Another Perspective

It Sucks to Be J.

"Nothing ever fails at the ballot."

I can't tell you how many people told me this as they tried to convince me that half of KWVA's budget should go to the ballot, while the other half be funded through the P.F.C. process.

"Last year they voted to approve millions for an athletic center that none of them will ever be able to use."

"This is true," I thought.

So then came the P.F.C. hearing, and just as expected, they weren't about to commit themselves to an increase the likes of which we were asking. I pleaded with them anyway, feeling about as hopeful as Charles Manson before a parole board.

In a futile effort to persuade, I used the best information I could gather:

• KWVA is structured in such a way that grants from organizations like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are impossible (they require five full-time staff members).
• KWVA is funded at roughly $200,000 less than this area's next poorest public radio station.
• In the course of five years, the staff and volunteers of KWVA have, in a commitment to providing the best service to the community and the best possible training environment, managed to obtain over $200,000 worth of equipment, material and merchandise, independent of what was provided with student fees. That is $200,000 that the students were never asked to pay.
• KWVA, whose funding has hovered between $50,000 to $55,000 for the last five years has in the last three years become a station that broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
• The Emerald, funded at twice as much, publishes five days a week, three terms per year, except during finals, holidays and twice weekly during the summer, except the week after Spring-term finals and the week before Fall-term begins. This is not to say that the Emerald is somehow wrong for what they do, or that they are performing a disservice--publishing a newspaper, even one that can generate so much criticism--is no easy feat.
• Though I am unaware of what the Emerald raises in advertising revenue, KWVA has over the course of its existence managed to match the student's investment almost exactly dollar-for-dollar with donated goods, services, equipment and merchandise.
• Unfortunately, the Emerald comparison becomes one of apples and oranges as the Emerald, printing about 9500 papers per day, estimates its readership at 90 percent of 17,000 students, or 15,300 readers. At any given time, well over 200,000 people can access KWVA with a push of the button, and KWVA's listeners number well beyond that of the student population.

These factors in mind, I asked the committee to consider KWVA's place among the University of Oregon's image-building vehicles. You know, the things that communicate to the community an institution of distinction, achievement and leadership. I asked them to consider my very unscientific and probably somewhat biased analysis of the following things that certainly help the reputation of the University and ultimately, the value of our degrees, in what can only be called my order of importance:

1. The distinguished scholars that comprise some of the U of O's faculty.
2. The published work of these individuals.
3. Athletics.
4. Radio.
5. The outstanding achievements of some our students and alumni.
6. Student Publications and programs.

Arguably, the list would be considerably different if one were to calculate the list on the basis of mass appeal or exposure instead of what makes it an institution of distinction. The list might then place athletics atop the list, followed by word-of-mouth, mass media (i.e., radio), publications (student and otherwise, notorious to academic), followed by the rest of that eggbert and bleeding-heart stuff.

However, the pleas were all for not. The committee approved some things, eliminated others and sent the balance to the ballot, so no members of the committee would be criticized as being irresponsible or careless with our dollars.

"Fair enough." I thought until I remembered the words of an old mentor of mine from KCHO, CSU Chico's KLCC/KWAX hybrid counterpart: "Everybody loves and supports the idea of public broadcast, but only two out of ten are willing to put their money where their mouth is."

So there we were on the ballot. The ASUO and State of Oregon tell us that no monies within the program are to be used for campaign purposes, and the FCC tells us that we may only facilitate campaign issues; campaigning is out of the question. So we were left with very little to go on when it came to getting the word out about the issues. I spoke with countless people about the ballot measures, as did several other staffers and volunteers, but with school in full swing and a radio station that requires anywhere from 20 to 50 hours per staffer per week to run, it would have been impossible to mount a campaign the likes of which we saw from other organizations whose only real purpose would appear to be campaigning. Nervously, I tried my damnedest to remain optimistic, but deep in my gut I knew I would wake to find a two-legged race horse in my bed. Sometimes it just sucks to be right.

Speaking of dead horses...

Was that the infamous pen of Tipper Gore and Jerry Falwell's prodigal love-child behind the unsigned editorial in the April 23rd Emerald? I've got a twelve-pack that says it was. Considerably less inflammatory and a bit more careful, I may be wrong. The fact still remains however that no matter how thoughtfully the phrase is turned or the heart-strings tugged, the connection of music to murder was initially an idiotic ploy on behalf of the Dari-Mart killers. I was contacted by a representative of the Public Defender's office when "rocked-to-death" was a tactic for one of the defendants. My threat to personally see to it that MTV cameras would be rolling over every inch of KWVA's involvement in such a pathetic effort to mitigate such a cruel crime was met with a letter asking that I politely fuck-off. In an act that can only be called more irresponsible than the defendants idiotic, the prosecuting attorney picked up the torch of connecting music to murder.

To all who would draw such a stupid conclusion, I ask that you please answer the following:

Was Ted Bundy a metal-head? Jeffery Dahmer? John Wayne Gacy? Son of Sam? Ed Gein? Jim Jones? Charles Ng? Leonard Lake? Henry Lee Lucas? Charles Manson? Alfred Packer? Arthur Shawcross? Richard Speck? Aileen Wuornos?

As all of these heinous murderers predate "Thrash-Metal," and many of their crimes predate the once equally menacing, but now just plain-old "Heavy-Metal," please rest assured that I'm employing the legal tactic of not asking a question I don't already know the answer to. Ted Bundy went on record as being partial to The Carpenters.

To wrap up this latest installment, I implore you to read an article that appears in the February 8 issue of the on-line magazine, American Reporter, by retired judge Steve Russell. It is also reprinted in the May 1996 issue of Harper's.

My next installment will be a revisit of the Greek system. I extend an invitation to all Greeks who would like to represent your house or the system in general. I can be e-mailed at jpierson@gladstone.uoregon.edu and I look forward to any perspectives that Greek and non-Greek readers have to offer.

J. Pierson, General Manager of KWVA, is a featured columnist for the Oregon Commentator