After a four-week hiatus, “Taking Stock,” the radio show hosted by Tony Kodis and Jason Ingemi, Athletic Stockroom Coordinators, will return to WPAA, Andover’s student-run Internet radio station, next Wednesday.
The show first aired on April 3 during the 8 p.m. timeslot. Kodis and Ingemi discussed recent professional sports games and student accomplishments on Andover sports teams. During their time on the air, the two also interviewed Andover coaches and players .
After its debut, Michael Kuta, Director of Athletics, decided that “Taking Stock” should be taken off the air. However, he later reconsidered and allowed the show to continue.
“The information I had in my hand at the time was that two adults from my department were using a student platform–or certainly my fear was that they were using a student platform–and representing the Athletic Department, so anything that they broadcasted could be construed as a department view,” said Kuta.
Kuta was worried that the topics discussed in the radio show such as “Performance of the Week” or “Athlete of the Week” could be considered departmental opinions because they were coming from two of the department’s staff members.
After Kuta heard that several other faculty members have been on WPAA radio shows in the past, he decided to let “Taking Stock” to continue.
“I think I acted too quickly… and I am reconsidering because I have learned more since,” said Kuta. “I just think that it has to be clear to the [student] audience that it is [Kodis’s and Ingemi’s] show and not officially representing [the Athletic Department].”
While many faculty members have been interviewed on WPAA shows in the past, this is the first time any faculty member has hosted a show on the student radio station, according to Peter Solazzo ’13, WPAA’s Director of Technology.
Kodis and Ingemi came up with the idea for “Taking Stock” during dinner one day and decided to pursue it.
Kodis said, “It started over a conversation at [Paresky] Commons one day, with Kenny Christian [Athletic Technician], Coach [Dale] Hurley, [Coach of Boys Varsity Crew and former Faculty Advisor to WPAA], and myself. I didn’t even know that there was a radio station on campus that had fallen to the wayside and wasn’t really being used, and all we were trying to do was help it grow.”
“So the program was kind of brought in as a reach out to students on a Wednesday night, in the middle of the week, giving the kids a fill of what went on with scores that day and not necessarily going in-depth on what happened in the games, but maybe [showing students] how some of their friends did,” continued Kodis.
“We had Coach [Kevin] Graber [Head Coach of Varsity Baseball] on our first episode. For our first show, he came in, and we just talked about the baseball team and what it meant to be a student here and a coach at Phillips Academy. We were just trying to be informative more than anything,” Kodis added.
Ingemi said, “It was going to be about PA: PA events, sports, activities, just stuff on campus mixed in with other current news events and current sports events. [Our show would be] a little bit of a talk show about those subjects, and we were going to play some music throughout the show too. We thought it would be fun. Kids come [to the Athletic Stockroom] for their uniforms before practice, and we chat with them about all the different sports teams.”
Kodis, Ingemi and Solazzo tried to get “Taking Stock” to debut before the end of Winter Term. However, because of Extended Period Week, they were not able to get the show on air until the beginning of Spring Term.
According to Solazzo, WPAA had more than enough open time slots to accommodate “Taking Stock.” Solazzo had even spoken to Kodis and Ingemi about expanding the show.
Kodis said, “I think the idea of expanding the show was to reach out to alumni and more of the Phillips Academy community, helping WPAA get back into more common use among the students, faculty and staff.”
Solazzo said, “[Kodis and Ingemi] were always very, very positive about [the show]. It was a great show, it was funny, it was well thought out, [and] it wasn’t disorganized. So I’d like to think that they could be on the air because I think that the student body would be a lot more interested again in radio if they saw a show that was good and had a lot of quality to it.”
“Taking Stock” will air on wpaa.com on Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
