Tiger Radio was officially launched in late September, thanks to a grant from the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation. English teacher James Hayes, who currently teaches the mass media production class and oversees the radio, believes there is a place for anyone in broadcasting. 

“For those who are a little bit more introverted, you can just come in, play your music, talk about your music, and then you can get out. Those who are more extroverted that want to be out in front at club events, at campus events, can certainly do that,” said Hayes. “But it is such a strengthener of all public speaking skills, because if you can speak behind a microphone, you can speak pretty much anywhere.” 

The mass media production class has an entire unit about audio production, so they produce podcasts for the radio.  

“Eventually, I think that it should become an extracurricular as well and open it up to the greater campus and let anybody that wants to be part of it be a part of it,” said Hayes. 

Since it takes time to train students on broadcasting, the radio hasn’t covered any football games this year, but they plan to cover basketball during the upcoming season. Students on Tiger Radio currently air the latest hit music and produce podcasts.  

Senior Alex Minnick, who manages one of the podcasts, is passionate about radio and audio production. 

“Last year, I was in AV Essentials, and when we had gotten the grant for the radio, I knew instantly that’s just what I wanted to do,” said Minnick. “I dislike being on camera. I love to just do audio stuff. I’m really big with having fun with my voice, so I always knew I kind of wanted to do this. And when I was kind of offered to be sort of a manager of the room, I said yes.”  

Sophomore Layton Hess joined the mass media production class for the same reasons. 

“I prefer videoing more than actually being on the camera. Just a bunch of introverts in here,” jokes Hess. 

The goal is for Tiger Radio to be a voice for students – the soundtrack of Fishers High School. They have several shows that rotate on air, but the radio station mainly plays music. Hayes hopes it can become a place for students to talk about whatever clubs or sports they are involved in. 

“It’s awareness of the thing that you are doing that you think is cool, but also, there’s just so much that happens at this school,” said Hayes.  “In the Roar, we have anywhere between three and five minutes to try to cram a bunch of information and every once in a while, a little bit of entertainment in there. This is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If students are available to voice track a show and they want to voice track a show in one of our audio booths, then they can be live on the air from the Tiger Radio studio.”  

Besides music, the radio plays student podcasts, where they talk about school and video games.  

“Every episode, I at least talk about Fortnite once, which is funny. But we have also done an FFA episode. We want to do a couple of the smaller episodes and get some clubs out there and do some promotion around the school about what’s happening,” said Minnick. 

After Hayes leaves at the end of the semester, Tiger Radio will be more student-run, and students from the intro to mass media class will get more involved. 

“We want students to guide the ship. I in no way want to be the person who is telling students when they can be on the air, when they can’t be on the air, what they should say, what they should play,” said Hayes. “I know just from my experience with all things media that it becomes a living, breathing thing. So I 100% believe in it. It will be up to the student leadership and how seriously they take it. It’s built as a resource, and I hope that that’s how it utilized.” 

Junior Mason Mosier is excited about the future of Tiger Radio, and he hopes to gain more experience with the radio. As more people become interested, he wants to teach the new students “how to navigate certain technology” and “go from visual media to audio focused media.” 

The students running Tiger Radio are passionate about it, and excited to get more students involved in audio production.  

“I cannot wait to introduce them to this,” said Minnick. “I mean, it’s something that I’m passionate about right now, and I’m obviously excited to show off and get more people involved in it. One thing I’d kind of hope is that we actually get our own radio frequency. That would be awesome.”