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WESU NEWS

The Wesleyan Argus
Features - September 14, 2007
Traverse Square kids broadcast WESU radio show
By Abe Bobman
Contributing Writer
Every afternoon in the
WESU office, Jess Jones '08 and Mu Abeledo '09 coax ideas from spunky
Middletown kids. The children gain hands-on experience with radio
broadcasting, learning how to produce and record their own WESU show.
Approximately 15 children, most of whom are residents of the Traverse
Square housing complex, congregate here to participate in Middletown
Youth Radio Project (MYRP), a community partnership Abeledo and Jones
founded this past spring. Their broadcast premieres today.
"These kids have a great perspective of life that they can share on the
radio," Jones said.
According to Jones, the voices of the youth population are often
filtered through adult media. Hoping to establish a space in which the
youth of Traverse Square can safely express themselves and feel
ownership and pride in their creation, Jones and Abeledo set up MYRP to
offer kids an autonomous voice in the media.
On Tuesday afternoon, the two met with Ayanna and Clayton, two sixth
graders from Traverse Square, at the radio station headquarters.
Ayanna, a ten-year-old who has been involved with MYRP since its
inception, intends to use the youth radio program to build her career in
singing and rapping. She points to Oprah, who rose to fame through
radio.
"If you wanna be like me, you gotta have high professional experience,"
she said.
In a song that she recorded with four of her friends, Ayanna raps, "You
know this is simple / Some people got pimples / I got a little dimple /
Don't laugh in my face / I'll put you up in space."
Ayanna deftly maneuvered the controls at the sound panel during her
scheduled time at the studio, with Jones and Abeledo close by to
encourage her and offer help and support.
"It's all about the process," Abeledo said.
Abeledo hopes to impart a sense of responsibility, efficiency, and
skills in radio production to all the kids involved. They are all held
to a high standard, and must pass a DJ/Producer test in order to operate
the soundboards on air.
Clayton, an eleven-year-old boy, also joined MYRP with a mission.
Clayton dreams of being an author in the future, and during his time at
MYRP has crafted a story about a boy possessing a mind-reading helmet.
He explained his writing process: "I said it out loud, and Mu wrote it
down."
Abeledo and Jones' idea for MYRP transpired one day after their WESU
Latin American music radio program, Musica Pa' Gozar.
"I was interested in media as a form of education and self-confidence
building," Abeledo said.
Abeledo and Jones began their efforts to organize in the spring,
distributing fliers throughout Traverse Square and informing Wesleyan's
neighbors of their vision. They organized a brainstorming session, in
which they realized that working with a large group of energenic kids,
mostly between the ages of ten and thirteen, could sometimes present
management challenges.
With high levels of curiosit and enthusiasm, the group worked with
Abeledo and Jones to create a public service announcement. The PSA
informed the local community about the importance of traffic safety,
warning drivers about the dangers of indiscretion and fast speeds. The
three boys narrating the announcement tell the story of a friend who was
struck by a car. This PSA aired all summer on WESU.
Abeledo and Jones returned to campus early, on Aug. 20, to work on MYRP.
The first-ever broadcast occurs today at 6:30 p.m. (on 88.1 WESU), and
will continue throughout the semester.
Copyright 2004-2007, The Wesleyan Argus. All Rights Reserved.
__________________________________________

Farmington man hosts Wesleyan radio show
By: Scott Whipple, Herald
staff
06/21/2007
MIDDLETOWN - Where else but WESU-FM radio
(the voice of Wesleyan University) can you hear an hourlong
business show during a break from a Frank Zappa marathon?
Fridays at 1 p.m., listeners who want to learn what's new and
exciting in state business are tuning into 88.1 FM's "The
Business Buzz," hosted by Jeff Sherman.
Some may think it strange airing such a
program on a university radio station, but General Manager Ben
Michael sees nothing odd about it.
