Editor’s note: This is part of a contributed collection of students and faculty experience with COVID-19.

The week following KURE’s annual 26-hour on-air trivia event, Kaliedoquiz, was when news broke that COVID-19 was about to cause drastic changes around Iowa State.

Raegan Nervig, junior in event management and general manager of KURE, said she was glad KURE got to finish the year off with a bang, but that it was still disappointing seeing her station go.

“It was definitely tough realizing when it sunk in, what was happening and how it wouldn’t be the same after spring break,” Nervig said. “I was more thinking, ‘Oh, school,’ and then I was like, ‘Oh crap, KURE. If we’re not back in classes, we can’t be back at KURE.’ That’s when we acted quickly to make the decision to cancel DJ shows and cancel our spring events.”

KURE has canceled all live broadcasting indefinitely. Currently, the station is on complete automation.

“We just canceled and we told people that we don’t want people in the studios just in case,” Nervig said. “We just wanted to be safe and we didn’t want it to be spread, because we share microphones, we share our headphones and everything.”

KURE is housed in the basement of Friley Residence Hall, which Nervig said also posed a risk to their staff’s safety due to the sheer number of people in the building at a given time.

“We have so many DJs, so I know it was disappointing for people who really look forward to that, and then just disappointing for our listeners as well who follow these shows,” Nervig said.

While Nervig said she doesn’t feel it fully makes up for the lack of broadcasting, KURE has been highlighting DJs on their social media channels and asking their DJs to create Spotify playlists to share instead. 

“Staff-wise, people definitely also understood, but probably more sadness with the staff just because there’s so much friendship in KURE, and [for] people who are super involved, that’s been taken away from them,” Nervig said. “Especially in such a hard time, you can’t really find your escape in that way now.”

Nervig said she isn’t quite sure when KURE will be fully up and running again, but the response from listeners has been understanding despite the circumstances. 

“What’s awesome is that we are still playing, we’re still on-air in a way, we still have our automated playlists so people can still tune in,” Nervig said. “It just sucks that we don’t have live DJs, it’s not as personal now, you don’t get to hear those voices on-air.”

With things quiet around the KURE staff group chats, Nervig said she spent her fall semester dreaming of a month where she could just do nothing. With her free time, she stays productive and hopeful.

“I feel like I just have so much free time now,” Nervig said. “Taking this time to just plan things for the future, like certain events we want to do or even just personally for me. I want to have my own show, so I could use this time to plan.”