2 The Compass Thursday, September 28,2000
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How did you spend your summer vacation?
by Stacy Brock
Keith Richardson
Sophomore
“I worked as a VANS and then I worked my
part-time jobs at Lady Footlocker and Oh!
Brians.”
Yvonne Ribeiro-Yemofio
Sophomore
“This summer I worked at NASA with
producers to make sure that all information
that is put in movies, shows or
documentaries is correct.”
I
Bobby Jean Hayman
Senior
“I worked at the
Country Club this
summer and at
Applebee’s.”
Abrian Carter
Senior
“I was a tutor and
counselor for St. Paul’s
College Upward Bound
Program.”
Jordan Williams
Junior
“I worked and
trained for
football.”
WRVS’Jazz Format Receives Mixed Views
by Inger L. Parker
Copy Editor
In October of 1999, WRVS (Wonder
ful Radio Viking Style) 89.9 ECSU, the
campus radio station, changed its radio
format. WRVS was formerly an R&B
formatted station. The new format con
tains a schedule that allows gospel
music to be heard throughout the
morning on weekdays until 11am.
From 11am until 10pm are the jazz
shows, with a small amount of R&B
added. The "hip-hop connection" be
gins at 10pm and ends at lam.
This October, WRVS will celebrate
one year of their new smooth jazz for
mat that consists of an hourly National
Public Radio newscast, community
talk shows and early morning gospel
music.
WRVS is supported by and caters to
the community in making church an
nouncements, public service an
nouncements, locally produced pub
lic affairs programs, and live cover
age. The station also strives to celebrate
with their listeners, whether it is a
birthday, a graduation, or a retirement.
The radio station has been success
ful as far as the community's response
to their new format. They have been
very fortunate during Successfest, their
semiannual fund-raising drive.
Through the support of the community,
they successfully raised more than
$25,000 during the drive last spring.
Although WRVS gained support
from the community, many ECSU stu
dent listeners were dissatisfied.
When the format changed a year ago,
WRVS lost most of its student listeners
and supporters. Many students com
plain that WRVS is supposed to be a
campus radio station for the students,
but fail to the play music that they
would like to hear. Most of the stu
dents say that they rarely or never lis
ten to WRVS 89.9. Most of the students
tune in to "103 Jams" or "love 100."
When they do tune in to WRVS 89.9, it
is usually only at certain times. These
times include, "Early Morning Joy" and
"Morning Joy" from 6am until 11am
and the "hip-hop connection" from
10pm until lam. Students almost al
ways avoid the jazz shows like "Mel
low Moods" from 11am until 2pm, "The
RM. Cruise" from 2pm until 6pm, and
"Nitewinds" from 6pm until 10pm.
"It is a little too much jazz," says
ECSU junior Fred Walston Jr. Walston
also feels that the "hip-hop connection"
was moved to a less convenient time. It
was formerly on from 7pm until 10pm
and then "Nitewinds" was on from
10pm until lam.
"When people are going to sleep at
night they want to listen to mellow
music, not hip-hop." Walston confirms
that most students listen to other radio
stations. He says, " I usually listen to
'103 Jams' or 'Love 100.'" Sophomore
Antonio Barrow says that there was
more of a variety of music with the old
format. He further stated that 89.9
should have more R&B during the day.
Barrow claims that he only listens to
89.9 during the gospel segment.
Junior Katrievia Rodgers, who admits
that she is just" not a jazz person," says
that she only listens to 89.9 for mostly
the gospel music. She is one of the stu
dents who change the dial from 89.9
after the gospel goes off to 'Love 100,'
which plays gospel music all the time.
There are many other students be
sides Walston, Barrow and Rodgers who
wonder why the campus radio station
changed its format.
The general manager of WRVS, Mrs.
Edith Thorpe, says that consultant
Loretta Rucker of Rucker Communica
tions, observed WRVS, seeing where
WRVS was and where the station
needed to be.
Thorpe further stated that the jazz
format was implemented because the
University wanted the sound of the
campus radio station to reflect the mu
sic of an institution of higher learning,
and jazz is a genre of music which re
flects educated and intelligent adults.
Thorpe stated that statistics show that
jazz listeners are more loyal listeners
and, therefore, more loyal givers dur
ing the fund-raising drives. These sta
tistics lend another reason for the for
mat change. She claims R&B can be
found at any other station, and at those
stations people can get that type of mu
sic for "free." As a consequence, those
listeners are less supportive during
fund-raising drives.
Although fund-raisers are not their
sole source of funding, Thorpe admits
that the support they receive from
these kinds of drives played a large
part in the decision to revise the for
mat. Most of the station's financial
backers are jazz listeners.
Thorpe further explained that the
need for member support is largely
due to the 100 percent cut in public
radio stations' budgets by state
administrators.
When Thorpe was questioned about
WRVS's biggest priority — students
or the community-at-large — Thorpe
stated, "WRVS is a public broadcast
ing facility who serves public interest,
converuence, and necessity and stu
dents are a part of the public, but they
are not the only public that we
broadcast to."
Do you tike the Jazz
^ format on WRUS? ^
• Dves Qno •
Check box, cut out, and drop into
survey box located in the
University Center, Library or
Computer Lab.
—Thanks!