The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 31, 1995, Page 3, Image 3
Tim Q
"IBatfettk
Serving USC Since J 908
Lee Clontz, Editor in Chief Chris Muldrow, Viewpoints Editor
Editorial Board
Erin Galloway, Wendy Hudson, Susan Goodwin, Allison Williams,
Jimmy DeButts, Ryan Wilson, Carson Henderson, Radhika Talwani
The Great Radio
Controversy
WUSC "war o the worlds"
demands compromise
If you walked up to WUSC, the university's radio station, some
time over the past few weeks, you might have gotten the impression
the DJs were broadcasting "War of the Worlds" again.
The talk of invasion, of an alien life form approaching the radio ?
station, is menacing, secretive and somewhat paranoid, much like
the H.G. Wells fantasy. The threat of invasion, however, is very real.
The man piloting the flying saucer with death ray aimed at WUSC
is named Patrick Bryant. Bryant is a broadcasting student here at
USC, and he intends to run for station manager of WUSC. He and
a group of associates have devised a totally different organizational
structure for the radio station.
Currently, the station has a policy of requiring disc jockeys to
play a certain number of artists from "rotation." In other words, the
music director of the station picks new CDs and puts them in a rack,
and the DJs must pick music out of that rack for a certain percentage
of their total show. Then the DJ can pick anything else to play
for the rest of the show, with two exceptions: artists who have hit
the Top 40 any time in the past 20 years and artists who are supported
by larger outlets.
Bryant's proposal eliminates the ability of the DJs to pick their
own music the night of the show. Under his plan, the station manager
and music director would establish a play list for DJs to use
on their shows. The DJ might have
some initial input over what mu
sic to play, Dut the freedom to choose I HO SCODOil SnOUM K0ep
music would be lost. Its free-form character.
Further, Bryant proposes polhng H
the students at USC and deter- WKJUm, IKJWOVer, open
mining what kind of programming UP ItS format to more
they would like to hear. This pro- choices Of IVMISlC.
gramming would be used to set up
the play lists and would probably
eliminate the "no top 40 rule" and
the "larger outlet" rule. Bryant has commented that the proposed
format has not yet been determined.
Bryant claims this format more closely resembles that of a commercial
radio station, thus providing valuable experience for DJs
who work at the station.
People currently working at the station have recoiled from Bryant's
plan, saying it destroys the freedom the DJs have. They claim that,
as an educational radio station, WUSC's diversity is beneficial. Under
the system now in place, DJs can program African drum music
next to ska next to heavy metal next to country, so listeners experience
a wide variety of music.
Both parties in this argument, however, have made mi stakes in
their thinking. Bryant has never worked with WUSC before, and
thinking he can be hired for the station's top position is overly ambitious.
As in any business, experience is required; Bryant has not
paid his dues and put in the hours required to take over the station.
Further, the regimentation of the radio station is wrong. DJs have
traditionally had freedom at USC to play what they wanted, and a
play list would drive DJs away from the station.
Also, polling students will mean only music enjoyed by the majority
at USC will be played. This will destroy WUSC's appeal to
minority music interests. The station has been the haven of very
unusual types of music in the past: ska, a specialty blues show, zydeco,
Canadian bands, punk, jazz, country, rock, rap and experimental
music have all found a place on WUSC.
The current WUSC staff could encourage this diversity even more
by easing up on the "no top 40, no major outlet" rule by continuing
to use this rule on music put into rotation, but eliminating the rule
for the music DJs get to choose on their own.
The big argument the current staff uses is that the station is educational
and allows people to hear different kinds of music.
If DJs could play whatever they wanted to play, thus possibly introducing
more popular music to the station, it would draw in more
listeners. These new listeners would get to hear the music they already
enjoy, and they would also hear the more unusual and educational
music from the music director's rotation.
This rule change would also encourage a more diverse staff to
work at the station.
People have been discouraged from working in the past by station
managers who told them the music applicants currently listened
to was crap not worth playing on the air. This elitist attitude
greatly limits the number and type of people who want to work at
the station. Student organizations should try to encourage participation
from the entire student population, not criticize and scare
people away.
So we have one group that would educate us by restricting DJs'
freedom of choice and by making the station more like a narrowly
formatted commercial station, and we have another group that would
educate us by saying they allow diverse radio when they actually
have tight restrictions on what music is played.
In "War of the Worlds," germs killed the invading aliens. In
; USCs "War of the Worlds," the defending radio staff members must
open their minds.
Let's lift the restrictions on DJs and have true free-form radio
that everyone will want to listen to, radio that has something for
everyone.
