Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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► THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, March 28,2003 . 5 CONTACT US IT Story ideas? Questions? Comments? let my schooling interfere E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com with my education.” Station offers to play Top 40 hits for fund-raiser BY ROB SEAL THE GAMECOCK WUSC listeners should be pre pared to hear anything from Guns ’N’ Roses to Wayne Shorter for the next few days — during the Moolah for Music weekend on WUSC-FM. From noon Friday un til midnight Sunday, WUSC will drop its usual format and play re quests in return for financial pledges. For a mere five bucks, lis teners can request any song by any artist, as long as the song meets Federal Communications Commission guidelines. “Moolah for Music is a week end when we drop our non-Top 40 music policy, and we’re willing to play anything from Frank Sinatra to Britney Spears,” said Tug Baker, WUSC station manager. The proceeds from the fund raiser will go toward the future of WUSC, Baker said. “The money is basically used for regular things around the sta tion,” as well as for equipment and similar supplies, he said. The station might also put the money toward streaming content over the Internet, Baker said. “We think that Internet streaming is a really important thing that we want to continue at the station,” he said. In addition to playing requests all weekend long, WUSC will also sponsor a “DJ for a Day” auction, Baker said. Anytime during the weekend, listeners can call in and place a bid to be a DJ for a day. The winner of the auction will be able to do a show at WUSC. “And we start that at $5, and it’ll go until it stops,” Baker said. “We’ll be willing to give up any time slot for the winner because that person helped out the station.” This is the first year the “DJ for a Day” auction has been part of the Moolah for Music campaign, Baker said. Mark Lyvers, a WUSC DJ bet ter known to his listeners as Uncle Gram, said he sometimes cheats for the campaign. Lyvers, who has worked at WUSC off and on since 1978, said he keeps a list of his regular listen ers and, about a month before the campaign, gets their pledges in ad vance. “I e-mailed some of my Air Force buddies, and they’ve donated quite a bit of money,” he said. Lyvers’ show, which usually features Americana music from folk to bluegrass, will air an hour early this Saturday morning from 6 a.m. until noon. WUSC will also sponsor a free show at the New Brookland Tavern starting at 9 p.m. on Friday. Such bands as Love Apple, Annaray and Tigerbot Hesh will perform. “We figured it would be a good opportunity to support WUSC,” said Love Apple’s Jason Sposa, “because, back in the day, they helped us out a whole bunch get ting local music out on the air ways. A couple of years ago, they were really helpful playing our cheesy 8-track demo.” Baker said the New Brookland show is “mostly just to give peo ple a chance to enjoy some local music, and also remind everyone about Moolah for Music.” WUSC will place a donation jar at the show, he said, for people who want to donate, but don’t want to call to request a song. Baker said Moolah for Music weekend is “a great chance for people to tune in and hear some stuff that wouldn’t otherwise be played on WUSC.” “Regardless of what type of mu sic you like.” he said, “or even if you are a regular listener or not, this is a great chance to raise some money for a good cause and to get some un usual music played on the air.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com 4 WUSC DJs approach final curve in radio career BY COREY GARRIOTT THECAMECOCK Like the tide, WUSC’s DJs come and go. This year, some of WUSC’s headline members will depart: Jonathan Dunagin, Sean Rayford, Mike Lyons and Eric Adolphson. If you’re a fan of live techno and scratching, be sure to catch Adolphson before he exits, stage left, for New York. Adolphson, a fifth-year media-arts student, will hand over the reigns of “The Revolution” to Jay Irwin this summer. “I named it after RPM,” he said — rotations per minute. Adolphson uses two turntables — souped-up record players — and his own collection of 4,500 LPs to mix while on air. He hung out in Chicago when he lived in the Midwest. “I would go to house parties and watch these guys spin records,” Adolphson said. “I bought a turntable to get records to lis ten to — then bought a second, and one thing just led to anoth er.” Although many continue work ing at the station, Adolphson will phase out his show in the weeks following his graduation. Unlike most, he’s got a job to go to, a job in New York City. i ii De worning a tumpa ny called Kinetic Records pro moting their artists in the Southeast,” he said. Kinetic Records, of course, deals in tech no-rave music. “I have a minor in PR — that’s the key.” This is a dream job for Adolphson. Jack-of-all-trades Mike Lyons is also leaving the staff. He’s been the librarian, program director, assistant to both the public af fairs director and music director, and WUSC’s member-at-large. The member-at-large repre sents the DJs to WUSC’s station staff, similar to a union rep. Working with the DJs has been the theme of his jobs. “Basically, as program direc tor, you’re kind of the manager, so you have to make sure we’re al ways on air,” he said. Lyons would get called up at 4 a.m. if a DJ didn’t show. He and Camille Watkins, a former public-affairs director, have worked 12:hour night shifts. “We once did an all-night show, and at 5:30 she finally passed out,” he said. But his favorite perk of the job is reading prison mail. WUSC re ceives mail from prison inmates who listen to the station, usually congratulating them for staying on the air for 24 hours. The DJs behind USC’s popular “Under the Covers” show are also calling it quits. 