What began as a class assignment is now a partnership between A&M and Bryan Broadcasting.
Bryan Broadcasting will provide the Agricultural Communication and Journalism program within the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication access to one of its HD radio signals, 95.1-2, as well as guidance from industry professionals for a commercial ‘divergent rock’ radio station.
The new station, named “Fusion,” launched Thursday. Tucker “Frito” Young, operations manager at Bryan Broadcasting and morning co-host on Candy 95, said the term ‘divergent rock’ was coined to describe the station’s unprecedented format.
“When you’re listening to Fusion, you’re going to get alternative rock,” Young said. “You’re going to get indie rock. You are going to hear every once in awhile a song that’s 20 years old, but you’re also going to hear a rap song once in awhile, and you might hear some [electronic dance music] or you might hear some Americana.”
The innovative format was developed by Caitlin Curbello, Class of 2015, for  an assignment in Billy McKim’s Radio 1 class. McKim, assistant professor in the ALEC Department, was so impressed with Curbello’s work, he shared the concept with Young at Bryan Broadcasting. 
After being involved with Texas A&M for the past few years, giving guest lectures and providing tours for students, Bryan Broadcasting began looking for a way to give students a more immersive radio broadcasting experience. McKim saw Curbello’s idea as the platform to give students this experience.
“At first I thought it was going to be very simple, we were going to put this little rinky dink something together, just play some music, whatever, but as time progressed and excitement started building the project turned into something absolutely huge, this little brainchild of mine turned into this super, all inclusive educational tool, if you will,” Curbello said. 
Any student that takes McKim’s Radio 1, 2 or 3 classes will have the opportunity to work for the station. 
“Here in AGLS, Agricultural Life Sciences Building, my department has a broadcast studio, so we had all of the software and equipment that’s necessary to produce, program and broadcast a full show, but we didn’t have a signal,” McKim said.
Bryan Broadcasting promptly hired Curbello as a liaison to the program to make sure the station had the right amount of help from Bryan Broadcasting to succeed.  
“We essentially hired her to work with the students that were going to be working with Fusion every single day to kind of work as Bryan Broadcasting’s representative there,” Young said. “She’s been doing this thing for several months and it’s been incredible, like, the demos have been spectacular, for someone that is coming from a student base, I’ve been blown away.”
Curbello said she’s excited about the opportunity to help students transition into real careers.
“I’m ecstatic that we’re creating something hopefully that can, you know, help transition people from academics to industry a little bit easier, and get them that experience they need under their belt,” Curbello said. 
Young said the partnership provides experience and networking opportunities in an industry that has become increasingly difficult to break into. 
“They’re going to get access to everything we do in Bryan Broadcasting but then they’re going to get to use everything they learn from us immediately, on their own radio station or on their own radio shows,” Young said. 
Curbello said all the technical aspects of the station were resolved before the launch, so they’re tying up loose ends and working on student involvement. 
“Right now, we are currently trying to organize everything so we can get students in the studio and get them a little more involved at this point,” Curbello said. “So it’s just kind of organizing everyone, getting in touch with the right people and getting the show on the road, really.”
Anyone with an HD radio can tune in to Fusion at 95.1-2. Those without HD radios can stream Fusion from any browser at radioaggieland.com.