Listening to KGPS Pirate Radio on a Monday afternoon, you could hear 15 songs from the year 2006 and, in between,  a soft female voice presenting her personal range from what she was listening to 8 years ago.

The female voice belongs to Alli Enns, who is actually on the second floor of Copley Hall, switching from song to song, with the “ON AIR” sign on, and pressing the “MICRO 1” red button. In this space, nobody knows she is not wearing shoes.

A sophomore in social psychology, the brunette girl with blonde highlights on the side is a volunteer to the Pirate Radio Station and spends four hours a week talking and playing music she is in the mood for.
Enns has always been interested in music, thanks to her father who started playing the guitar at the age of 14.

“When I was 6 years old my dad had an acoustic electric guitar,” Enns said. “He was just playing with it on its lunch break, I was ‘Can I try?’ and he was ‘Don’t break it, here you go!’”

When she was older and was able to read music, Enns would go to the library, get some music sheets and learn how to play songs on the guitar.

“I mostly taught myself besides the couple of times where my dad helped me,” she said.

After growing up as a home-schooled child and finally joining public school by attending North Kansas City High School, Enns learned school was not what she imagined.

“I was so overwhelmed,” she said. “My school had five buildings and I couldn’t find the cafeteria.”

During her time in high school, Enns chose to join choir but said she had a bad experience and dropped the class after her sophomore year.

“I was an Emo girl and all the girls were cheerleaders, all happy and peppy,” she said. “I cannot count the number of times [the teacher] said ‘Shake what you Mama gave you.’”

In the meantime, she learned about a guitar club, where she was able to play and sing more and eventually became president of the club by her junior year.

Even if Enns was home-schooled, she admits never having a problem with singing and talking in front of others people, which have helped her while she works on the radio at Park.

Her first experience at the radio was actually during high school one night while her mom was gone for the night and her older sister was a student at Park.

“She was, ‘Yeah, we are just gonna go to the radio station, we can do our homework and whatever you need to do,’” she said, “and I remember sitting here thinking, ‘if I come to Park I’m going to do the radio.’”

Now that Enns is finally at Park and a member of the radio station, she said how difficult it was for her to join her freshmen year because the information meetings were always during her classes.

“I would always see the signs for clubs meetings after the meeting was held,” she said, “ and I never knew who to contact about clubs or meetings times or anything like that.”

As a sophomore now, Enns experienced the same issue, where the radio meeting was during her class time and was not sure if she would be able to join.

But after she received an e-mail about volunteering for the KGSP Radio from her freshman seminar professor, Lora Cohn,  problem was solved.

While having a passion for music, Enns do not want to make her passion a living.

Her mother was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, which made Enns want to major in biology and then start medical school.

But after her first year into college and the first biology classes she took, she changed her mind and is now majoring in social psychology, with a minor in criminal justice. She is not even considering music for a major.

“The more I am involved on campus,even if it has nothing to do with my major, it’s not going to hurt anyone,” she said. “It keeps me busy, so I am not sitting in my dorm watching Netflix all day.”

Rather than spending all her time in her dorm, Enns admitted she could spend the night in the Radio Station if she could.

“It’s very inspiring to be at the Radio Station,” she said. “ I learned how to do this in five minutes. And, whether people are listening or not, I am broadcasting. Whenever I am here, people are listening to what I am playing and what I am saying, and that’s a very cool feeling.”

When she is on the radio, she often has a friend with her to be a guest host, including her friend Eric Landis.

“We should advertise at the Pirate Grounds!” said Landis, who works at the Pirate Grounds coffee shop. “I want to see it expand.”

Whenever his work shifts synchronize with Enns’ radio shifts, he plays 90.5 on the radio.

“I definitely encourage students to get involved in the Radio, broadcast, having a guest host, so much fun!” said Enns.

You can listen to Enns and other Park University radio shows at KSGP Pirate Radio at 90.5 and watch it online at http://kgsp.park.edu.