THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 7A
Radio regurgitates routine rhapsodies
KANSAN The
This semester marks the third semester I've been a DJ at KJHK 90.7, and I've really enjoyed spinning tunes at the station. Recently, I even had the privilege to meet a fan: my friend's dad, who listens to our station online all the way from England. As we discussed the station and my experience there, he asked if my future career plans included becoming a radio DJ. I told him no without much hesitation and explained that, as much as I love being a disc jockey, I've found that most radio stations don't like to experiment with their formats. Call me a music snob all you want, but I'd rather work on the marketing team at Abercrombie and Fitch than for a radio station that plays it safe and sticks to a mainstream format.
One of the major problems with this region is that you can hardly differentiate between the commercial FM stations here
LAURA WATKINS opinion@kansan.com
The five corporations — Entercom, Viking, CBS/Infinity, Cumulus and Susquehanna — that dominate FM commercial radio in the Kansas City area need to consider the audience members they aren't satisfying with their country, adult contemporary and Top 40 stations. Greed shouldn't be the only thing affecting radio format; these corporations need to quit playing it safe and begin targeting the audience members
when surfing through the channels. 93.3 and 95.7 are basically the same station — play the Top 40 music that guarantees you money, no matter how horrible it sounds. 96.5 The Buzz is similar to those stations but with the hip-hop music removed, giving it that "I'm so totally punked out for corporations" sound. 97.3 is almost the.same as the Buzz but with some more mellow, yet mainstream, alternative rock. In fact, it's not uncommon for me to flip the dial only to find the same horrid Green Day song playing on several different stations at once.
I've got to be honest. Some of my animosity toward ra-
with different music preferences. Not everyone wants to listen to the Britney Spears/Kelly Clarkson/Simple Plan songs they can access anywhere. Give
dio has to do with something I experienced in high school. I carefully planned to release this article around the anniversary of a rather tragic date in radio history. I remember the day after Labor Day weekend in 1999 just as if it were yesterday. As I drove with an acquaintance to school, she turned on 105.9 The Lazer, a station I loved because of its focus on more alternative rock and especially for their promotion of local music. But they were playing music from the new Madonna album. I was pissed. Why the hell would a perfectly good alternative rock station that spent its time preaching the ways of alternative, modern rock and local music to the masses turn to Top 40 mainstream format?
The answer is money. I'm fully aware that 105.9 changed because it thought there would be a bigger listening audience to reach with pop music. I know
the people something they can listen to and enjoy!
P. S. Willie Nelson, I really do love you, but I am still really pissed about your participation in Jessica Simpson's joke of a remake of a perfectly wonderful Nancy Sinatra song.
ground hip-hop or jam bands? And what about the people who just want to have an opportunity to discover a new type of music?
how money works. No matter how much I dislike it, I understand that money is typically the determining factor when most people decide how to react to an opportunity.
But that doesn't mean it's not complete bullshit. When you own six or seven stations in one area, can't you take a risk and play something you can't hear on MTV? There are a ton of people in our area who can't afford or don't have access to CD and MP3 players but who want to hear something different on the radio. What about them?
- Watkins is a Lenexa senior in journalism. She is a DJ and Live Events director for KJHK 90.7.
In a city with a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, why is there only one hiphop station in town? Why is it necessary to have nine country stations, yet there isn't a commercial FM station playing any type of world music? What about the people who want to hear electronic, classical, under-
Free for All Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansas editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
I've got a gas solution. The Schwinn gets good gas mileage, especially if you can fit someone on the pegs.
We just payed $10.50 to get ice cream delivered to us at eleven o' clock at night. I love Lawrence.
Gas is more expensive than a Missouri basketball player.
For the people on the white Grand Am that got into the chase with us on Sunday night, I just wanted to say I had a good time and I hope we can do it again.
To the owners of the 6 eggs smashed on our porch, 6th grade called, it wants you back. A walk-by egging? What kind of ghetto do we live in?