"To me, adding a program like Jeff's is in line with a lot of
our other goals," Michael says. "Sure, we're a nonprofit,
noncommercial, community station. It may be a dying thing in
this world, but we try to provide services to the community -
whether it's music, or a spotlight on community issues or cool
business technologies - and we're doing it with a lineup of
locally produced talk shows."
Last Friday, Sherman engaged guest Tom Avitabile in an hour-long
conversation that was more Charlie Rose than "Wall Street Week."
Avitabile, creative director for a Madison Avenue ad agency,
writes music, plays drums in a jazz group, directs videos and is
a master of the anecdote. He and Sherman met at a party, which
led to his invitation to appear on the show. During his hour on
air, he entertained listeners with stories about a computer he
made when he was 14, his internship at NBC-TV and tracks from a
CD he recorded with his band, "The Howling Thurstons."
Even though his is a business show, Sherman, 48, says whenever
possible he spotlights the human side. Sherman is adept at
conversational segues and laces his show with questions such as,
"How did you feel when ... ?" and "What did you think about
that?" or "Tell me about some of your fears, as well as your
successes."
"I always wanted to host my own show," Sherman said. "I listened
to a lot of talk radio and thought I could ask better questions
than some of the hosts."
It took him a few concept meetings with Michael and grunt jobs
at the station before he earned his time slot in May. Sherman
contacted Michael last summer about doing a business program and
took a training program before guest-hosting a couple of shows.
Sherman came up with the name "Business Buzz."
"It's short, memorable and descriptive," he says.
A Wesleyan grad with an MBA from Temple University, Sherman was
a corporate executive before the tech bubble burst. After that,
he taught business at Farmington High School. Currently a
marketing consultant, he teaches economics at Southern
Connecticut State University and the University of Bridgeport.
Though he isn't paid - only Michael draws a salary at WESU -
Sherman insists that being on the air, meeting and talking to
interesting guests is payment enough.
Among upcoming guests are the owner of a Connecticut biofuel
company and entrepreneurs Sherman has met through the
Connecticut Venture Group - start-up companies seeking venture
capital. One guest he looks forward to interviewing has come up
with a unique design for a car oil filter.
"It may sound boring, but he claims you can go 25,000 miles
between oil changes," Sherman says. "It's also environmentally
sound."
By Tuesday, Sherman has lined up his Friday guest. He has a pool
of business people waiting to come on his show, he says. Though
Sherman has only been on air for a month, "Business Buzz" has
already garnered positive e-mails and phone calls.
Tomorrow's guest will be an online, do-it-yourself retailer.
Sherman wouldn't reveal the person's name, but says it's someone
in Connecticut "breaking the paradigm of Home Depot - not just
selling for low cost but for high end, and also having a design
element on their Web site."
Sherman vows listeners will never hear him rattling off stock
quotes, shilling for products or offering infomercials. And he
recruits guests who will banter with him and won't bore
listeners with business or technical jargon. He expects future
guests to be as lively as Avitabile.
If he can keep it up, Sherman's next step may be a call-in show,
either on WESU or AM radio.
"I'm genuinely excited to be here," he says, "but when I feel
I'm good enough, I'd like a shot on commercial radio."
__________________________________________

Native
radio/Web program launched
Posted: February 19, 2007
by:
Gale Courey
Toensing / Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - A new weekly radio program and Web cast, called
''Indigenous Politics: From Native New England and Beyond,'' was
launched Feb. 5 from Connecticut's Wesleyan University.
J. Kehaulani Kauanui, a Native Hawaiian and assistant professor of
anthropology and American Studies at the university, is the producer and
host of the program.
The program will air on Mondays from on the university radio station at
WESU 88.1 FM, with live streaming on the station's Web site at
www.wesufm.org. WESU's transmitter covers two-thirds of the state of
Connecticut and reaches as far north as Springfield, Mass., and south to
Long Island, N.Y. - a potential listening audience of several million
people. WESU recently became an affiliate of Pacifica Radio, with a
potential audience of millions more.
