VALLEY CENTER: District to play 'kid-friendly' radio on school buses

School officials say they are following the lead of other districts

By SHAYNA CHABNER - Staff Writer | Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:29 PM PDT ∞

VALLEY CENTER ---- School buses on the winding, rural roads of Valley Center will be cruising to a new beat next year.

That's because trustees of the 4,400-student Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District decided Thursday night to install digital radios that play kid-friendly, age-appropriate music on the district's 35 buses.

District officials say the radios, which will be installed by a national radio network for free, will help keep kids entertained and better behaved on the often lengthy drive home ---- and without exposing them to some of the profanity and derogatory language that litters most radio airwaves.

"I think that it's going to be a great program," Valley Center-Pauma board President Lori Johnson said. "I am curious to see how it's all going to play out."

The radios and their age-appropriate tunes are being provided to the district by a Massachusetts-based national radio network, BusRadio. The district hopes to have the radios installed and turned on as early as January.

The network offers the radios and music to districts free nationwide ---- reaching more than 1 million listeners ---- in exchange for the opportunity to rake in advertising dollars from companies like Nike and the Cartoon Network.

On average, commercials are played on the radio network about four minutes per hour, company officials say.

"The commercials that I have heard are geared toward the kids," district Finance Director Pam Moe said, explaining that the Nike ad might encourage a student to put their shoes on and go running, rather than just going to the store.

"We can't really see a downside to it," Moe added later.

In addition to playing music that is specifically geared to three school-age audiences ---- elementary, middle and high school students ---- the radios are equipped with a public address system, Global Positioning System and a panic button that connects a driver to a 911 dispatcher in case of emergency.

And that's technology and safety equipment, district officials say, that they would never be able to afford to put on the buses otherwise.

With the board's approval of the program Thursday, Valley Center-Pauma will become the latest in a line of North County school districts, including San Marcos Unified and Poway Unified, to test the radio network.

San Marcos Unified, which started playing the radio network on its buses more than a year ago, has only had positive reviews from parents and students, officials say.

The district also collected roughly $5,000 in advertising revenue from the network because it had so many buses tuning in, officials said.

"I think that the bus drivers are going to love it," Moe said. "If the kids aren't behaving, they can just say 'I am going to turn the radio off.' "

Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.