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SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Unpolished, amateurish. That's how Natalie Ferri saw herself and why she worried that, despite an interest in radio, she didn't fit the slick, glib DJ norm.

Then the El Camino Fundamental High School senior realized: Maybe that's the point.

"When I first started deejaying, I thought I'd be judged because I don't sound anything like the people on (the radio)," Ferri says. "I don't sound like a `professional.' "

But professional or not, Ferri, 17 - perched on a chair inside a cramped production booth, Chuck Taylor-clad feet tucked beneath her and looking more like "Juno's" Ellen Page than any radio station brass - is running KYDS 91.5, the campus's eclectic radio station.

With a school-funded annual budget of $800 and a mix that includes such varied groups as Black Sabbath, Dr. Dre and Death Cab for Cutie, not to mention Lamb of God, They Might Be Giants and the Beatles, KYDS is arguably the local radio station with the most diverse playlist. And in our download-crazy, iPod-fueled culture, it's also something of an oddity - a free-form, 414-watt station running on outdated equipment and managed by teens.

Or, as Ferri says, KYDS is all about getting "the chance to break the mold."

"We don't have a schedule, we don't have commercials," she says. "We're not told what to play or when to play it - we just want to play music, and I think that's why people listen."

Founded in 1979, KYDS is part of El Camino's Eagle Polytechnic Institute, a cross-discipline academy focusing on science, engineering and vocational studies. Students must complete an introductory TV and radio course before getting the chance to cram into the station's production booth to host one of several daily live radio shows.

And recently, KYDS' musical might has been amped, thanks to a budding relationship with KSSU, the radio station at Sacramento State.

(In exchange for some free CDs and mentoring, the college DJs rebroadcast their shows on the high school station's signal during various evening and weekend time slots. "We were really big fans of KYDS before this even happened," says KSSU station manager Robert Young.)

THE RADIO DIARIES

Joey Reynolds loves hardcore metal; Alex Sanchez digs classic and Latin rock. So when KYDS' 17-year-old public service announcement director and 16-year-old music director face off during their shared daily time slot, sonic sparks fly, right?

Nah, Reynolds says. Instead, the pair has devised a pact, trading off days, with Friday reserved as a musical free-for-all.

"We used to battle a lot, but now it really works out," Reynolds says as he adds a Deftones song to the computer playlist, drops in an oh-so-sensitive Bright Eyes track and then slips in some Killswitch Engage metalcore. The real wars, Ferri says, are actually fought on technical ground: malfunctioning CD decks; stuttering computer programs; overheated, overloaded systems; and the constant threat of losing their aging radio tower.

The students are trying to address some of the station's financial needs through fund-raising. They recently held a a 45-hour audiothon _ for three days, KYDS deejays camped out at the station, taking requests and offering prizes in an effort to raise funds.

The money is crucial for the station's survival, says class instructor Ed Santillanes. Recent computer malfunctions forced KYDS to raid its reserve fund or face outages. ("If you turn on this computer, it sometimes makes the die when we're on the air," Ferri says.)

Additional funding also allows the station, which dips into a computer-generated playlist when school's not in session, to build a bigger library.

"Right now, we have a lot of limitations," Sanchez says. "A new system means we can store five times as much music."

TURN ON, TUNE IN

It's kind of funny, Ferri says. Because the students work at the station during school hours, they're not really playing to an audience of their peers.

"We're not allowed to have radios or MP3 players at school, so our friends don't have the chance to listen while we're on the air," Ferri says.

As it turns out, the listeners are as eclectic as the music: college students and parents, office workers and retirees, 20-somethings, hungry for some good tunes.

Wayne Schatz heard about the station by word-of-mouth a few years ago; now, the 57-year-old Sacramento resident tunes in regularly to such favorites as the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan. "I think it's the only station that plays such an extreme variety of music," he says.

Schatz, who regularly donates during the station's audiothons, calls it some of his best-spent entertainment money.

"I listen in the car, in my house, at work," he says. "They take requests and it gives me hope that there are kids out there willing to find and play music that's not in the mainstream."

Ross Levine, a 34-year-old fan, agrees.

What he terms the "schizophrenic playlists" are a "refreshing alternative" to the better-funded, higher-powered stations, he says.

"They (KYDS) do such a good job of playing music from different decades," Levine says. "That's just something a commercial radio station isn't going to do."

THE NEXT STEP

Certainly, the KYDS deejays know radio won't quite be the same after they leave El Camino High.

Ferri, who will attend Sacramento State in the fall, plans to work at KSSU, which she says has already given her a taste of radio beyond high school.

Beyond that, she hopes to pursue some kind of "behind-the-scenes" music career.

Reynolds will study media communications at UC Santa Cruz, and Sanchez, well, whatever the future, he says, it'll involve bands, albums and, perhaps, playlists.

"My whole life revolves around music," Sanchez says, simply. "This has been the perfect opportunity for me to go to school and not just listen to bands but also interact with the community."

Ferri says it will be a sad moment when she turns her last KYDS dial.

"I'm excited that I'll keep moving on in radio, but I'll definitely miss this place," she says, watching as Reynolds and Sanchez try to figure out the chords to a particularly challenging metal song on their guitars.

"I know that once you get out into the mainstream, you don't have the freedom anymore," she says. "Here, we get to express our love for the music."