''Indigenous Politics'' features interviews with political leaders,
community activists and cultural authorities, as well as scholars whose
work addresses indigenous politics.
Kaunui's first show featured a long, in-depth interview with Suzan Shown
Harjo, Cheyenne/Hodulgee Muscogee and a poet, writer, Indian Country
Today columnist, lecturer, curator and policy advocate who has helped
Native peoples recover more than 1 million acres of land and numerous
sacred places as the president and executive director of the Morning
Star Institute, a national Native rights organization.
Harjo discussed a number of important current issues, including the
needed reauthorization of the Health Care Improvement Act, lawsuits that
would prohibit the Washington football team and others from profiting
from the use of ''Indian'' symbols, and ongoing efforts to protect
cultural and sacred places.
Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, Tuscarora and assistant professor of American
Studies and history at Yale University, hailed the program as a new
arena for American Native stories and analysis.
''Kauanui's radio show brings important American Indian and indigenous
voices to Connecticut's airways, providing crucial commentary rooted in
the scholarly research and activism of Native people and their allies.
This couldn't be more timely,'' Mt. Pleasant said.
Kauanui said her approach would not be journalistic in the sense of
representing all different viewpoints, but rather would focus on an
in-depth interview with one person and reporting from an indigenous
perspective.
''There are other places that represent all points of view, and I don't
think this program has to do that right now. I really want to privilege
the voices of Native New England. The show is also Native New England
and beyond but, first and foremost, I think we need to educate local
listeners of the struggle going on right here,'' Kauanui said.
A scholar who self-describes as technologically challenged, Kauanui was
tapped for the radio program by Ken Weiner, the station's public affairs
director.
She took a six-week training course along with the students and other
DJs, who are all community volunteers, and did two internships and
community service hours before taking a practical and written exam.
On Jan. 17, Kauanui did a live music show to mark the 113th anniversary
of the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
''All the music I played affirmed Hawaiian sovereignty, so I've really
had a good time,'' she said.
Kauanui said she is motivated by several key issues affecting nations
across the country, most notably the fact that many tribes do not have
''basic'' federal recognition.
''Historically, recognition differed between state-recognized tribes
from the original 13 colonies and the 'treaty tribes' in the Western
states. More recently, the backlash against casino development has been
instrumental in the opposition to federal recognition. The conflation of
federal recognition with the specter of Indian casinos indicates that
most nontribal residents in these states refuse to uncouple questions of
tribal economic development - a question of a nation's political economy
- and the social justice issue of honoring the U.S. trust doctrine,''
Kauanui said.
The 21st century's ''most notorious cases'' involve two Connecticut
tribes - the Eastern Pequot and Schaghticoke tribal nations, Kauanui
said.
'''Citizens' rights' groups have bolstered the backlash in Connecticut
by state officials, which now implicates the federal process for tribes
across the entire U.S. Beyond Connecticut and New England, over 20 state
attorney generals across the USA are filing briefs to cut back tribal
jurisdiction by arguing that portions of the Indian Reorganization Act
of 1934 are unconstitutional. This new movement is being lead by
attorney generals Larry Long of South Dakota and Richard Blumenthal of
Connecticut. In the case of Connecticut, this new role marks a
180-degree turn. Just over 20 years ago, Connecticut played a major part
in pressuring Congress to federally recognize the Mashantucket Pequots
because the state was set to benefit financially,'' Kauanui said.
Future show will be aired with help from students Kalia Lydgate, Raffi
Stern and Amelia Dean Walker. All are volunteers.
Kauanui has lined up several interesting programs. Confirmed guests
include Richard Velky, chief of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation; Brian
Wescott, Koyokon Athabascan and Yup'ik, actor and film producer
currently working on a docudrama called ''We Are Still Here'' about the
life and time of Cahuilla elder Katherine Siva Saubel; and Randolph
Lewis, associate professor of American Studies at the University of
Oklahoma and author of ''Alanis Obomsawin: The Vision of a Native
Filmmaker.''
