Airing On The Side Of Success -- Nathan Hale's Radio Station Has An Ear For Hits

Andrew Higgins, James Troy and Tim Green seem like typical teens, their lives revolving around Denny's and the latest pulsating, feel-good dance tunes.

But for many in the music industry, these students who help run the radio station at Seattle's Nathan Hale High School are the diviners of tomorrow's dance hits. They and others have helped make KNHC-FM (89.5) - known as C-89 - a powerful voice influencing radio playlists across the nation.

"They're well-respected in the industry," said Andy Shane, music director of New York's WKTU. "When record labels work me on songs, they often mention C-89 as a starting ground for a lot of records that turn into big hits."

In Rolling Stone magazine's June 26 issue, the station was featured for its "tremendous hitmaking prowess." Higgins, Troy and Green - who headed C-89's student operations this school year - recently appeared on Fox News Network with Rolling Stone associate editor Eric Boehlert to chat about their success.

And the San Francisco trade journal Gavin now factors in C-89's playlist when generating its Top 40 charts - something Dave Sholin, executive director of Gavin Radio Services, says is unprecedented for a noncommercial station.

So what's their secret?

"I can't really explain how you pick a hit," Higgins said. "It just has a nice hook, and it's nothing that sounds the same."

"Yeah, but it can't be so different that it's weird," Green added.

Students voice their opinions on new songs to Jon McDaniel, a C-89 alumnus and the station's adult-music director, at weekly meetings, often basing preferences on listener requests. A record can get its first airing simply because a student believes in its potential and is able to persuade the rest of the shift crew to play it.

For example, Troy sold McDaniel and other students on the U.K. single "Return of the Mack," by Mark Morrison. The station aired the song in November and subsequently was flooded with calls for Morrison's tune. Rich Christina, an Atlantic Records executive, said C-89 was the first in the Seattle market to play the song and started a demand in retail.

This brought the single, released in the United States by Atlantic Records, to the attention of Top 40 commercial stations like KUBE, which aired the song months later, he said. The record has since gone platinum, selling more than 1 million copies in all formats.

The students' freedom to follow their instincts, other music industry executives noted, is a key element in choosing the next dance hits.

"They're really passionate and into the music," said Harry Towers, vice president of promotions at New York-based Popular Records. "They're successful because they don't have someone telling them, `You can't play that record because it's not getting played in Dallas or New York.' "

Rolling Stone credits them with breaking national hits such as White Town's "Your Woman" and "Insomnia" by Faithless. Other hits these teens say they've been the first to air in the Seattle market include Daft Punk's "Da Funk" and La Bouche's "Be My Lover" and "Sweet Dreams."

But despite the station's growing reputation in the commercial world, its emphasis still is on education.

"What really made it for me at KNHC was my teachers' passion," said KUBE DJ Eric Powers, a Seattle radio personality who got his start at the station. "They just really took a lot of time and were detailed about how to be a good radio personality. They really brought me up and showed me the light of what good radio was."

After its humble birth as a 10-watt station in 1971, C-89 gradually increased its signal strength to 30,000 watts in 1989, and now can be heard throughout the entire Puget Sound region. Founder Larry Adams says the station, boasting 60,000 listeners, is everything he had hoped for and more.

"The whole thought was to develop something that would give youngsters in the city a chance to learn a skill and demonstrate their talents," said Adams, who retired as Nathan Hale's broadcast teacher in June.

For all its professional sound and national reputation, C-89 is mostly manned by advanced radio students under the supervision of three salaried adults. During the summer, students volunteer for four-hour shifts, and an adult volunteer takes over in the evenings.

The station's annual operating budget is approximately $200,000, with $130,000 coming from the Seattle School District and the rest brought in by underwriters and fund raising.

For Troy, Higgins and Green, radio has become a way of life. And Room 219, which houses C-89's dark, cavernous broadcast studios, has become their second home. Preferring the label "radio geeks," these teens agree that the intoxicating power of speaking to tens of thousands of people is what hooked them.

"I remember doing the news for the first time," Green said, laughing and widening his mischievous blue eyes. "It's like, `Oh, my gosh, my head is going to explode.' "

Shifting from his usual offbeat sarcasm, Troy commented that serving as C-89's student program director has taught him responsibility, leadership and teamwork. He plans to explore other career options when he begins at Western Washington University in the fall, figuring that college radio would be a step down from C-89's tightly run operation.

Yet both Green and Higgins have found their calling in radio. Green, who will be a senior, says he will probably attend a two-year college and go into sound production. Higgins, who can be heard on C-89 two nights a week, just graduated. His goal is to become a DJ at a Top 40 commercial radio station.

"This is not something I do for credit. It's something I love," said Higgins, running both hands over his bowl-cut hair. "I never knew what I wanted to be, until this."