In hopes of reaching a larger audience, KURE radio and ISU TV have worked with Government of Student Body election officials to bring the third and final candidate debate into the homes of students.

Thursday, the views and voices of the candidates will soar the airwaves courtesy of KURE, while their faces and expressions will be broadcast by ISU TV.

The forum will air on channel 18 and on 88.5 FM at 9 p.m.

The combined broadcast will be a first in GSB debates.

“A lot more people will see it,” said Kimberly Claussen, president of ISU TV. “Usually, at a forum, you have to go out to see it. Now if students want to see the debate, they can just flip to channel 18 and watch it from the comfort of their own home.”

The broadcast debate will be completely student-run, organizers said, and has been designed for student interaction, with candidate questions sent in via e-mail and America Online’s Instant Messenger.

Questions for the three slates should be e-mailed to [email protected]. AIM messages can be sent to ISUTVLIVE.

GSB election commissioner Clint Fichter, whose committee authored the questions for the last two debates, said the student-run nature of the forum would likely prove a benefit to students.

“They’ll be able to touch on other areas we weren’t able to touch on,” he said.

The debate will be held in Studio B in the Communications Building, and sound feed will be sent to KURE, much in the same way as the station’s sports coverage.

“It came up as an idea last year,” said Ann Greenwood, marketing director of KURE.

“We thought about it this year and thought that if we got it together early, then we could possibly put together a day when it could be done.

“Several of our DJs have run for president in the past, and we have a community of listeners at KURE that we know are going to be interested.”

Greenwood said she spoke first with Fichter to see if the idea was plausible.

Then she spoke with the candidates themselves to gauge their interest, she said.

“They were all incredibly enthusiastic,” she said. “They all seemed very excited, especially since it was going to be student-centered.”

Claussen said a similar combination of KURE and ISU TV had been attempted last year, but organizers ran out of time to pull the event together.