Graphic: Finley Hogan/The Olaf Messenger
“Welcome to Continental Conditioning!” I say every week to open my KSTO Radio show, Continental Conditioning, a show created for out-of-state students by out-of-state students. Every Friday at 10 p.m., before we say our opening, we always play an intro song. This week’s song is “Better Distractions” by Faye Webster. And at 10:04 p.m., we turn on our mics and our energy — it’s time to run THE radio show.
When it comes to running a radio show for KSTO, the hardest part is figuring out what you’re going to play. For my group of hosts, we try to find a topic every week to discuss and play related music in order to create engagement with our audience. Our favorite topics have been our problems with campus culture, friendships on the Hill, and homesickness. Anyone with a niche can run a radio show, truly. And with the flexibility of KSTO, you can do a lot with your options. KSTO Radio shows can be 100 percent conversational, 100 percent music, or if you’re like Continental Conditioning, 100 percent both.
A bonus of having a KSTO radio show has been the connections that you create with fellow hosts, other shows, and your listeners. “I think a highlight for hosting Continental Conditioning is that it brings us together after a long week,” Tial Chin ’26 said. “It isn’t just about sharing music and how our day went, it’s also about the importance of sharing [our] thoughts.”
Regarding the origin of our show, it stemmed from a collection of poetry I was writing at the time of my transition into college. With topics such as impostor syndrome, loneliness, and emotional ache, Continental Conditioning evolved into a radio show that gives these conversations a more positive light. I think that when creating a radio show it should be a place for people to exist, hosts and listeners alike. With a KSTO Radio show, you can do that.
My show exists for my hosts and I all the conts who tune in to listen. Definition of “cont”: A fan of the KSTO Radio show, Continental Conditioning Example of usage: “Everyone can be a cont.”
