by Nika Carlson
In the midst of new construction, KWVA Station Manager Charlotte Nisser helps an employee with paperwork.
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Charlotte Nisser never planned to manage a radio station. The 22-year-old law school student started out as a reporter for the station's tiny news department in September 1999. Then a triple major in international studies, French and journalism, she had print and television broadcasting experience, but she wanted to expand her horizons.
"I wanted to get some basic reporting experience on the broadcasting side," she said. She moved quickly to assistant news director and again to head news director, all within the space of less than six months.
"Part of the inherent structure of the station is a constant in and out," she said.
She liked management: coordinating schedules, overseeing DJ's, general controls. Though she left for France for six months after only two-and-a-half as news director, the station's directors encouraged her to apply for the position of general manager. And that is how she found herself at a public telephone the streets of Angers, France, on a telephone conference call, interviewing for the position of head of her college radio station.
"I look back on it now and I'm really glad I did it," Nisser said. "The experience I've had here, it's been one of the most amazing experiences I've had."
Nisser has now been general manager for two-and-a-half years, past her June 2003 undergraduate matriculation and into her graduate study of communication law. She oversees everything at the station, from FCC regulations to DJ and staff training to community and University relations.