Walk into the Associated Students Inc. room in the University Union and you’ll find a small room circled with couches, concert posters, a television and, sometimes, a chocolate Labrador named Irie playing fetch.

The dog belongs to Melissa Maxwell, station manager at the campus radio station, located inside the ASI room. KSSU 1580 AM is open to anyone wishing to get his or her own radio show. For Maxwell, the reason she wanted to run her own show was simple.

“I like to listen to music that isn’t always played on mainstream radio,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell, who goes by the radio moniker MJ Mayhem, is the host of ISPERRA from 9 to 10 p.m. on Thursday. “ISPERRA” stands for “Indie, Ska, Punk, Emo, Rock, Reggae and Alternative.”

Maxwell sometimes likes to spell it ISPERRA, with the H standing for hip-hop, but that depends on her mood and the type of hip-hop being played.

“It’s the beauty of KSSU, it’s completely free-form,” Maxwell said.

The senior communications major started to DJ at KSSU at the end of her sophomore year because a friend with a radio program and talked her into it.

KSSU broadcasts on a 3-watt AM signal, with a reception radius limited to the campus, Maxwell said. In comparison, the UC Davis student radio station, KDVS 90.3 FM, broadcasts at a 9,200-watt FM signal, which can be heard as far west as Vacaville, according to Edward Martinet, news director at KDVS.

KWOD 106.5 FM transmits at 50,000-watts, according to the station’s front office operator.

It is no surprise the focus of KSSU has turned to streaming Internet radio, something that helps expand its number of listeners, said junior communication’s major Erik Johnson. A link at the top right of the Web site, www.kssu.com, streams the station through programs such as Windows Media Player.

“It’s expanded to a point where we take ourselves very seriously,” said Johnson in a telephone interview.

Johnson is the host of “Loud Noises” at KSSU from noon to 2 p.m. on Thursdays. He plays mainly ’90s rock mixed with classic songs from the ’60s through the ’80s.

“I’m probably one of the most random DJs on there,” said Johnson, whose radio persona is Mahard Johnson.

Johnson said he saw an ad for KSSU in the student planner during his sophomore year and called KSSU shortly afterwards.

Johnson then had to watch a training video, which he said, taught him how to present himself on the air, how to organize a radio show, how often to play music and how to come out of breaks. Johnson said the only other requirement is to attend a biweekly staff meeting, which keeps the staff informed of upcoming radio events and concerts.

“It’s a very close-knit group,” Johnson said. “We kind of just hang out a lot.”

KSSU has many open time slots that students can apply for, Maxwell said. However, if those slots are not filled, KSSU runs an automated program that plays hot music. Hot music is music ranked on the College Music Journal (CMJ) charts.

“It’s sort of like Billboard charts, but for college stations,” Maxwell said.

KSSU gets free CDs from record companies, which are then burned to the station computer, and then categorically alphabetized on a wall inside the broadcast studio. These categories include: loud rock, alt-indie, hip-hop and electronica, among others.

Robert Young, also known as Rob Fatal on his radio program “Punx-a-Wax-a-holixxx,” plays punk rock and hip-hop and said he enjoys the freedom of college radio. The show airs from 11 a.m. to noon on Monday.

“It’s a form of expression,” Young said in a telephone interview. “You can’t get that at corporate radio.”

Young, a senior digital video communications major, said he got into KSSU because the station manager at the time was an actor in one of Young’s movies and he couldn’t pay him. He was then talked into doing his own radio show as repayment, Young said.

Young said being streamed on the Internet has helped broaden KSSU outside of its local roots.

“It sounds corny, but it’s true,” Young said. “We’re really part of the global radio community now.”

Young said people from all over the United States, including punk bands in California and even people from Holland, have left him comments on his MySpace page that promotes his radio program.

Most of the DJs at KSSU promote on MySpace through wwww.myspace.com/kssuradio.

“There’s more than a few people listening at a time,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Or at least we hope.”

Frank Miller can be reached at [email protected]