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Page 18B ? GAMECOCK ? August 25,1981 Radio: The Student's 'Indispensable Necessity' For the new student on the Columbia campus, whether freshman or transfer, one of life's most indispensible necessities is a radio. The radio's primary function is to entertain the relaxing listener who has had a hard day of class or play, or to distract him from some odious ohfirp Qimh qc homework or listening to his roommate, parent, girlfriend, boyfriend, etc. run on and on about nothing in particular. Radios come in many shapes, sizes and degrees of quality. Radios may be found in the automobile, in the home or dorm room, in the component stereo or clock variety. Some may be portable. The following overview is designed to inform the reader about the varieties of listening to stations in the Columbia area. BEFORE THE FORMAT strengths and weaknesses are listed, it must be pointed out that Columbia is one of the biggest markets for FM radio listening. This is surprising when one considers that Columbia also has probably the worst radio programming of any city its size in the U.S. Listen for yourself. Here's a brief description of each station to aid the listener in his/her search for aural gratification. The current ratings champion is WCOS-FM (98 FM) and this is probably the best of the lot. Its format is country music, which if you haven't heard lately, is not the nasal whine it used to be. The announcing staff is probably the most !_?_ The flavor is generally that of the station that you grew up with. It's generally the best of the pop stations if you're willing to forego WNOK-FM (105) is also a top contender for the "adult contemporary'' market. "Adult contemporary" is the latest euphamism for Top 40, which is avoided because it implies 13year-old audiences. People who were 20 when the Beatles crossed the. Atlantic are now nearing middle age, so what was once revolting (that is, rock and roll music to adults) is now respectable. WNOK is an Oil f/\?VI o autuinrtlCU MdllUIl, programmed by a machine with music supplied by a national music subscription service. It is live, however, for the morning and afternoon drive shows. If you love beach music, constant door knocking and opening (and closing) soundeffects, and stupid characters, you'll love the morning show provided by two brothers who have r been on the air in Columbia seemingly since there was air in Columbia. They may have been great in their heyday, but to many they come across as merely silly now. The morning and afternoon shows are simulcast (that is, broadcast at the same time) over WNOK-AM (1230). Otherwise the same tapes that supply FM or at least similar ones, are run on AM's automation system in 1? *- - - - uuici cui uruer iu give the effect of listening to a different station. For the average college student, musicwise, this is about the best to be found. Pity. WIS (560 AM), or WISRADI056 as the announcers ceaseless ly remind the listener, is the oldest and most revered station in Columbia, if not all of South Carolina. It plays, ' for practical purposes, no music at all. What little it does play is, again, adult contemporary, and is used almost solely as filler between guests on the station's many talk shows. Programmming includes such features as Sportsline, a 2+ hour sports talk show in the evening; Midday Magazine, a guestoriented talk show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.;and the Larry King Show, an insomniac-oriented show from Mutual network from midnight to 5 a.m. The station is extremely feature i i <jun:>v;iuu5, ana renes heavily on network programming. The area in which this station excels, however, is news. WIS has the largest news staff in the city and provides many local, in addition to network, news broadcasts. A lengthy news show from 5 to 6:30 p.m. weekdays is a pi I/Iiiinciil JJU1 t U1 lilt station's programming. WSCQ (100 FM) is aJj?out where WIS was five years ago. It also has a lengthy newscast in the evenings and local coverage. The personalities are well (PLANNED P> Counseling Birth Control Pregnancy Tests ADmUI. n I?i iuuiciii rregnancy Counseling & Services 2711 Middlebu 256-' T-SH SDortswear -4 - m- ? ? lr Custom Prlntli Fratei Transfers and Special Carolir Same Da 2767 Rosewood c Phone 254-9380 '? known but the music is ? a cross between MOR i (middle-of-the-road) and adult contemporary, which leaves the station a bit in the past as far as its music format. Both WSCQ and WIS strive for, or at least appeal to, a generally older audience, and WSCQ's Big Band Show is an examnlp nf thic offnpt ? - ? ?? ? ? ? v VA VIAVA V* WCAY (620 AM) IS the other country station in town, operating only during the daylight hours. It is not too powerful (250 watts) but has a Mutual network affiliof in? ri/J o mtawuii auu a iclii iy pleasant announcing staff, although neither the disc jockeys nor the total station are as uptown as WCOS's. WZLD (96.7 FM) used to be the album oriented, though automated, station in Columbia (actually, Cayce) but due to ratings, etc., they have gone back to the dull sound of adult contemDorarv. Even WNOK-FM plays heavier music than WZLD now, because you won't hear Barry Manilow on WNOK. But generally the VRENTHOOD All ] Contacts Confidential irg Dr., Suite 110 I 1908 I rJ-JTJTJ IRTS Specialty Co., \c. ig for Clubs + rnities Lettering . I ?^ 1a Designs ' ^ iY Strvice >r. 5 Mln. from Campus station has two advantages that make it more listenable than ] its main rival; while ( its music is still largely ] if not totally automated, it has live personalities all day which are pleasantly J unobtrusive; and it < does not inundate the t listener with beach s music. Morning t features such as Red s Npckerson and others r are not as worn out as r some of the com- I petitions tired F routines, also. r \ WLTR is the public s or "educational" c station in Columbia. Don't be frightened by that word because the ri programming is quite tl good and is an alter- ( nate to other listening, r \ "All Things Con- b sidered" is the award s winning news program o from National Public y Radio each afternoon, h and various programs, n feature, of course, o classical music. But b NPR also runs some v Live off-ca Don't get caugi ts ty" I 'M ~ rw ' eaSk \ ^ijrrn in t \3 If you live oft campus, I you may need a little help. I Whether it's finding an apartment, locating a babysitter, or simply tind ing your way around town. We're Commuter Ser vices, a tree information resource center, and we want to uncomplicate your lite ott campus as much as possible bo the next time you have ,1 cnnri^l Ul jjr uuiern or question, qive us a call at 777 4)74. Or drop by 1?1S Blossom Street and qet acquainted We're here to help you out No matter what kind ot |am you qel into l[ommuter\ Itesss Your road map to oftaampi excellent radio drama in the permanent program "Ear Play" and the stunning presentations of "Star Wars," a 13 part radio version of the movie, i Mid "The Hitchikpr'c persona Die, competent bunch in town, although there are bright spots at most other stations as well. WCOS-AM (1400 AM) is also quite good as far as music is concerned-it plays current hits, but generously intersperses them with truly great oldies, many from the 60s. Gruide to the Galaxy," he most popular radio ;how in the history of he BBC. Other ipecialized progranming includes folk nusic and several lours of USC-student >roduced programning emanating from VLTR's remote tudios located in the "ollege of Journalism. The only other nusical alternatives in he area are WOXT, 1470 AM), the eligious station, VXRY (93.5), the leautiful music tation, and Carolina's wn WUSC (91.9 FM), /hich, though it tries ard to offer alterative programming, nly partially succeeds ecause it only has 10 /atts of power. impus? lit in a jam. 1 aT % i lj I tSSSSSmmSSSmmm! ft \ervices lis living.