Future program topics will include Hawaiians and the politics of federal
recognition; Native feminisms; same-sex marriage bans in Indian country;
indigenous environmental issues; U.S. militarism and indigenous peoples'
service; domestic violence and restorative justice; indigenous language
revitalization; sports teams and Indian mascots; the U.S. presidential
election and American Indian voters; indigenous peoples and the prison
industrial complex; contemporary land rights; Indian gaming and the
politics of casinos; and indigenous
youth movements.
_________________________________________________________
Homeless man gives weekly perspective for college radio show
By Annie Tasker, Hartford Courant | July
27, 2006
By ANNIE TASKER,
Courant Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN -- In his 30 years of being
homeless, Fred Carroll has found some creative places to rest
his head: the back room of a bowling alley or a 7-Eleven, the
balcony of a luxury suite at a hotel where he was doing
construction work.
But these days, for one hour a week, his home is on the airwaves
of Wesleyan University's WESU FM 88.1 as host of "The Homeless
Report."
"I can't hold a thought or string three things together well
enough to do anything, but I can sit down and talk," said
Carroll, 52. "So I figure, that's my contribution."
Middletown Councilman and talk show host David Bauer says
Carroll does more than that for the community. After finding
Carroll playing chess with a Wesleyan student in a local coffee
shop, Bauer brought him onto his Friday afternoon show, "The
Bauer Hour," a year and a half ago.
Though they no longer work together, Bauer still thinks
Carroll's observations do a service to Middletown not only by
giving a voice to the homeless, but by giving listeners a new
perspective on where they live.
"Through his eyes and words, people can see their town in a
whole different way," Bauer said.
From 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sundays, Carroll delivers
stream-of-consciousness commentary and guest interviews on
homelessness and other issues in Middletown. The topics range
from the sculptures on Main Street (Carroll hates them) to
panhandling (he's morally opposed). His guests have included
Green Party gubernatorial candidate Cliff Thornton, and a man
who, until recently, lived in a tent on the street.
"There's got to be a homeless theme," he said. "Like, I'll talk
about the war, but from a homeless perspective, because that was
my deal."
On a recent show, Carroll veers from panhandling to circus
animals to, inevitably, the necessity of money itself.
"Money isn't everything, but it's good when you're hungry," he
said to Bob, the man who lived in a tent and who is now becoming
a regular on the show.
He goes on to explain his stance on the psychology of
panhandlers: Either you've got it or you don't, he said - "it"
being an emotional capacity for approaching strangers and asking
them for money. He compares panhandlers to mimes, "workin' it
with the face, with a hat or something."
Carroll doesn't panhandle - and advises people not to give money
to those who do. "When you give a panhandler a dollar, God only
knows what has happened on a karmic level," he tells his
audience. "You may not have done him a favor, but you don't know
that."
The Homeless Report started as a 2 a.m. spot in February, and
was moved to its current time after getting good feedback from
Wesleyan University listeners. Carroll's first thought when he
got moved to a Sunday afternoon slot this summer was that he was
in over his head.
"I did a great goofball show at 2 in the morning," he said. "I
had fun. But what I realize is I'm not really qualified."
Carroll said he's homeless because he's bad at saving money.
Moving with his mother to Connecticut from Woodhaven, Queens, in
1974 after his parents' divorce, he said, started him on his
path to homelessness.
"I started getting sloppy and indigent right away," he said. The
working world, with its insistence on paperwork and forms of
identification, never felt right to him.
"Most people who are sober and reasonable and intelligent have
never really played the fool," said Carroll. "I think my deal
is, I never lost it, but I've been an idiot. I can talk about it
with a certain authority, this homeless thing."
Think about a daily routine after work, and how different a
daily routine can be for the homeless, Bauer said. When you're
living indoors, you come home, change your clothes and use the
bathroom. If you're homeless, doing the same basic things in
public is against the law.
