Each morning, Hidden Valley’s Titan Radio team works to get students excited for the day. Working mysteriously from the secluded Hidden Valley poolside, Titan Radio plays an instrumental role here at Hidden Valley, relaying new announcements, school-related achievements, and fun-filled information to us every morning no matter the weather.
My tour of Titan Radio began through a portal to the rooftop, where the radio’s poolside mic lies waiting. The school announcements are pioneered by an enthusiastic group of Titans. Sebastian Croteau (12) starts the program and closes it with a respective intro and outro. Likewise, Croteau is also responsible for the music that plays each morning before the announcements officially begin.
He aims to choose songs that will resonate with the school. “Usually in the morning, it just depends on what the vibe is. If we’re super hype in the room before, then it’ll be something upbeat. If it’s kind of somber, well―” Croteau begins to sing The Mamas & The Papas’ California Dreamin’. Following the music, Croteau also covers school sponsors, shoutouts, and sports news on A days.
Coming in after Croteau is Riley Coleman (11) and Danny Aguilar (12), who recite the pledge and introduce the daily moment of silence.
After the long meditative silence, Sydney Newbern (12) gets on the mic to talk about that day’s national holiday. A different member of Titan Radio selects the national day each day and it is written into the script the morning before. Newbern says that her criteria for choosing the days boils down to what she likes the best or what is the shortest to read. Notably, her favorite day is Nov. 14, National Pickle Day.
Sebastian Croteau, however, had different opinions on the topic, responding to Newbern with, “Not National Tortilla Chip Day? Not National Ice Cream Day? Or National Pie Day? National Nut Day was funny.”
Sports news and club news are often sent by the coach or sponsor of a team or club before announcements, letting Titan Radio know what to report on. Aliza Harner (12) covers sports, reporting where titan athletes will compete, and how they fared at past games. Harner herself is involved in Basketball at Hidden Valley. She notes her excitement seeing teams win in the spring.
“I think it’s cool that people at Hidden Valley are involved in a lot of different sports. It’s cool to see my teammates that would have been on the basketball team being involved in spring and seeing what they’re doing as well as how their games went,” said Harner.
Club news involves everything extracurricular that is not related to sports. Not limited to just clubs, art, music, as well as theatre are covered under this category. Ali Armentrout (11) is the host of this segment.
“I really like talking about band and music, that’s just because I’m in it. It’s always exciting to talk about something the choir does and go: Oh! I was a part of that! Or, when the marching band got all superiors, I got to talk about that, and it was so exciting!” Armentrout says.
One of the most important topics Titan Radio covers is School News. School News announces class competitions, spirit-weeks, testing and traffic reminders, and upperclassmen news on scholarships, college meetings, and career fairs.
One of the catchiest segments on the Radio is “Nuts with the Weather.” Bella “Nuts” Shellnutt delivers a daily weather forecast to students, preparing them for sunny days ahead or inclement storms. Weather is followed by the famed joke of the day segment with Claire Sublett (12).
Sublett’s joke of the day tradition was inspired by her father; as a child, Sublett often wrote down the jokes her dad told her. Each joke is introduced with a jingle, which rhymes with Claire’s name. She aims to never repeat a jingle, instead refreshing them each morning.
“Actually, I’ll let you in on a little secret, a lot of them come from Pioneer Woman and Good Housekeeping, which are like these really old lady websites, but surprisingly they have a lot of good jokes. A lot of the ones that are themed I make up myself,” said Sublett. This year, Sublett’s jokes are followed by a booming laugh from Titan Radio’s resident cinephile.
Brady McHenry (12) delivers movie reviews to the school each A Day. McHenry’s reviews rate each movie on a five-star scale which is informed by his personal tastes and artistic interpretations. These reviews are a new addition to the Radio’s agenda and a spontaneous one at that.
“I always wanted to do Titan Radio, so I asked Ms. Newburn: I just like movies, so why don’t I just review a movie every single day? She was like, yeah, I’ll think about it. I showed up to the first day of school and she was like: do you have a movie picked out? And I was like- Oh! Okay! After that I just went along with it,” McHenry said.
From scholarship opportunities to pop culture discussion, the Titan Radio team has their hand on the pulse of Hidden Valley. Student’s should be sure to tune in each morning as there is always something new to learn.
