Radio program creates lasting legacies

Published 10:04 am Wednesday, July 22, 2015

KMIH Hot Jamz Radio at Mercer Island High School has grown immensely in the last four years due to the commitment of a dedicated radio teacher and hard-working students.

In 2014 and 2015, the radio program earned its first General Excellence Awards at the Washington State High School Radio Awards. There have been numerous students such as Luke Mounger, Ian Martin, Brady Baker, and Jack Oberle who have received many individual awards from the successful program.

While the station daily plays top hits and mixes by student DJs, sports fans are most familiar with the popular live broadcasts of basketball, women’s soccer and football games.

The high school run radio station has come a long way since former radio director Charlie Hilen took over in 2011. And while Hilen played a big part in returning our live Islander sports action, another individual also served as a catalyst in the return of prep sports to the local radio airwaves.

Ryan Rouillard was starting his final year at MIHS in 2011 when he brought back live broadcasts of Islander basketball games for his senior culminating project.

Rouillard had not been involved with the school’s radio program until Hilen came in looking to establish a sports program.

“There was always a hunch that radio was something I wanted to get involved with, and [Hilen’s arrival] was when I started to get involved,” Rouillard said. “I obviously got very hooked with it.”

Broadcasting came naturally to Rouillard, and he always filled dead air with stories and statistics about the players (which he could still probably ramble off to you).

In addition to restarting the basketball broadcasts, Rouillard made sure to maintain his legacy by mentoring a young Mounger when he joined the program as a freshman.

Mounger, like Rouillard, was also inspired to broadcast basketball games, a sport he loves. Rouillard was happy to bring Mounger on board and became so much more than a co-host.

“He taught me everything and helped me transition into broadcasting,” Mounger said.

After every broadcast–the duo did 31 together that year–Rouillard would send Mounger an email with thorough strengths and weaknesses to help him improve. This wasn’t part of the job description, but Rouillard wanted to be sure that there would be someone for him to pass the mic.

“I wasn’t sure if anyone would be there to pick it up after I left, so when Luke expressed interest I was really excited,” Rouillard said.

Mounger continued broadcasting basketball games his sophomore year with Baker, who was then just joining the program as a junior. Together these two furthered the sports program by adding two new sports, women’s soccer (Mounger’s idea) and football (Baker’s dream).

Meanwhile, as the KMIH Radio station continued to grow around Mercer Island, Rouillard was jumpstarting the KWVA Radio at the University of Oregon.

As a journalism major Rouillard has been involved in the University’s radio station since day one. This past year as head sports director, Rouillard broadcasted the radio’s first Ducks football game, a big deal for the program due to the tight licensing agreements attached to the team.

“It was a process for sure, and finally we were able to make the right connections to get the contract,” Rouillard said.

The broadcast was of a spring football game in May. This fall the station will be broadcasting all of the Ducks’ home games with Rouillard at the helm.

Rouillard may be working on creating another broadcasting legacy at Oregon, but back home at Hot Jamz he is already a legend.

Baker considers Rouillard one of his mentors, even though he missed being able to work with him by a year.

“One of my biggest regrets is not being able to get on the mic with Ryan,” Baker said.

Although Baker is unsure if he wants to make a career out of broadcasting, he is keeping his options open and still goes to Rouillard with questions and advice for how he can get better. The sophomore will be setting off to broadcast high school football in Texas, while attending Texas Christian University, in the fall.

Mounger on the other hand, who has been the “voice” of Islander sports for the last three years, will be writing about Husky football and basketball when he enters the University of Washington in the fall as a freshman.

So with many “greats” gone, it will be up to Martin (who was Mounger’s most recent co-host) and the new program directors, Josie Blakeslee and Sam Hibbert, to keep the sports program alive.

“[Rouillard and Hilen] did a really great job of turning it around and making it a big part of this school,” Mounger said. “It’s at a great place right now and Josie and Sam will have to keep the radio station up and running as their number one focus.”