Student Radio Station Seeks More Minorities
By Erika Helm
Ink Staff Writer
When Dheeraj Vasishta
walked into the campus radio
station a few months ago, he had
high expectations.
But before Vasishta, an Asian
Indian student, could showcase
his disc jockeying abilities, he
and WXYC (89.3 FM) were split
apart
The reason? Vasishta wanted
a block of rap programming and
WXYC didn’t
“My impression is that
WXYC represents music taste
of the upper- middle-class white
students,” said Vasishta, a
sophomore RTVMP major.
“The way it stands now, rap is
just tossed into the mix like
everything else.”
It’s this tossing and mixing
of rap, along with hard rock,
country, blues, urban, bluegrass,
jazz, and new wave, that has
people like Vasishta
complaining about the station s
inability to appeal to blacks and
other minorities.
“The audience from what I
can tell, fits into the culture of
the radio station - white males,
said Wayne Joumee, a black DJ
at the station.
Last summer, Journee
embarked on a diversity
campaign at the station. Its
purpose was to attract more
minorities into the station.
“If we get people of color
and women working within
WXYC, it will increase the
listening audience among them,
said Joumee, who is still working
on recruiting efforts.
Broadening the station’s
audience, however, is not an easy
task. In fact, with the station
being a virtual unknown among
many black students, the feat
will be a challenge.
“The station just doesn’t
appeal to me,” said Toure
Claiborne, a senior economics
and African-American Studies
major fi’om Greenville.
“I don’t listen to it because I
don’t feel that they consistenUy
play music I want to hear. I
might find that I only like one
song every hour,” he said.
But consistency is not the
station’s piority. Diversity is.
According to some station
employees, WXYC is an
“educational station” that allows
people to go beyond their
boundaries.
“If you listen to the station,
you can hear that the music we
play is a model of diversity,” said
WXYC’s station manager Bob
Boster.
For Boster, this diversity is
illustrated in the fact that listeners
can hear rap artists De La Soul
followed by blue grass singer Dox
Watson at any given time. It’s
also exemplified by the station’s
listing as one of the top 10 college
stations nationwide.
Mike Shoffner, a white DJ,
who is a fan of hip hop and soul,
said, “I’ve learned about other
kinds of music that I wouldn’t
have otherwise listened to.”
WXYC began its commitment
to diversity around 1980 when
Bill Burton took over as music
director.
In the April 14, 1982 edition
of The Daily Tar Heel , Burton
was quoted as saying he felt a
need to change the station’s image
and “broaden the whole scope.”
“If you only have liked one
kind of music... you should listen
to another radio station,” Burton
said.
White DJ Marty Gallowitz,
who began working at the station
this semester, agrees.
“WXYC is an educational
station,” he said. “We try to show
people that all music can come
together just as different types of
cultures can.
“We just want people to listen
to the music and dig it. We’re not
concerned if the act is on BET,
MTVorTNN.”
But not everyone, some DJs
included,“dig” WXYC’s music.
Tamika Green, a black DJ,
said she can understand why her
black friends don’t listen to
WXYC. They are not used to the
mixture, she said.
Green, whose main problem is
with the station’s playbox, admits
that playing a variety of music styles
is hard considering that she caters to
hip hop.
“We have six songs we have to
play, and I don’t know any of it”
Green said. “The music is still
basically the same, very one-sided.
The music is not diversified
enough.”
Vasishta agreed.
He said that WXYC’s look at
diversity is unrealistic and out of
step with college trends nationwide.
That’s why he proposed the rap
programming.
“I believe there is underline
politics that is attached to rap
music and by playing one song you
don’t get the sense of power,” he
said. “It wouldn’t kill WXYC to
lake into account what the audience
wants.”
But with the station’s motto
being it’s not what’s in the
mix, but how you mix it, those
against block programming say
it alienates people.
Nevertheless, WXYC docs
have a few spccial programs
such as “Orange County
Spccial,” which caters to blue
grass and folk music;
‘Northern Hemisphere,” a talk
show similar to “Larry King;”
and “The New Scicnce
Experience” featuring rap,
house and techno on
Saturdays from midnight to 3
a.m.
Next spring, there will be
approximately five positions
open for DJs.
Those interested should
stop by the radio station
upstairs in the Student Union.
The job is unpaid and usually
requires beginners to work the
late night and early morning
shifts, which last two to three
hours.
Understanding Struggle for Black
Freedom Key to Good Citizenship
By 0^h Gknn
Ink Staff Writer
Aaxaiiing to Cwnel West,
professor of retigion, author erf
sax btxki aatf diitscftfr of the.
. African-AmtJrican Studies
at Princeton,
ta be good atizefis caa^be
learned firoiro
l^teedoa^loveaieijL ’ /
We^, wljo delivered
l9?GWfeiILectureon Amwicani,
Citttensltipv told/aadieoce
tuenibe^ ^ ^ iomske
ciozeoship niean'someUtiDg
agatn was to ^*make public,
c{»Tifnunal life acceptable” and
“engage in public
ooovmatioos” ' ^ '
During the hour-long
speech. West cited stjwdard
' Ksjetii of ihe/blaclc resistance
TOovement such as rotation of
leaders, the (jnesnioning of
authority and a>e use of ordinary
people'-as ways to .revive
democracy/ .
, *;theblikck 6«edttna struggle
Is a species of the Radical
on ^ ’«> OuToU
iM. 'To be tti a bikk body, in a
soci^ ^»aped whites Ste to
wa&a slippery tigtec^. /
^ *The ^ggle is to r^pobd
witit digiity to whitesupremacist
'^Ufts on black humanity, U s
bcfthers me that that tradition of^
stnjggJe is h»^ to transmit." ^
. ^/AccofdingtO Wesl^iHtiinary
people possess energ^tes ttat if
anJeashedi could/bring 4bout
phenomenal social d^ge, which
would allow their/voim to be.
citizen Is one capable of ruling or
being itiled, (so) radical dtemocracy
is deeply troubling to ail elites,” he
said. “Ail faTHS of authority ought
to be suspect, that is, jostiOed by
appealing lo the rights of ordij^
At the" end of his sp^h. West
prescribed four components to,/|
building a multiracial democracy.
/ Brst. be encouraged citixe«s to
analyze the distribution of wealth
and powfflf *o society. //
^ pHfirst ^a^nowledg^.
^of the present should be
are you going through?”
Tljird, West said each
citissen should have the
courage toauackand analyze
his or her own convictions,
or take a “^elf-critical,
ctwrageous stancc.” Thus,
■when a"go^ citizen enters
dialog with anotheri'both
should listen laiA come out
subtly changed. /
f'^West^s lasicall was for a
"sense of audaaous hope,"
even in the £ace of evidence
that things might flot get
better right away,
‘■We all must keep our
beard In govemmenu^V/
//
^“The"^very dtefinition^f a .
/y/ / / / /S-'^z/y, ^ ,
Wmmh
itK»ed in critical aralysLsof thepast*" ^
West said, while encouraging
chkeas to build on the best of the
past and invent new forms,
/Second, West advocated “an alJ-
ernbracing moral vision” through
which^citi7iajs should realize^the
e(|uaJity ^ all humanity and should
flie'^le to ask onie'^nothcrjyWhai
J// 4^
Y/// y / x.y/ .
eyes on a cause larger than
each one of us,” he said. "Wc
can overcome cynicism and
pessimism by^i^ting, and
dialogue and public
are, forms of
conversation
1^ting.>/
/V
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