Bryan Broadcasting and Texas A&M University partnered to launch “Fusion Radio” on 95.1 KNDE-HD2 College Station TX last month.

Branded as “Divergent Rock”, the station focuses on a broad Alternative music mix with a sampling of Classic Rock and Hip-Hop. Fusion is operating from studios on Texas A&M’s campus with students taking Radio Broadcasting and Advanced Radio Broadcasting classes handling on-air, production, and promotions for the station.

The school’s Agriculture & Life Sciences’s department blog highlighted how the station came to be. 2015 graduate Caitlin Curbello pitched the format as an in-class assignement, which department head Dr. Billy McKim took to Bryan Broadcasting. Curbello has since been hired by Bryan to serve as liason between the school and company.

Bryan Broadcasting OM Tucker Young told MyAggieNation.com about the partnership, “We needed ideas from someone who is brand new. The industry is doing the same thing all the time. We get fresh ideas when we listen to the younger generation and open up to people who aren’t inside the industry.”

INSTANT INSIGHT: THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF! The A&M students are gaining experience in producing a commercial radio product without having to worry about ratings or revenue. Bryan Broadcasting gets unique content for HD Radio and developing talent for future job openings. If one station in every market created some sort of partnership along these lines it would go a long way in helping to build a pool for radio to find the next generation of talent and make HD Radio relevant to the masses. It has to start somewhere and Bryan Broadcasting needs to get all the credit in the world for taking Caitlin Curbello and Dr. McKim’s pitch and running with it.