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Al Neff signs off
KVSC leader says goodbye to SCSU after 20 years
 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor Al Neff, mass communication instructor, KVSC leader and radio sequence adviser, is looking forward to a future in Colorado after 20 years at SCSU. His going-away party took place Monday in the mass communication office.
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 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor SCSU instructor Al Neff cuts the cake at his going-away party Monday in the mass communication office. Professor Tomasz Piotr Przytula looks on.
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Al Neff, instructor of mass communications and a constant entity at KVSC for 20 years, will leave SCSU after fall semester to pursue a life of anonymity and relaxation in Colorado.
Neff, who came to SCSU in 1981 as an undergraduate from Sydney, Mont., has played a pivotal role in the evolution of KVSC and found in the station, a place to continue a love for radio he’d discovered at an early age.
“I’d done radio for two years before I showed up here,” Neff said. “I started radio when I was 17. I got a job when I was still in high school at KXGR in Grand Rapids, Minn. I had a Friday and Saturday night request show. The station’s format was sort of a soft rock, adult contemporary - Beatles, America and James Taylor. I played AC/DC, Led Zepplin, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, which was big at the time.”
The experience of working at a station at such a young age influenced Neff’s radio experiences for the rest of his life.
“I’ve always pretty much done my own thing in radio. It’s a rare opportunity,” Neff said. “What a special, wonderful opportunity for a 17-year-old to get a job at a radio station where I could learn how to do my craft. It turned me on to what I could do with radio and then they were willing to allow me to express myself and do something special. It really sparked me and helped me become the person I am now.”
When Neff arrived at SCSU in 1981, KVSC was a 12-watt station that only aired to the SCSU campus. Neff saw each of the next big improvements: in 1983 when listening area expanded to the St. Cloud city, and in 1989, when KVSC expanded again. He also saw the station join the technology age and begin Web casting in 1997.
“For me, KVSC is almost like my professional child. To see those phases and development is something that is very interesting to me. KVSC has been my passion,” Neff said.
As Neff walks away after 20 years of SCSU memories, he leaves with a special place in his heart for the station that grew with him.
“It’s my listeners to my classic rock show, which I’ve done for 17 years. There’s a sense of family there. It’s the audience that I cultivated at WVAL, the station I put on the air. It was my creation. I take memories of some elderly people who really enjoyed that station,” Neff said. “So really what I take from St. Cloud is good memories and life experiences. I leave with a sense of fulfillment that I did good things here.”
While Neff realizes that the hole he will leave in KVSC will be a hard one for the station to fill for awhile, he has all confidence that the station will continue to grow and evolve without him.
“KVSC is going to be fine. KVSC has a life force all its own. It’s a communal energy down there,” he said. “I think there will be a bit of a hole there, being there won’t be the older coach there, but the kids will find their way because KVSC is the opportunity for them to find their way. I hope that I’ll be missed, and I think I will leave an empty space for awhile, but I have a lot of confidence in KVSC. It will evolve in a slightly different way than if I were to stay.”
For Neff, leaving SCSU at this point in time came as a decision more about his personal goals than leaving behind what he loves to do. Neff said he is not one to settle in one place for too long, and the 20 years at St. Cloud have been good, but it is time for a change.
“The only reason I stayed in St. Cloud so long is because of KVSC and the opportunities I had with the university,” Neff said. “For me, it’s a full circle type of thing. Things are going well, so now it’s a good time to go.”
Tracy Ust can be reached at: [email protected]
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