A Perfect Fit

Anika Rossow-Strasser found her place at MSU—and at the helm of Mav FM.

By Joe Tougas '86

Well before her college years, Mankato native Anika Rossow-Strasser relied on Minnesota State Mankato as a great place to go for all sorts of entertainment and activities. From STEM camps to theater productions to the Memorial Library, the University had so much to offer that choosing to attend MSU was easy.

“I didn’t look elsewhere because I was happy with what I found,” said Rossow-Strasser, who’s in her fourth year as an Interdisciplinary Studies major. “Especially with arts and culture. I’ve loved the MSU plays and dance concerts and music concerts. … And all of the different majors and programs you can choose from. I liked that there were some niche options. Even Interdisciplinary Studies is this unique program where you get to design your own pathway, basically. And I didn’t see that elsewhere.”

This fall, Rossow-Strasser will take on the role of director for the student-focused radio station Mav FM, broadcast via MSU’s longstanding community radio station KMSU. Listeners can tune in via KMSU’s app or, if near campus, at 107.9 on the FM dial. The Mav FM program involves 20 students whose shows can range from exploring the world of K-pop to movie conversations.

Mav FM was created in 2024 to exclusively feature student-based programming, and that programming is as diverse as its students’ interests. Rossow-Strasser’s main goal as director is to strengthen its structure so that onboarding new students is smoother and gets them involved in chartering their own paths sooner. “Then they can go and take off with it,” she said.

In an era of specialized, on-demand entertainment, FM radio may seem old-fashioned, but Rossow-Strasser said the possibilities are wide open—resembling what drew her to MSU in the first place.

“Honestly, I like the old-school aspect of [FM radio.] You don’t really see that nowadays. A lot of creative content people are making is so focused on what’s trendy and what will catch the mainstream eye. But with community radio like KMSU or student radio like Mav FM, there’s so much opportunity to be creative and to do really goofy and unique and weird things but things that really engage people. That’s what I saw when I started—this door to endless possibility.”