Come fall 2023, students might realize what the $5 radio station fee is for when they walk through the Ronnie Williams Student Center lobby and see people broadcasting in the purple-and-gray soundproofed Bear Cave.

Construction’s nearly complete, but KUCA-FM 91.3 is also receiving all new equipment, a process that the Director of Broadcast Services Steve Owens, who’s worked with the student radio station for 17 years, said might take a while.

“When we start the shows next fall, everyone will for sure be in here,” Owens said. “We’re all going to have to learn the new stuff together, too.”

The staff felt the new location would give the service more visibility on campus compared with its current location in the Student Center basement.

“There’s a lot of people on this campus that have no idea we exist,” Owens said. “We’re getting way more exposure.”

The new recording room’s windows, currently covered with QR codes and posters promoting the station, will allow passersby to watch students broadcasting or recording.

Sophomore Bri Hansen, one of the station’s three student managers, said she feels like the location is an opportunity for exposure.

“We’ll be in the middle of one of the busiest parts on campus, and that’s really exciting,” Hansen, who is starting her fourth semester with the station, said.

Almost all the station’s technology, from the Windows XP desktop computers to the station’s transmitter, will be replaced. The broadcasting room will have a 58-inch monitor for breaking news events and sports coverage.

Owens said this upgrade will make student workers and radio hosts more competitive in the industry because they won’t require as much training as new hires.

“The stuff that we’re ordering is the same stuff they’ll be running at a lot of commercial stations, so those that do choose that path, they’ll just jump right in,” Owens, who goes by Steve-O, said.

Hansen, a broadcast journalism major, said she’s looking forward to the upgraded equipment because it’ll make her student work feel more connected to her future career.

“You can’t really do a lot down there [in the Student Center basement] and then take it out into the real world,” Hansen said.

The radio station replaced the concierge desk and ATM room on the first floor and is next to the post office and C-Store.

While the new Bear Cave’s first broadcast date is unknown, any student can reserve time for a show this semester in the basement. Shows must be clean and noncommercial; songs or discussions can’t have explicit language or promotion of a product or service.

Students can also use the equipment and studio to record podcasts, which the station does not regulate the content of unless it is broadcast.

Hansen hosts her own shows throughout the week and said it was fun and stress-relieving.

“Try it out,” she said. “It helps you improve your voice, and that can help you with interviews and public speaking.”

For a student’s first show, student managers will train them how to use the current dated equipment in the basement.

Hansen and two other student managers oversee student-run shows and monitor what the radio sounds like during baseball, football and basketball games.

“We are in the station, and we’re dealing with the coverage on our end and controlling what it sounds like over the radio,” she said.

To hear what’s on the air, tune to 91.3 FM, visit uca.edu/kuca/ or stream the station on Apple Music or the TuneIn app.