** Adult mentors, students
broadcast play-by-play
and interview show.
By Max Schneider
Special to the Almanac
There are dozens of rooms at Menlo-Atherton High School (141 to be exact), many of which are uniform and uninspiring. Room B-12, located in the school’s center, strays a bit from the norm.
Room B-12 serves as the main studio for KCEA, a local radio station that typically plays big band music and is also a disaster information station for the local area. Broadcasting via a 100-watt transmitter on 89.1 FM, the station can be heard on the Internet, too, at kcea.org.
On Wednesday and Friday nights, KCEA makes an unexpected transformation from 1930s and 1940s swing music to sports, running live play-by-play broadcasts, currently of high school basketball games. The station also airs a 90-minute interview and recap program called “Inside the PAL” (Wednesdays at 8 p.m.).
John Mylod, who has 13 years of radio experience, has been sports director at KCEA for the past nine years. He’s backed by another experienced adult — Dean Hassapakis — and high school students Ben Serrurier and Nick Chladek.
Last year, the station, owned by the Sequoia Union High School District, underwent a technical transformation and broadcasted 51 games (mostly M-A sports, but other schools’ games as well). This year, the sports staff looks to take on even more.
Serrurier, a junior at Menlo School, has been working at KCEA since his freshman year. He does most of the producing, handling numerous duties for both the play-by-play broadcasts and the “Inside the PAL” program.
Working the actual games, especially basketball, is what Serrurier enjoys most. “High school basketball is so much fun to watch because you’re right up there next to the court,” he says. “When you’re broadcasting, it’s pure emotion. You embody the game with what you’re saying.”
Chladek, an M-A sophomore, agrees: “It’s cool to be right there in the action, [and] telling people about it.” He is in his second year at KCEA, and is interested in pursuing a career in sports radio.
“I’ve gotten tremendous enjoyment watching the kids do it … getting them experience,” says Mylod, who, along with Hassapakis, serves as a mentor to the students, teaching them the engineering and producing skills necessary for a successful show.
He doesn’t know where else high school kids can get this level of experience. “For these guys, it’s a great stepping stone,” Mylod says.
INFORMATION
Listen to “Inside the PAL” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on 89.1 FM or on the Web at kcea.org.