"To be homeless is to be illegal in just about everything you
do," Bauer said. "In some very difficult ways, being homeless is
a full-time job. The show gives people a window in on a life
like that."
Carroll, in fact, isn't homeless these days - and it's making
him nervous.
For the past few months, he has been living with Anne-Marie, the
hot dog lady on Court Street, in exchange for helping around the
house and walking her brother's dog. If his experience has
taught him one thing, it's that, when you're living under
someone else's roof, you're two words away from being back on
the street: "Get out."
So, even though he has a house key and a cellphone from
Anne-Marie that rings "Flight of the Bumblebee," Carroll is
waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It's that mind-set that makes him predict he will die alone,
huddled in a bus stop, trying to stay out of the cold.
Until then, he will be Middletown's voice for the homeless - if
for no other reason than that he's the only one in the running
for the title.
"Most people want the homeless to be invisible," Bauer said.
"That he's out there taking a fresh whack at it every week -
it's uncharted territory."
Contact Annie Tasker at atasker@courant.com
Contributing writer
MIDDLETOWN PRESS
This city has a lot to offer, and has added
something to the roster: provocative nightlife.
Recently, Vinnie's Jump & Jive presented Struttin,'
a dance and music extravaganza.
"I think Struttin' will be edgy; we want it to have
a club feel," said Mary Farnsworth, art director,
manager and swing dance teacher at Vinnie's, the
non-profit community dance hall at 424 Main Main
Street. "We want people to come out, dance and just
boogie," she added.
WESU, Wesleyan University's radio station, sponsored
the event which was rung in and rocked out by WESU
DJ Lord Lewis the Velvet Knight. Lewis, aka Jason
Villani, spun with fellow DJ and oftentimes event
partner Sir Round Sound, a DJ for WHUS 91.7, the
University of Connecticut's radio station.
The two bill themselves as Rumpus Room Sound System,
and both are young men, but their taste in music is
ageless, and so are their collections. Villani's
massive melange of underground and rare tunes form
the basis of what he plays and listens to on and off
the radio and certainly what he spins at Struttin.'
To listen to some of the tracks Villani lays down at
Struttin,' tune in on Monday nights from 6:30-8:30
p.m. to the "Rumpus Room," his WESU 88.3 radio show.
According to Villani, "I've been all over the map as
far as collecting, listening and playing. But the
basic foundation that I DJ," he said, "is old and
new heavy funk and soul and Afro and Latin grooves."
If Villani's description smacks of vagueness,
Struttin' clears the fog visually as well as
auditorially. When Villani DJs an event, he not only
plays music but screens accompanying archival videos
featuring footage of dancers enjoying themselves so
much the crowd cannot help but follow.
"Jason has a bunch of videos from the scene in
Britain of people just going crazy," said
Farnsworth, smiling.
Farnsworth, too, is young and says Middletown
sometimes lacks a nightlife for young adults,
barring the bar scene. With Struttin,' a night that
recurs every fourth Saturday of the month,
Farnsworth said she feels the younger population,
especially Wesleyan students, will have something to
look forward to right in town.
"We're trying to start a hip night so you don't have
to leave Middletown to have fun if you're young,"
she said.
Although Struttin' and all Vinnie's events are
alcohol-free, largely because they are all-ages
affairs, Farnsworth said she anticipates Struttin'
in particular will draw a wide range of people
because it is fun, all-inclusive and, by virtue of
the music, inherently trendy.
"It will appeal to a different demographic because
Jason's a little cooler than swing dancing," she
said with an air of humor and self-deprecation, "and
he's very welcoming; you feel comfortable when you
get in the door, but you won't feel nerdy."
Villani said he agrees that his Struttin' debut was
simultaneously convivial and cutting-edge.
"There's not a night in Connecticut that's like what
you're going to hear at Struttin,'" Villani said,
"so for me, it's super different, because I have to
go to New York City if I want to go to a night for
cool music and dancing."