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Liberal policy i
A couple of weeks ago I wrote on the topic of
public education and the obsessive attempts by
the radical left to indoctrinate America's children.
Today, I am going to offer my opinions on what
is wrong with America's failed public education
system and what must be done to fix it.
Many of our intellectual-type, elitist policy
makers (insert "liberals") believe the answer to
improving education is by constantly increasing
funding (at taxpayer's expense), moving children
around for racial balancing (busing programs) and
incorporating more social-political programs into
the curriculum (e.g. gay rights, environmental
interests). This is exactly what has been going on
in most public school systems for 25 years. It has
been an utter and complete failure.
The single biggest problem with public education
lies with the teachers unions and professional
organizations (such as the NEA). The leadership
of the NEA, for example, officially favors teacher
frilreB' cnntrfli>ontiva fin Q/tVlAnl o V
VWA1VA MVV^/VITV VA1UV1 lMUVIUil \11Jl 0V11VV1O/)
special rights for gays; it opposes merit pay for
teachers, parental choice, voluntary school prayer,
home schooling, English as the official language;,drug,
alcohol and AIDS testing, First Amendment
Rights; the Boy Scouts of America, and God.
Does this bunch of leftist-hippie holdovers represent
most parents, teachers or students? NO!
Absolutely not! For instance, according to the
NEA's own polling, 69 percent of teachers favor
merit pay, and a majority of teachers voted for
Reagan and Bush. Also consider this: numerous
research studies have asked American parents
Odd week inspi
It's been too weird a week to attempt to institute
some form of order to the ol' column today.
Instead, 111 offer a multifaceted hodge-podge of
totally unrelated and unintelligible gibberish I
like to call "NEWS OF THE BEARD!" (This announcement
should be followed by thunderous
applause. Thank you. Please, don't send money.
Or at least much money.)
First, you might remember that my last column
mentioned some problems we've had in my
apartment with the sprayer on the sink and the
oven. Amazingly, maintenance people came in
THAT DAY and fixed the sink, and the oven got
fixed yesterday. Now everyone I know is begging
me to list their housing problems in the column.
The maintenance guys were, as usual, pretty cool
about helping us out, and I thank them. Now, if
i couia just get a hot tub put in the living roomSpeaking
of housing, a big bunch of people
camped out at the Russell House this week to try
to get a spot on the Horseshoe. I woke up early
last year to get a spot, but I didn't even dream of
camping out. I'm thinkin' housing could, instead
of offering a microfridge (It cooks! It cools! It looks
like a droid from Star Wars!), offer some kind of
concert tickets at housing sign-up. That way, when
people from Clemson ask about the housing lines,
we can say, "No, man, I was waiting for Stones
tickets. We always get the rooms we want."
I defended my senior thesis this week, too. A
senior thesis is a long paper designed to suck your
blood veins dry and leave you a wasted shell of
flesh. This is one of those ink-jet draining, reamof-paper
stripping, fingernail-biting, 60-page pieces
of hell we have to endure. The prospect of actually
finishing this opus has confused all my brain's
resources. At this point, I think I'm a flowerpot.
I've noticed lots of construction around campus
lately, too. Though they've probably been there
a while, I just noticed the new handrails at the liorary.
They're pretty dang ugly, not that the li
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isifi I IHIIVIK. Wfc K?js(TiA,L
REALLY GO'NSTO
9fc... BEMEFiT FRCYA
G.O.P. IMF'GWTI^G...
s believe no one win believe them. They may feel
M have seen it coming. Very frequently, victims b
Eileen Korpita,
Director of the Office of Sexual Assault Services
of improving edu
T0MMY T0UCHBERRY J
what they want from the public schools. The re- J
suits show the most popular responses to be: (1)
Teach our children how to speak, write, read, think 1
and count correctly and (2) Help them to develop 1
reliable standards of right and wrong that will <
guide them through life. The teaching of core sub- 1
jects, basic skills and moral standards are exact- (
ly what the NEA has repeatedly opposed.
The only way to cut through this bureaucracy,
remove these radicals from power and truly reform
education is to let the public school system ?
join everyone else in the market economy. The
great Dig ne 01 me estaDiisnment is mat puoiic r
education will be destroyed if parental choice is \
allowed. Two points need to be made here: (1) Why c
not destroy something that is a complete failure, t
don't we owe America's kids a decent education? ?
and (2) Higher education operates in a fashion
very similar to the proposed voucher-choice system.
Public schools such as USC have prospered c
anyway. Why? Because the market economy forces c
USC to find ways to offer a solid education at as c
low a cost as possible (even though they whine c
about a lack of funds all of the time!).
