Just this semester, Landmark College was represented on the world stage when WLMC Station Manager Daniel Molster, and Faculty Advisor, Eric Matte visited the White House with the College Radio USA Board to celebrate the success of this year’s World College Radio Day. This is amazing recognition of Landmark College, WLMC Radio, and student leader Daniel Molster. Daniel demonstrates a democratic leadership style by working with followers, treating them fairly, and helping them reach their goals. He spends a lot of time working as a leader and is very committed to his roles.

Not only does Daniel spend countless hours working for Landmark College’s radio station and it’s DJs, but he also served as a member of the College Radio Day USA Board, supporting college radio stations in the North Region as they prepared for the 12^th Annual World College Radio Day. Last year WLMC won the 2021 Spirit of College Radio Day Award, and later that spring won the 2022 IBS Award for Best Streaming/On-Line Only Radio Station Under 10,000 Students. Both awards were won under Daniel’s leadership, though he always gives credit to his team for their hard work and commitment. Besides WLMC, Daniel is also passionate about the Arcade Club which he founded in fall of 2018, and as of spring, 2022, is the largest club on campus attended by roughly 400 students, winning Student Organization/Group/Programming for two consecutive years at the Student Leadership Awards. Daniel is hard-working and does so much for his DJs and club members. His advisor Eric Matte, notes that Daniel’s biggest strengths are his work-ethic and his enthusiasm. Unlike other club leaders, Daniel works closely with the WLMC leadership team and the Arcade Club’s e-board as he plans for succession after he graduates next spring. He guides the people he works with to ensure both Arcade Club and WLMC have strong leadership once he hands those positions over when he leaves. After his time at Landmark ends, he hopes to spend his passion at the entertainment department of CEC Entertainment LLC, the parent company of the popular arcade and restaurant chain Chuck E Cheese.

Daniel admits to not seeing himself as a leader in the past. Coming to Landmark in the fall of 2018, he was very shy and never expected to be successful. However, he knew he wanted to make change and influence people, which caused him to jump into leadership by founding the Arcade Club. When the Arcade Club was proposed to the Office of Student Activities, they thought it wouldn’t last two weeks, and the idea was too broad to appeal to any students. As Daniel recalls the very first Arcade Club meeting he says, “I knew we messed up, we didn’t have enough seats. There was a line of people waiting to get in.” In the spring of 2019, Daniel joined WLMC and produced the popular radio drama Entertainment TOON-Night which was nominated for the 2022 IBS Conference. In the fall of 2020, he earned the title of Station Manager of WLMC and continued to achieve success. This past year WLMC won the 2021 Spirit of College Radio Day award and the 2022 IBS Award for Best Streaming/On-Line Only Radio Station Under 10,000 Students, an accomplishment not seen before by past management. Meanwhile the Arcade Club has served roughly 400 students, winning the Student Organization/Group/Programming of the Year award twice. Eric Matte observed that Daniel has greatly improved his confidence and creativity since he started working with him as well as his ability to deal with ambiguity and manage interpersonal relationships as he professionally leads and works with other students.

Daniel’s leadership has evolved over the years. He started with Arcade Club and has grown to lead WLMC, to LC Voices, and as a campus ambassador. While serving on the College Radio Day USA Board he led radio stations of the North Region and visited the White House.

When asked about his perspective on his leadership, Daniel compares his approach to the previous two WLMC Station Managers, and how his style differs from WLMC to Arcade Club. Before taking over WLMC in 2020, Daniel observed both managers who ran the station before him. Instead of being overly strict authoritarian or hands-off laissez-faire, Daniel likes to think of himself in the middle, being as flexible as possible, on the ground, and hands-on. Instead of letting people struggle, Daniel jumps in to help. “I say any hour of the day, give me a call or whatever, I’ll come running and I do mean that. I’ve had people call me at 2 or 3 in the morning,” Daniel commented. Daniel finds dedication very important in leadership and is willing to help his DJs no matter what.