Farnsworth said that Struttin' also fulfills
Vinnie's objective to provide healthy entertainment
for the community. After all, Vinnie's is an
offshoot of Community Health Center Inc. at 635 Main
St., so Vinnie's is a project with purpose.
"Vinnie's is partly about being healthy, partly
about bringing the community together," Farnsworth
said.
"Sometimes it has a very holistic feel, but we don't
want that to prevent people from coming out and
partying here on the weekends - minus the alcohol,"
Farnsworth added.
But, she explained, Vinnie's location is prime for
people who wish also to visit a bar or a local
eatery before or after doing up the dance floor at
Vinnie's.
Janice Murphy, a Massachusetts resident, said she
comes all the way from home for the Vinnie's
experience. "In Massachusetts, there's nothing, and
Vinnie's is a hotspot," she said.
Vinnie's primarily offers in-house classes such as
yoga and various outreach programs such as school
recess dance sessions. Farnsworth herself clears
many of the events because, she said, she knows they
will soundly appeal to a broad base of people.
"For anyone who comes to me with something that's
safe, healthy and fun, I say great, awesome, do it,"
Farnsworth said. "Everything here is really
enjoyable with a nice energy where people let
loose."
Struttin' is therefore the icing on Vinnie's
(healthy) cake and music to Farnsworth's ears.
"It'll be a fun night out that's different from the
usual top 40 dance parties," she said.
In short, Villani said that if he were to succinctly
sum up Struttin, he would describe it as "a
specialty night focusing on amazing tunes that
foster people who are really passionate about music,
love to dance and socialize in a cool setting."
And, he added, "I want to get out on the dance floor
and bust a move."
For information, e-mail vinnies@chc1.com; call (860)
347-6971 ext. 3777; or see
www.vinniesjumpandjive.com.
Meet
man behind new face of WESU radio
By JENNIFER HAWKINS, Middletown Press Correspondent
02/16/2006
MIDDLETOWN --
Sweeping changes have brought fans of National Public Radio
programming spinning their dials to the new line-up at Wesleyan
University’s WESU 88.1-FM radio.
Long a stalwart
of university programming, embracing a new format didn’t come
easily, but with much more grace than anyone could imagine, the
dedicated volunteers who keep WESU on the air have found a way
to expand their bandwidth to bring an entire lineup of favorite
NPR programming into the mix.
Listeners can
now start the day with Morning Edition followed by the popular
Diane Rehm Show and Democracy Now! Mid-afternoon brings Car
Talk, Talk of the Nation and the weekly lineup also includes
progressive shows like Between the Lines, Radio Active, and
current events from Pacifico Radio’s Free Speech Radio.
Listeners who used to chase across the band to find the elusive
programs can rejoice in WESU’s bold lineup of NPR programming.
Benjamin Michael, the general manager and sole salaried
employee, is shouldering the transition and bridging the gap
between old and new.
"As much as I love the new programming, there were a few that I
truly regret not having a current slot in our line-up," says
Michael and referenced DJ Franko Lizio’s show that brought a
morning news and music slot in Italian and served a largely
Sicilian audience.
"Franko had been doing that show for many years. There’s a large
audience for that show, and I’m still looking for ways to bring
it back."
The part-corporate, part-renegade agendas of the station’s board
and supporters requires Michael to find inventive ways of
keeping to the precise NPR format and the diverse creativity
inherent in college radio.
Middletown born and raised, Michael remembers accompanying his
hospice nurse mother to work where she would enlist him in
painting the windows for the holidays.
"There were days when I couldn’t find the motivation to get out
of bed to go to school, whereas my community involvements always
would," recalls Michael.
During high school, he was frequently involved with Oddfellows
Youth Playhouse and found summer employment on the Children’s
Circus staff, and then to working with the jamborees, youth
groups and outreach programs at Rushford.
College soon gave way to his greater passion for public service,
and Michael found himself in San Francisco enrolled in the a
conservation pilot program called "Summer of Service." This led
to a three-year position on the Americorp administration staff.
