Ad Creative Makes its Impact on Campus at 88.9 FM
Impact 88.9 FM is one of MSU’s biggest media clubs and is MSU’s own award-winning FM radio station
By: Julia Spencer
In 2021, Impact 88.9 FM was recognized as the College Media Association Four-Year College Radio Station of the Year. Impact has many different departments that students can join such as radio, music, news, sports, visual media and podcasts. There are currently over 200 active students involved either volunteering or working for the station and creative advertising sophomore, Riya Patchava, is one of them.
Serving as a member of the Impact’s entertainment team, Patchava has always had a passion for writing and joined as a creative outlet to continue writing about music throughout her college career. Patchava says her continuous work at Impact has helped her improve her professional writing skills, and in return, has helped for copywriting in her advertising courses.
Patchava says choosing the creative advertising major has allowed her to have “practicality mixed with the creative side of things,” as she explores the different sides of the media industry. She says her position allows her to practice writing skills and apply what she has learned in her MSU classes as inspiration to make her work the best it can be.
Each week, the teams at Impact have meetings to discuss the primary media content that they want to cover that week. As a member of the entertainment team, Patchava spends her time writing articles about any music or artists that grab her attention in the media. Students have creative freedom that allows them to focus on media that they are passionate about.
Patchava has been able to write about Lana Del Rey’s hit song “Let The Light In,” as well as an article about the soundtrack of Golden Globe Award-winning film “Lady Bird.” She is currently working on an article about musical artist, Fiona Apple. Patchava says she loves how welcoming and open the Impact team is in allowing her to cover her favorite content.
Impact 88.9 FM keeps up with trends in the media, and the club has become much more than just a radio station. Impact has grown to support students who love editing and shooting videos and those who enjoy covering Spartan sport events. One of Patchava’s favorite aspects about Impact is how extremely welcoming the community is and how they continuously focus on team-bonding among members. Impact puts on several events for members, including a Broom Ball tournament with other media clubs and trips to Uncle John’s Cider Mill in St. Johns, Michigan every fall semester.
The community at Impact encourages students to join and connect with others who have a passion for the media world. To learn more about all the ways you can be involved at Impact, visit their website at https://impact89fm.org.