GREEN BAY, Wis. — With a little less than 10 minutes to airtime, Riley Studinski, Anna Welsh and Payton Rhyner chatted casually as they prepared for an hour on the air.
The three are the hosts of “Girl Talk,” one of the shows on Radio GBX, an online student-run radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Studinski provides the male voice of the show.
“We just kind of ramble, talk about the week, talk about stuff happening and current events,” he said. “We always try to play a little bit of a game to include the audience a little bit and help the audience to get to know us a little bit.”
A third-year student from Oshkosh, Studinski said the station is giving him practical experience. He’s planning to pursue a career in sports broadcasting after graduation.
“It’s confirmation that this is something I want to do,” he said. “It’s just fun listening to music, talking and getting to say what I want to say for the world to hear.”
Radio GBX launched a year ago, but the station builds on a history of over-the-air and streaming stations dating back five decades.
Program Director Val Tavarez said programming is designed to speak to students on campus.
“With students, I think Radio GBX is a great opportunity for them to see if this is something they can see themselves doing in a few years, in broadcasting,” said Tavarez, a senior. “Not a lot of people have this amazing equipment and this program so they can practice and figure out their style.”
Welsh, one of the “Girl Talk” hosts, is a freshman from Appleton.
“With my communications major, it helps me for when I want to go into public relations,” she said. “It gives me communications tools on how to speak to each other. This has been really interesting to me, so, even if I want to go into radio, that’d be pretty cool. I’d already have this background.”
Studinski said he hopes the station connects with students.
“It shows the perspective of students,” he said. “If I were the listener, it would be kind of nice hearing what other students think about things going on, on campus and in the world.”