Volume 124 Issue 44
kansan.com
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
DONATING MADE EASY
Students should take advantage of campus blood drives PAGE 5
TO HOME,WITH LOVE
Check out an excerpt of of Tyrel Reed's diary of his time playing basketball in Belgium PAGE 5
MAKING RADIO WAVES
ON AIR HONORS
BOBBY BURCH
bburch@kansan.com
KJHK 90.7 FM employs a rather unconventional strategy to conduct its operations. The approach, according to Alex Tretbar, a senior from Wichita and KJHK's station manager, is "keeping it fresh!"
And the plan seems to be paying-off as the station received two national rankings in 2011, including a mention in The Washington Post as one of the 10 greatest college radio stations in the U.S.
"It's definitely something that's a really good morale booster for the station," Tretar said. "It comes at a good time because at this time in the semester students in general are kind of tired and something like this can lift everyone's spirits."
The latest accolade comes only two months after the Princeton Review ranked JKHK the 15th best student-run radio station in the country. While the recognition is evidence of the current staff's efforts, the awards also reflect the station's history of broadcasting, according to Tom Johnson, KJHK's general manager.
Since its founding in 1975, KJHK has maintained an FM radio presence, Johnson said, a feat which sets the University's "sound alternative"
"It's a nod to longevity and the fact that KU trusts KJHK," he said. "There are so many stations that Universities have sold-off the FCC license for them just to make a buck."
apart from many other college radio stations.
Johnson said that increasingly more college radio stations use automated Djs and exclusively stream content online. In addition to offering its programs on the web, KJHK has preserved the traditional FM format with student operators in the studio 24 hours a day — two factors that contributed to the Post's ranking.
However, having a student DJ at the station around-the-clock appears to be much easier this year, as the number of volunteers at KJHK increased more than 25 percent since 2010. Johnson said that on a typical year the station would have anywhere from 130 to 150 student volunteers to help with operations. This year KJHK has more than 200 unpaid workers, the most in the station's history.
James Baker, a senior from Dallas and a DJ at KJHK, said that the station's move from "the shack," a building to the northwest of Memorial
SEE RADIO PAGE 3
CAMPUS
New app helps promote peace in the Congo
IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Even when it comes to ending a complex, decades-old war in central Africa, the saying still applies: there's an app for that.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF APPLE
Student organizers for Falling Whistles, a campaign for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), invited a touring troupe of members and a guest speaker from the DRC to introduce their app to students Wednesday on campus. The app.
The app, available on iTunes, takes a photo that is sent directly to the White House.
FW+Faces, is a photo petition asking the government for more attention to the Congo region of Africa.
Yes Muya, a speaker for Falling Whistles, shares his story about growing up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Wednesday night. Muya is one of many people who are trying to get the United States involved in the Congo to help stop the war there. The name "Falling Whistles" came from the fact that forces in Congo would take children who were not strong enough to carry guns and arm them with whistles and send them to the front lines. The group now uses the whistle as a symbol of its protest against the war.
"I instead of asking for
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
FW+Faces works by taking a photo of the user and imprinting it with the words "I want peace in Congo." Falling Whistles faxes that image to the U.S. Department of State. It is one example of a new trend in advocacy, as groups like Habitat for Humanity and Climate Justice have also turned to mobile devices and persuasive images to gain attention. FW+Faces is designed to work on iPhones and iPads, but, like other apps, it also works on desktop computers.
Schaidle
your signature, we're asking for your face," said Benjamin Fulfer, a touring member of the group from Memphis.
By the time the group left Lawrence on Thursday, University students' faces were on their way to White House with a clear message.
The group hopes to convince the Department of State to send a special envoy to the DRC and end the war. Congress passed legislation to appoint the special envoy in 2006, but the position has never been filled.
At least 5.4 million people have died in a war that started in the DRC in 1988, according to the International Rescue Committee, a private relief agency. Although the war officially ended with a transitional government it 2003, the fighting has never stopped.
The visit from Falling Whistles came days after President Obama announced the commitment of 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to support a battle against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a guerrilla group accused of atrocities such as human rights violations including
After enlisting students to pose for the photo petition at Wesco Beach, the group met in Smith Hall. Allen Schaidle, a sophomore from Metamora, IL, and a campus organizer for Falling Whistles, said he was hoping for more students in the audience. Fewer than 30 people attended, and some of
rape and the use of child soldiers, according to the Associated Press. The first U.S. troops arrived in Uganda Wednesday and others are being sent to the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the LRA has been active. The deployment is unusual, as the U.S. does not typically send troops to put down insurgencies in African nations, though some are stationed in Djibouti and have been sent to Somalia.
those were from Kansas City and Northwest Missouri University in Marville, Mo.
Yves Muya, the guest speaker, said he was not enthusiastic about the deployment of U.S. troops.
"When we talk about peace, sending more arms we feel like it defeats the whole thing," he said. "But I'm sure they have their reasons to think it's a good thing."
Muya, 29, was born in the DRC and travels with Falling Whistles to tell the story of how he fled violence in his home country at age 11 and survived in a refugee camp in Malawi. Between reminiscing about watching cartoons with
his brothers and sisters or joking about being too skinny for competitive sports, he talked about going days without food and standing in line to obtain rations.
"It's a very humiliating experience," he said. "It itks, as a kid. All you can think about is food."
Muya told how he and his family escaped the camp and settled in South Africa, where the French speaking young man learned English and gained a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Los Angeles.
armed with whistles and sent to the front lines of battles to make noise and draw fire. Additionally, Falling Whistles raises money by selling old-fashioned metal whistles to be worn around the neck as a symbol for being a whistleblower against injustice.
Muya explained that the name Falling Whistles refers to the story of child soldiers in the DRC who, too small to carry weapons, were
"The most fundamental thing in the U.S. is the freedom of speech." Muya said. "You guys can do something about it."
The conflict in the DRC is driven in part by the exploitation of minerals, such as tantalum ore, that are used to build the mobile
SEE CONGO ON PAGE 3