To my fabulous boyfriend, who I accidently kicked off the jet-ski this weekend, I'm sorry that your face hit the water at fifty miles per hour.
Where the hell was my camera?
Riding a bike to class is social suicide!
I just have a comment about the nasty looking bleish on one of the most identifiable symbols of the University of Kansas. I'm referring to Allen Fieldhouse, of course. Instead of increasing the size of where people can sit and watch the game, they're putting on a gift shop so rich people can buy their kids stupid little stuffed Jayhawks. Congratulations to whatever upper-management person made that decision.
to whatever upper management person made that decision.
To the guys who stole our keg shell, you're not invited to our birthday party! No but seriously, could you return it? We sort of need it this weekend.
Nice try hotdog cart guy, but everyone knows that hippies only eat green things and sunshine.
I want my trash can back.
I want my trash can back.
My girlfriend doesn't know what the Free for All is!
Can you believe that?
The Free for All should totally accept text messages!
In response to Betsy Mcleod's article, the reason
that we listen to iPods is because we don't want to
hear people talking on their cellphones.
I'm pretty sure Texas is the biggest
joke school of all time.
I should have known that Jayplay
was an Apple user!
So, I'm drunk and eating cereal, does that
go against my low-carb diet?
The commercial that says, "have a happy period" has to be written by a guy, because no girl would ever say "have a happy period." So yeah.
I'd like to post a thousand-dollar reward for information about who slashed all the tires at Delta Chi.
All bike riders must unite! Stop signs don't mean anything! They're just funny looking art that car drivers like to stop and look at.
Hot. Dog. Cart. Do it!
I feel like I've been left out of the loop or something, because I don't know who Eric Jorgensen is.
I think the presence of a hotdog cart would raise KU's national ranking.
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I hope our basketball uniforms aren't as ugly as our football ones. How about a little creativity?
You know, I wouldn't even know if you guys will print this, because the newspaper box at Malott is always empty. Come on, I think we can do better than two bundles a day.
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I've always said that Hogan knows best, and now there is a television show that validates my assertion.
The University does a really crappy job of treating its students. I'm talking about showing us all into one gate with only a few ticket takers so we all miss kick-off.
Student-athletes aren't the only ones who work hard to go here.
The squirrel comic is probably the funniest comic that the Kansan has.
R. Kelly's remix to " Ignition" just came on, and I haven't heard that song since freshman year, but I remembered every word. And in no way is that sad
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business and political interests. This history includes the loss of millions of innocent lives.
This campaign seeks to address recruiter's discriminatory policies and challenge the United States' occupation of Iraq.
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EDITORIAL BOARD
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In Iraq, the military's "effective" actions include indiscriminate bombing, the near-leveling of cities and torture. Research published in the medical journal The Lancet has estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Elis Ford, Yanting Wang, Julia Malm Coelho,
Dan Hanyt, Anne Wetmer, Julia Patiar, Natha,
McGinnis, Josh Goatting, Sara Garlick,
Chase Edgerton, Ray Wittlinger, David Archer
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Goetting's goett it all wrong
Joshua Goetting's August 25th editorial mischaracterizes the protest. He states: "this protest...is an attempt by some to impose societal ideas on the military at the expense of military effectiveness."
This protest did not seek to impose ideals on the military; it asked that the administration enforce its own nondiscrimination policy and deny the military the right to recruit on campus.
Mr. Goetting cites the US military as a color blind segment of society.Promotion op-
the thoroughly getting worried that allowing gays in the military would damage effectiveness. Throughout its history, the U.S. military's effectiveness has not been used for justice or liberty, but for the protection of U.S.
portunities do not make the military color-blind. In a 1997 congressionally-mandated survey, 75 percent of minorities in the military said that "they have experienced racially offensive behavior, and less than half expressed confidence that complaints of discrimination are thoroughly investigated."
