KSLU 90.9 FM broadcasts a variety of shows. “Point of View” is broadcast on Thursdays and Fridays from 11-11:30 a.m. Miranda Fleig is the new host taking over for Rosa Dunn. 
Morgan Ledet/The Lion's Roar 

As a communication student, there are many parts of the field that are available. For one senior, Miranda Fleig, she found her calling when she was just a teenager.

“I was 13 or 14,” said Fleig. “My best friend and I would ride to and from school on the bus. Everyday, we would have these amazing conversations talking about politics, the economy, celebrities and just anything you can think of. People on the bus would just listen to us because we would just banter back and forth and it was just wonderful. And we would always say ‘We should get a radio show.’”

Fleig is originally from Baltimore. Although, she and her friend are no longer having those conversations on the bus, they are both in the same field. When Fleig decided this is what she wanted to do, she contacted Dr. Joseph Burns, a Department of Languages and Communications professor and Todd Delaney, Manager of KSLU. 

“Well obviously, I moved down here and he moved up to New York, and he is in communication as well,” said Fleig. “I told Dr. Joe Burns, I went to his office two or three years ago and said ‘You know I really wanna do public relations, but I also wanna do radio.’ Well he said ‘Do both. Take classes in public relations and work at the radio station.’ So I called up Todd, got an interview and the rest is history.”

Since she has been interested in radio since that young age, she has taken a lot from it and has learned that it is not just being on the radio. 

“I’ve always had an interest in radio since I was 13 or 14,” said Fleig. “So, it’s been almost 10 years and I absolutely love it. You learn a lot from it. There’s different aspects of the job, like I just took the underwriting position as well, which is like the sales position, but I wish a lot of other people would be interested in radio because there is a lot of stuff you could learn. It’s not just being on radio. It’s like the behind the scenes and trying to figure out what you wanna talk about. How you want your show to come across to the audience.”

Fleig is taking over for Rosa Dunn, who has recently retired. Her show is called “Point of View” and looks for something interesting to discuss and talk about.

“‘Point of View’ is the community talk show,” said Fleig. “I want people to come on that, have events going on or something. Things that are concerning to the public. I like stuff that’s a little softer. I also want to talk about stuff that is more hard-hitting like job development in Tangipahoa Parish or jobs for women. It’s going to have a lot of the same feel as Ms. Rosa Dunn had, but I do want to talk about things that are really concerning for the community that need to be talked about.”

Although, there are numerous things going on in the world, Fleig hopes to keep it close to home.

“I want to keep it more based on our community like Tangipahoa Parish or just the state of Louisiana but there are other parishes I’d like to talk to,” said Fleig. “I want to keep things more towards the community itself. But there are topics that are national that need to be discussed because it might be affecting the entire country, but we also want to talk about how it’s affecting us. Mainly keep things community-based, but look at things going on in the world that could also be affecting us either now or in the future.”

Fleig hopes to attract an audience for her show, but she may only get certain listeners for certain shows.

“I think it depends on the show, like there are going to be some shows oriented towards a certain audience,” said Fleig. “I think it is very topic oriented, but I feel like the way the show is, at least right now, anybody can tune in and listen to it and be entertained or at least learn something from it. If anything, I just want people to, at the end of the program, learn something that they didn’t know before.” 

Fleig had her first show about three weeks ago and has already met with a diverse group of people.

“I met with the Chamber of Commerce already,” said Fleig. “I’ve met with Options. I met with Columbia Theatre and there are things that they talked to me about that I had no idea. I have lived here for about three years, but I don’t know everything about Hammond or Tangipahoa Parish. Because, if the audience doesn’t know, they’re asking the same questions I am. So, I have to think what would the audience want to know, and I have to just think that way.”

For future shows, Fleig is already looking for people to talk to and she has a few in mind.

“I wanna get LIGO on, it is The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory because they just found gravitational waves like a year or two ago,” said Fleig. “So, I am hoping to get them on. I would love to get President Crain to come on to talk about things going on in the school. I would love to get President Robby Miller, he is parish president, I would love to get him on. I would love to get a bunch of legislative people in here to talk about issues going on at the state level.”

Even though Fleig wants to talk to legislative, she also wants to talk a wide range of businesses and organizations.

“If anybody out there wants to come on to the show, they’re part of an organization or business and they have something they really wanna talk about, please come on,” said Fleig. “Please email me or something because I would absolutely love that. You can have the same people on over and over again. I just don’t want that. I just want a wide range of businesses or organizations to come on and just talk about something new, something interesting, or something I have never heard of before.”

Fleig has taken over the hosting duties of “Point of View” due to the retirement of Rosa Dunn, who Fleig was able to work under.

“I have worked with her for two years,” said Fleig. “I would actually help produce her show, so I would engineer it. She’s always so sweet, like she is my station ‘guardian angel’ or ‘fairy godmother,’ as she liked to say. You know, I talked to her when I was taking over the show cause I was really nervous and I was like ‘What can I do?’ She said, ‘Honey, as long as your interested in what they’re talking about the show, it is going to go fine. Just play off of what they’re saying, come up with questions and everything is going to be okay.’”

Fleig has just started with the hosting duties, but has already been able to retain information.

“You learn a lot,” said Fleig. “I’m new at this. I mean I’ve been a comm major my entire college career, but there’s still things I don’t know and this is definitely a step up for me. Bottom line is I just enjoy talking to people and learning more about them and their organizations or businesses. I hope I do really well at this.”

If you would like to be a part of “Point of View,” you can email Fleig at [email protected] or contact KSLU at 985-549-2330.

 

Miranda Fleig is taking over the hosting position for “Point of View.” She has work for KSLU for about three years.
Morgan Ledet/The Lion's Roar