"My plan at that point was just to dabble with as many different
things as possible knowing that that would lead something,"
notes Michael of his early work experiences. "I was an events
organizer, DJ, sound designer, graphic designer and even did a
full-time stint as a designer in a jewelry shop," adds Michael,
while noting that he "always knew I would pursue more of a
service career."
Michael grew up listening to the radio station, and joined the
volunteer staff in 1997.
"When I got back from California, I agreed to man the Oddfellows
information table at the Wesleyan University Student Act Fair,"
Michael notes, "and while I was there I signed up at the WESU
table."
"No one from the station ever called me," laughs Michael. "It
was through my friend Jason Arnold that I finally got in."
Considered among the nation’s earliest college broadcasters,
WESU has evolved slowly, often reinventing its programming with
every four-year rotation of students. Most listeners equate the
station with the standard of college radio programming, which
consists of news/commentary, sports and non-mainstream music.
Until recently, WESU was owned and operated by Wesleyan
students, who raised the funds for the equipment and oversaw
adherence to FCC regulations.
Sometimes run more by randomness with the signal actually turned
off for periods when students were unable to spend time keeping
the station on air, the structure kept to a freeform platform of
alternative music and college sports.
The station faced financial hurdles and a need to replace and
upgrade equipment. Over a period of a few years, around the
beginning of 2000 through 2004, the station began a tumultuous
transition as ownership was given to Wesleyan University.
While many embraced a more permanent solution to the station’s
mounting needs, others were dismayed at having the university
take ownership of what had historically been an independent
broadcast.
"There were some demonstrations," says Michael, "including
protesters with tape over their mouths demonstrating in front of
the president’s office." Michael notes that there was "concern
about control over creative content."
In negotiating the transition with Wesleyan president Douglas
Bennet, the station found a new facility above Broad Street
Books, a new transmitter and several upgrades.Under Bennet’s
urging, the station affiliated itself with WEHU and the stations
now share NPR programming.
Bennet, who was the president and CEO of National Public Radio
from 1983-1993, well understood how the affiliation would
benefit the station and enable the station to hire a permanent
salaried general manager.
Michael was offered the position as GM and serves to keep the
station running smoothly while still having the same cycles of
students moving into the programming and out again upon
graduation.
"We lost about 11 hours a day from our old programming," says
Michael, "when we contractually began the NPR programming."
"Now, the daytime slots carry the most of the NPR line-up with
student and community programming in the evenings," adds
Michael, who notes that across the country, many college
stations have been folded into National Public Radio and
affiliated regional networks.
Keeping a diverse and creative line-up has been a critical
concern of Michael. He is particularly proud of the afternoon
shows like Talk For Your Rights and the Hartford-based Radio
Active, who Michael credits with breaking news stories often
overlooked by mainstream media.
"I felt that its important to use these airwaves to voice our
own community concerns," says Michael. "We’re filling a very
unique niche, and people are starting to gravitate away from
some of the more traditional public radio stations."
The schedule of radio shows still works by the three-season
programming that marks a college year. The hours extend around
the clock now, with a diverse line-up of music including whole
shows dedicated to Haitian, Caribbean and Italian programming,
complete with DJs hosting theshows in their native languages.
On-air personalities familiar to Connecticut listeners are also
present and the Friday night line-up features Berk Ziegler and
Ian Q. LaForce, two very experienced and popular DJs who feature
the latest music in everything from techno to hip-hop.
Fund-raising on the level most NPR affiliates use is still in
the early stages, and on-air drives are a part of it. A
community based 501(c)3, called Friends of WESU, is dedicated to
raising the funds that will hopefully lead to the hiring of more
permanent staff.
The station has printed schedules available, and an online
version at www.wesufm.org. Michael can be reached at 685-7707 or
wesu@wesufm.org.
ŠThe
Middletown Press 2006
December 01/05
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