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LINWOOD - It's 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Time for DJ Johnny Stylez and DJ T-Breezey to hit the radio airwaves with an eclectic set of music ranging from The Fugees' "Killing Me Softly" to "Party In My Tummy" from the children's program "Yo Gabba Gabba!"

The DJs - otherwise known as Jonathan Nammoor, 16, and Taylor Tibbrine, 16 - are students at Mainland Regional High School and regular broadcasters for the school's radio station, WMRH-LP, 101.7, "The Stang."

"I feel like I have power, "Nammoor said as he tapped away on his Blackberry looking for another song to play on air. "I can play the songs that I want - something different than what's out there."

It's expected that colleges have a radio presence. But not too many high schools can claim their own spot on the FM dial. Mainland received approval from the FCC to run a low-powered radio station in 2004. It took 18 months and about $35,000 to purchase equipment and get the station up and running, but the Mustangs finally hit the airwaves in 2006.

The low-powered station reaches a 10-mile radius around the school, and can be heard from Ocean City through some parts of Egg Harbor Township.

The station's content can be summed up in one word: variety. On any given afternoon, the playlist jumps from Frank Sinatra crooning about flying to the moon one minute to Lady Gaga and her poker face the next. Mainland media instructor and station director Chuck Smith tries to keep a loose format schedule, with mostly country music one day, rock music the next. But even that's not set in stone.

"We didn't want to pinpoint any one thing," Smith said. "We wanted to leave it open to everybody."

The students can play any songs they want, provided they are free of certain curse words, as per FCC guidelines.

Nammoor, Tibbrine and classmate Jackie Jones, 16, relish the precious 40 minutes they get in the studio each day. Tibbrine pulls songs off her iPod while Nammoor sends out a dedication for Jones' birthday.

While Jones is shy around the microphone, Tibbrine is a natural. Her mother is Marlene Aqua, the midday host on local WFPG-FM 96.9.

"I got into this because my mom is on the radio," Tibbrine said. "I love doing it."

A computerized DJ program keeps the music playing at night and during the weekend and summer. The music only stops for station IDs, school announcements and weather.

Students man the station during their assigned class periods and create talk segments or station-identification breaks as class projects. On "Fun Fridays," students can do anything they want on the airwaves, from hosting game shows to playing musical instruments live.

The station is a fun project for Smith and his students, but it's easy to forget there are people outside the school listening in.

"This summer our transmitter went down and we were off the air for about five weeks. We had people calling into the station and asking me what happened to the station," Smith said. "We have a semi-cult following."

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