2001 graduates Jonathan Dunagin and Sean Rayford will also phase out their show over the summer. “Under the Covers” plays indie cover versions of popular fa vorites, like the Styx’s “Mr. Roboto.” “it started off with Napster,” Rayford said. “There’d be no way for me to purchase CDs to find a hidden track way at the end.” Since then, “Under the Covers” is reputed to be one of WUSC’s most popular shows. “It’s hard to tell because we don’t have any re search like most stations do,” he said. The show is breaking up be cause Dunagin is leaving. “I’m moving to Greenville in July,” said Dunagin, who also works as the New Brookland Tavern’s booking agent. “I’m get ting married in May and my lease expires in June.” Rayford said he couldn’t bear to do the show alone after Dunagin leaves. “You get used to yelling at someone for 120 min utes,” he said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com S' 'jK \ /A1VC9 PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Sean Rayford, front, and Jonathan Dunagln„2001 USC graduates, are leaving WUSC after this semester along with their Wednesday-night show, “Under the Covers.” MOVIE REVIEW Spirit world enthralls viewers “SPIRITED AWAY” Directed by Hayao Miyazaki outofiri!rfr&* BY CAITLIN COKER THE GAMECOCK “Spirited Away” is Studio Ghibli’s latest masterpiece and the highest-grossing film in Japanese box-office history — it has generated more than $234 million. The film has won sever al awards, including an Oscar for best animated picture; the ti tle of best Asian film at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards; and the best feature film, writing, music and direction awards at the 30th annual Annie Awards. The movie thrusts viewers into the animated world of Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl, and her parents. En route to their new house, they explore a mys terious tunnel in the woods. Believing they have stumbled upon an abandoned amusement park, her parents are trans formed, leaving her to fend for herself in a fantasy world of mag ic and spirits. Although it is marketed for youth, “Spirited Away” has proven highly popular with au diences of all ages — its wide ranging appeal reflected by box office sales. It’s because dark images ac centuate the mystery of a new, fantastical world. When Chihiro meets the manager of this par ticular world, Yubaba, three de capitated heads tumble around her while grunting. They are strange rather than frightening; by this point, Chihiro is begin ning to accept her unreal sur roundings. The fantasy world that Miyazaki created is extremely strange, yet not nonsensical. He has built the perfect kind of bizarre and infused the irra tional with the rational. To remain alive, Chihiro must ask Yubaba for a job. She is em ployed at a bathhouse — even spirits need to clean. Chihiro cleans an exception ally filthy river spirit at the bath house. Eventually, she pulls a bi cycle, bowling pin and toilet from the customer, all junk that people often dump into rivers. Writer and director Hayao Miyazaki made this film with a 10-year-old audience in mind — Chihiro is a believable heroine that this age group can easily un derstand. She exhibits strength by es caping an attacker — a vengeful and vomiting faceless Spirit — and then later befriending him. She sees the good underneath the monster. The animation is vivid and characteristically Japanese. When she cries, tears almost the size of her eyes rush forth. The film focuses on her beau tiful innocence, her saving grace at various times throughout the film. She blindly trusts in other characters — Yubaba’s identical twin Zeniba and Haku, who in struct her how to survive — who later become helpful friends. Ordinarily, dubbed movies don’t come close to the original. But the dubbed “Spirited Away” doesn’t disappoint. The voices are different, and therefore lend to slightly differ ent characterizations. Chihiro has a whinier voice; Lin, ♦ ‘SPIRITED,’ SEE PAGE 6 Station has long history at USC WUSC reaches out to spread music beyond the university BY GABRIELLE SINCLAIR THE GAMECOCK Although WUSC is a student organization, most of its listen ers are from the outside. USC’s radio station is a com munity institution. The station’s 30-mile radius, which covers most of Richland and Lexington counties, has accumulated the re spect and dedication of many lis teners. “At any given timjj, we get be tween 100 and a thousand listen ers,” said Elyn Blackman, a third-year philosophy student and a WUSC DJ for three years. She credits the station’s suc cess to its diversity and noncom mercial status. “We’re the only indepen dent media outlet in the city, other than the Free Times,” she said. “Every other station is cor porately owned.” Tug Baker, a fourth-year DJ, sees WUSC listeners as being in dividuals who are tired of the norm. “The typical fan is someone who wants to hear something dif ferent,” he said. “They don’t want to hear the same stuff over and over again on the commercial stations and MTV.” WUSC provides a service by showcasing local artists that oth erwise might not get any play. “We try to focus on local mu sic and bands. We give away tickets all the . time. Our li brary has tons of local artists, and it grows every day,” Baker said. WUSC signed on the air for the first time at 730 Khz on the AM dial in 1947, when it proclaimed itself “The Voice of Carolina.” To pick up the signal back in those days, you had to plug a wire into the jack in your dorm room wall. WUSC was first allocated an FM frequency (89.9 Mhz) in 1958, ♦ WUSC, SEE PAGE 6 “At any given time, we get between 100 and a thousand listeners.” ELYN BLACKMAN WUSC STUDENT DJ