programming that befits the station’s parent liberal arts institution.
“One of the missions of Loyola Marymount is that you always have to keep your vision open to new things,” Reyes says. “And I think in its own way, KXLU is helping out that mission and furthering it; we are opening people’s minds to new ideas.”