To start off the fall semester, UVM’s very own radio station, WRUV, is holding DJ training for anyone looking to get involved, regardless of experience level.

WRUV provides the opportunity for students, faculty and Burlington locals to have their own radio show.

At the station, they meet a welcoming and diverse group of people who share one thing in common: their “passion for music,” said junior Gabby Battaglia, WRUV program director.

Junior Corey Pettengill, business director at the station, said it was “the perfect environment to talk, listen and learn about music.”

The first DJ training meeting for students looking to get involved is at 5 p.m. Sept. 15 in Billings Lecture Hall.

DJ training is spread out over about two months and includes five steps. It begins with an in-station session followed by a brief exam.

Afterward, prospective DJs must spend six hours shadowing other DJs and then create their own 15-minute “demo tape,” which contains a taste of the songs they would play on the radio.

The final step is the completion of four “graveyard” shifts, from 2-4 a.m. or 4-6 a.m., Battaglia said.

Once those shifts are completed, more opportunities are available.

DJs can “have a weekly time slot, run for a position on the executive board, table at events, help with interviews and in-station performances, review music and so much more,” she said.

According to Battaglia, it is not intimidating to learn how to have your own radio show.

Battaglia said she is a “human development and family studies major who’s never played an instrument in [her] life and had no idea what levels were before joining WRUV.”

Pettengill said he remembers not even wanting to attend the first meeting.

“Now I couldn’t even imagine not being a part of the station,” he said. “It is such a great environment and once you start, it is so easy to fall in love with WRUV.”

Those who would like to get involved but cannot make the initial meeting can contact Gabby Battaglia at [email protected].