When Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Jann Wenner expressed blatantly sexist comments toward women in the rock ’n’ roll industry in a 2023 interview with The New York Times, fourth-year journalism and political science student Kayla Krueger knew she had to issue a rebuttal.

“I play in a band called GrrlBand that’s all girls, and I have also experienced a lot of gender-based discrimination in the rock industry,” Krueger said. “I think between my experience and hearing the experiences of others, and reading a rock ’n’ roll icon — this guy is the pinnacle of rock ’n’ roll power — be outwardly sexist, it’s, like, this is really messed up and let’s talk about it more.”

Krueger’s rebuttal came in the form of her Clark Honors College thesis on the patriarchal hegemonic institution in rock ’n’ roll through a historical analysis and interviews with female and queer musicians.

“I started writing my thesis about the gender dynamic in rock ’n’ roll and how the patriarchy always comes out on top,” Krueger said. “It combines a few sociological terms like ‘hegemonic masculinity.’ That was kind of inspiration for pursuing hegemonic patriarchy, and they’re really similar concepts. It’s just that masculinity reinforces patriarchy, but patriarchy is the institution.”

She defended and passed her thesis in April, and found the process to be extremely gratifying. While it required a lot of accountability, she now has a published research work she can reference throughout her career.

“It combined a major passion of mine with reading and writing, so it was a really great outlet. And I felt like I was doing something that I knew was going to help not only myself, but a bunch of other people, just by talking about this issue and studying it a little bit more,” Krueger said. ”I know I’m just a student, but it’s going to be a concrete thing that I can reference and be, like, yeah, I wrote this and it got published.”

Passion for music led her to DJ for KWVA

For Krueger, who spends more time listening to music than not, music is everything. Her passion led her to KWVA, UO’s campus radio station, where she hosts a show at 12-2 p.m. on Fridays called the “Road to Nowhere,” inspired by the Talking Heads, under the DJ name Penny Lame.

“Music is what gets me up in the morning and keeps me standing, and that’s why DJing is so great because you get to share it with people,” Krueger said. “There’s a lot of really great listeners that I love and are committed and listen to my radio show every week. It’s just a beautiful community, and I feel thankful to be a part of it.”

During her second year, she applied for the role of DJ director, which involved training, hiring and managing over 100 DJs, 77 of whom are currently on air.

“It’s been really hard. I was hired on at the tail end of COVID, and COVID completely wiped out our programming,” Krueger said. “We didn’t have a lot of DJs so I had to hire all of them back.”

Today the station has more DJs on the air than it’s had anytime during that past 10 years. The position has helped Krueger gain experience working in the music industry, teaching her about radio programming, collaboration and FCC regulations while connecting her to industry professionals.

“It’s given me a lot of really great connections,” Krueger said. “There are a lot of KWVA alumni that I’m connected with, and it’s kind of a piece of the greater music community on campus.”

Work on campus magazines and the WOW Hall broadened her skills

Along with her work at KWVA, Krueger also previously worked as a copy editor for Align magazine and as a staff writer for Flux magazine. Throughout her time at the UO School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC), she said she gained invaluable connections with peers, industry professionals and professors.

“I had some really great professors who believed in me a lot, which helped me pursue a lot of different creative outlets and jobs,” Krueger said. “Huge shoutout to Pro Tem Instructor Chris Pietsch. I met him through Flux and he is one of my mentors.”

Networking through classes also gave Krueger the opportunity to work as the marketing coordinator for local music venue WOW Hall, after a friend in class told her about the job. The role has taught her skills about digital marketing for a concert venue.

“I have a very special niche skill set for music and the music industry, and I think a lot of that came from KWVA and then my work as marketing coordinator at the WOW Hall,” Krueger said. “I think those two jobs taught me a lot about the music industry.”

In the future, Krueger would like to continue working in music, whether that’s through radio or a record label.

“My dream job is to be a manager of a band and tour,” Krueger said. “I want to be able to do something that is creatively fulfilling and also make a difference in the world. Aside from obviously being a rockstar — that’s the dream.”

—Ella Norton, public relations ’24

Ella Norton (she/her/hers) ’24, a recent graduate of the SOJC, is from Kansas City, Missouri. She majored in public relations and French and is the executive print editor for Align magazine, an account supervisor for Allen Hall Public Relations and an ambassador for the SOJC.