Daniel’s leadership approach in the Arcade Club is different from WLMC but still effective. “Arcade Club primarily serves socially pragmatic students who typically don’t have a lot of self-awareness and typically struggle with communication and have a really hard time understanding rules and lot of different things” Daniel explained. Because of this, Daniel leads Arcade Club with a lot more patience and at a slower pace and provides more chances with followers than he would with WLMC. Besides social pragmatics, the Arcade Club is attended by many first-year students who use it as a steppingstone to find friends with similar interests or improving communication skills which can contribute to potential leadership. The Arcade Club is also advertised as a judgement-free zone with a zero-tolerance policy toward bullying or discriminating against other students for their personality or social behavior. This provides comfort for many students still working on social skills. Part of Daniel’s passion toward the Arcade Club comes from his past experiences before becoming a leader. As Daniel recalls, “I do believe the same way I started was being shy and quiet and making a lot of mistakes so that’s why I really try to make sure Arcade Club gets a lot of attention in that sense too, because I don’t want them to feel like they don’t belong.” Eric Matte commented that Daniel gets great ideas and is able to follow through with them, as seen with his passion for founding the Arcade Club and managing WLMC.

Since founding the Arcade Club, Daniel has always faced critics about his leadership. “Critics are the worst part about leadership I would argue. People will take every opportunity they have to try and knock you down. What’s really important in my opinion, how do you bounce back?” Daniel admits that’s something he’s still trying to figure out himself. “It’s easy for someone to go up to you and say brush it off sure. But words sting, actions sting, some things are unrepairable. So, it’s a matter of how do you as a leader make that determination on how to get over it, move forward, put it behind you, or address it.”

Daniel looks up to and highly values his mentor, Eric Matte. Eric is Daniel’s faculty advisor, supervisor, and professor. It was Eric’s passion, not only about radio but also communication in general, that made Daniel consider and improve his leadership as well as convinced him to transfer into the BA COMEL program. “Eric’s always been 150% supportive always, so I’m really grateful for his guidance and I do look up to him, I’ve said it before and I’m not afraid to say that I value his opinion highly” says Daniel. With Eric Matte being Chair of the COMEL Department, Daniel claims Eric is a pro at the different elements of communication, whether it’s combatting anxiety with breathing strategies, self-reflecting, or just organizing time. Eric also praises Daniel’s communication skills by saying “He likes to bring concreteness and certainty to his life and so communication is really important to him and so he really tries to be conscientious about to his team.” Daniel argues it’s not possible to lead without some level of communication skills. Daniel is so appreciative of Eric’s guidance, that he fought for him to come to the White House with the College Radio Day USA Board, believing he couldn’t have gotten there without him. When asked about their professional relationship, Eric Matte says “Our relationship is built on trust and honesty and with the spirit of growing as people and worrying about our station and taking care of things here.” Eric also noted that “when you work with students closely in many different contexts you also become friends and like family”.

Being a student leader myself, I’ve observed Daniel the last two years, working closely with him Associate Coordinator of Arcade Club and Associate Station Manager of WLMC, I’ve learned a lot about leadership through him and he has inspired me on my own leadership journey. Before Landmark, I was very introverted and didn’t believe I could be a leader. The Arcade Club caught my attention while visiting during open house and during online orientation, I joined the club before even coming to campus. Getting the position of Assistant Coordinator is where I started becoming a leader and have grown a lot since then. From there I’ve built my self-esteem to lead another club, become an Orientation Leader, an officer of PTK, a DJ, a member of the WLMC Leadership Team, Associate Station Manager, and an LC Voices Advisory Board Member. Daniel has left a positive impact on me, other students, and the college. Daniel continues to be active in the Landmark community and supports WLMC, LC Voices, and Arcade Club as he gets ready to graduate this spring and work in Texas for CEC Entertainment. He inspires and motivates me to be an effective leader, and I don’t think I would’ve gotten as far as I am now if weren’t for his support.