Another valid question is this: Why shouldn't v
each American parent have the opportunity to
choose which school to send their child to (whether ^
ires Beardman H
CHRIS MULDROW ^
Viewpoints editor
fun
brary is a monument of architectural hipness. I She
wouldn't mind a few students slipping and break- side
ing their heads open if we had left those rails off. and
There's a huge pit beside the Coliseum, too. I ]
think the whole athletics practice facility thing is unc
a scam. I think they're actually sinking a nuclear as \
missile silo right beside the journalism school. Ei- ren
ther that or one of those pools with the waves like son;
they have in Japan. That way, we could start a 1
surfing team. mei
TV*o rvnl 1 'n Tl 1
jl tic pvncii o pi cnj tiiiciv cu uuiiu campus, it iur i
looks like that butter salt powder my mother used oth<
to sprinkle on popcorn. (I found it doesn't taste proj
quite the same, though.) Being extremely aller- as p
gic to pollen, I'm living in a haze created by lib- deni
eral intake of antihistamines. Along with the the- and
sis confusion, I'm chemically altered. Maybe I'm is th
not a flowerpot but a blue Ford tractor. ^idi
Because of my allergies, I'm forced to carry
around pocketfuls of Kleenexes and to sniffle ^
through every class I have, and I'm convinced I aSe?
look like Rudolph the red-nosed Viewpoints edi- tlon
tor. scor
To further cause problems, my computer's battery
is on its last leg. These portable computers mi^
have limited battery lives, and the time you can as ^
use them without a power cord drops. Mine now
runs for one minute and 32 seconds between mov
recharges. That means I have to cany around the mov
power brick, a bulky gray box with a serpentine
cord that hides itself when the computer is about s 1
to run out of power. sma
Speaking of computer power, I see the battery's sour
just about dead agai...
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like they're at fault
lame themselves.''
cation failed
t be secular, Protestant, Catholic or Jewish)? I
>ur current system, the upper classes (derogs
lively called "the rich" by liberals) can afford t
send their kids to the school of their choice. Fc
nstance, Chelsea Clinton goes to a private Chris
dan school; Uncle Bill wouldn't dare send her t
he crime-ridden D.C. schools. On the other han<
nost in the middle classes and everyone in th
ower classes can't afford private school for the:
:hildren. Most would like to send their kids to
>e?er scnooi, dui tney just don t nave the mor
;y. And these liberals complain that Republican
:ater to the privileged few! Here is an issue th?
:ould drastically improve the lives of the middl
ind lower classes. Such hypocrisy!
You might ask how the liberals can be so ii
ational? It's quite simple. The liberals do nc
vant real competition in the schools because the
ontrol the educational establishment. They sc
he rules, they direct the curriculum, they are th
ines who make sure that a bad teacher cannot b
ired. As is the case with welfare, health care an
ither entitlement programs, the liberals wan
ontrol. They thrive on dependency. They are nc
ut to help anyone to move up the economic lac
ler.
I must conclude now, but I will be back nex
veek with more commentary on the educatio
[uestion. Oh, by the way; "Go Razorbacks ? Bea
he Heels!"
TIERS TO TW Enrol
roposed changes arent
tally changes at all
Christina Rojas wrote an excellent story about
roup of students who are seeking to change the
damental idea underlying USCs college radio.
! provided a well-written, clear depiction of both
? of the issue, and that is something journalists
1 media consumers should cherish.
From her story, I believe I gained an accurate
lerstanding of the reformers' claims and goals
veil as those of the defenders of the station's curt
format. And what I understand I find worrile.
h the article, Bryant appears to want to implelt
changes which will debase the entire reason
he existence of college radio ? to play what the
?r stations in the area are not. Bryant's other
xised changes are not really changes at all, such
irnvirfincr sirraaa tn tlio airuiovao for TT<5P ohi.
ts and mediating the events and ideas of college
community organizations and activities. WUSC
le broadcast medium for USC and has been prong
such event information ever since I began
ming to it, and, I'm sure, long before that.
Iryant's plan to poll the masses, take an averfind
the standard deviation and have the staplay
only the kind of music falling within zes
of +/-1.5 will dilute the music spectrum of
SC and Columbia, not increase the diversity of
ic styles in order to appeal to a wider audience
ryant and sons claim.
ly impression of Bryant's intentions is not to
e the station from one plane to another, but to
e the WUSC clique of operations from the curset
to his buddies, in which case WUSC will
be called "Wussy," will still be controlled by a
11 percentage of the student population and will
id like every other loser station in Columbia.
Herb Hollar
Mass communications graduate student