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Editorial board high on self
The August 30 editorial, "New law provokes toke," levies the charge of moral error against proponents of a city ordinance that would change the way first-time marijuana offenders are handled by both the Police Department and the justice system.
As I see it, the ordinance exists largely outside the moral realm. This ordinance is about saving law enforcement and the courts and, thusly, the taxpayers (e.g. students, residents, citizens, all of us), money.
Simultaneously, the law enforcement community will be able to focus limited resources on investigating and prosecuting more serious crimes that take place in our fair town such as rape, domestic violence, and theft to name a few.
Despite all of the erroneous charges made in the August 30 editorial, which range from increased drug use to a full blown, pot-fueled, population boom, the laws prohibiting the sale, use, and possession of marijuana will remain unchanged and fully enforced.
The ordinance will not result in the legalization of marijuana, nor its decriminalization for that matter. The argument made in the editorial piece is faulty and completely misses the point of the ordinance, to save us (the taxpayers) money and to potentially save students' academic lives.
Let's start with the plea for understanding for "those students who need financial aid who didn't get caught with pot." According to the editorial, the ordinance would make it "possible for a student without a drug conviction to get passed up for student loans by a student with a drug conviction." This is a half truth at best.
The student with the conviction would be more eligible for the loan if and only if his/her financial need was greater than that of the conviction-free student. I don't think that there exists a single case in which someone with genuine financial need loses out on federal aid dollars because those funds were given to some red-eyed dope fiend that is equally financially eligible instead.
Student loans, especially need-based loans, are disbursed to most every needy student. From time to time someone who has made a mistake in their past, though needy, does not and cannot qualify for federal aid, regardless of the steps in the present they are taking to make good choices and like seeking higher education.
But, as I have previously stated, this is not a moral issue but one of economics and efficient public services. So, just for fun let's make an alternative moral argument to that which was presented in the August 30 editorial. This is an argument that can be made although it need not be, as the ordinance has intentions other than dictating public morality.
During his senior year, while hosting a party at his apartment, the Lawrence Police show up to end the shin-dig, in the course of which they find a pipe and a very small amount of the drug, "Mariiiana."
Let's say that Herbert T. Dope-smoker is the first from his poor family to attend college, much less KU. Herb is completely reliant on Federal Student Aid and an assortment of grants to fund his education. He is an excellent student, and progressing quickly towards his double major in education and political science.
Both the pipe and the drugs are not even his despite his extremely ironic name, he's never even tried "the pot", but they are in his house. Under the current system Herb goes directly to jail, does not pass go ("Lawrence is not a monopoly game," remember? Of course you do.), and loses a lot more than two hundred dollars.
Does a system that can turn one mistake, one misjudgment, or some misfortune into a lifetime of debt or deprive one of the opportunities afforded the recipients of a college education on such grounds seem a little immoral to you? It does to me.
His financial aid is cut, his grants are rescinded, and Herb can no longer afford to go to college any longer, so he drops out. He is convicted and is now, not only permanently haunted by his criminal record, but is also more than fifty thousand dollars in debt, a debt which he has no real prospects of paying off any time soon, essentially sentencing him to years of menial labor at low wages. Why? A little pot, a lot of bad luck, and because he and his family are not rich enough to pay his way out of the hole he fell in to.
Under the proposed ordinance this unfortunate series of events is largely averted. Herb will no doubt have to work hard to pay off the court fees and fines assessed to him, he may have to borrow more money to do so, but at least he might be able to fulfill the potential within himself, and someday repay society for leniency and understanding he was shown by a SENSIBLE policy towards first-time offenders.
It may be easy to sit back and claim to have the moral high ground, to pass down judgment from afar, to harbor opinions based on a conception of concrete, uniformly applicable morality that exists only in the abstract, however, the world is made up of shades and touches of gray, and this ordinance is a recognition of that. Compassion and empathy are virtues that are important parts of our character, both individually and socially. Our policies should reflect these virtues.
Mike Peterson Lenexa Senior
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