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WQFS celebrates 20 years of alternative progress
Eugene Wan
Staff Writer
On Friday, March 16, Guilford's cam
pus radio station, WQFS, celebrated its
20th anniversary with a free concert in
Sternberger Auditorium featuring Island
recording artists, the Heretix. It was a
timely celebration for a station that in
recent years has developed dramatically
from a casual college pastime into a sea
soned community radio station.
Backed by increased funding, new staff
members and a fresh management team,
WQFS has become the Triad's premier
source of alternative music.
Former General Manager Sean
Desmond recalled how lax WQFS was
when he first joined in 1986. "There was
no management, no organization, no struc
ture," he said. Often, the station violated
Variety, information abound at nonprofit organization fair
Betsy Vance
Assistant Layout Editor
The Career Development
Center hosted an information fair
last Wednesday for students
interested in careers in the non
profit sector. The fair, held in
Sternberger, played host to ap
proximately 55 organizations
which were interested in "find
ing good students" to work for
them. The informational aspect
of the fair was stressed more than
the "job" side, as many students
simply needed an opportunity to
Service Saturday raises S9OO
Larisa Hulnick
Staff Writer
Sixty Guilford students came out in the rain on
March 17 to help raise money for the student loan
fund. Students washed windows, raked leaves,
and scrubbed walls in the Senate-sponsored Serv
ice Saturday.
Students raised S9OO for their work at the homes
of Guilford faculty and staff and local residents.
For each pair of student workers, the donor was
asked to contribute S4O, though some gave more.
Senate Secretary Alexandra Duckworth and
Suzanne Moore were the key organizers of the
event, said approximately five people could not
work because of the rain.
Several people did find some indoor work for
students to do. Some students worked outside in
THE GUILFORDIAN March 26, 1990
6
on-air procedures and Federal Communi
cations Commission regulations.
To Desmond, WQFS is an extension of
college principles of individuality and
openmindedness not only towards new
kinds of music but also communications
careers. His major disappointment is
WQFS's lack of access to the new tele
communications building when it opens.
Senior Chuck Carroll was interested in
alternative music in high school and de
veloped an interest in radio after coming
to Guilford. He spent two years as a DJ.
before working as music director for the
past two years, a position co-hold last year
with senior John McSheffery.
Carroll explained the change in attitude
at WQFS as due to the new staffers.
"[Previously] no one was thinking of new
ideas," said Carroll. "What we do [now]
is not only for Guilford College but for the
whole community."
The station broadcasts at 90.9 FM and
gather information and ask ques
tions, and the potential employ
ers who visited took advantage
of the opportunity to talk about
their jobs and the advantages of
working in the nonprofit, as
opposed to private, sector.
Meg Kaplan of the Career
Development Center was the
primary organizer of the event,
and was happy with the "tremen
dous turnout" of nonprofit or
ganizations at the fair, but no
ticeably disappointed with the
decline in participation. Last
year, the first for this event,
approximately 130 students par
ticipated; this year that figure
spite of the rain. Two came home soaking wet after
filling 25 garbage bags with leaves.
Senate provided breakfast, lunch, and transpor
tation for some. When students brought the dona
tions to the senators, they were rewarded with free
T-shirts, which carried the message of the day:
"Students helping students."
Freshman DanaTritsch, who spent the day scrub
bing walls and floors, said, "It was hard work, but
well worth it for the cause."
Junior Tara Hatley said, "I did things for a free T
shirt that I don't even do for my own mother who
supports me. But it was a really pretty T-shirt." She
spent the day washing floors and windows, and
scraping paint, at professor Barton Parks' house.
Last year's Service Saturday had 47 participants
and raised $670. The money raised goes toward the
student loan fund. Duckworth called Service Sat
urday 1990 a success and said she hoped the event
would continue in future years.
covers a listening radius of up to 50 miles.
"We've had calls from Virginia saying,
'we don't have anything like this where
we are,"' said Carroll.
Carroll sees a bright future for WQFS.
His one concern is of harmful repetitive
ness: "I hope that people in the years to
come don't do the same things we did or
it would remain the same."
Junior Gilbert Bailey, current station
general manager and 1990-91 Commu
nity Senate treasurer-elect, started as a
DJ. for six weeks before being chosen to
the station advisory board.
He attributed WQFS's 20 years of suc
cess to the many DJ.'s that work there:
"D J.'s are the soul of the station. Without
them, none of the work could be imagined
as possible."
As well as offering students an unusual
experience, Bailey said he hopes WQFS
will promote Guilford's cultural image to
the community. The station's diverse
dropped to 80 students. She cited
probable causes including the
fair's competition with racism
awareness events, as well as other
regularly scheduled events.
The Career Development
Center also conducts a Job Fair
in November, but on quite a dif
ferent scale than the spring fair.
The November fair lasts two days,
one day for obtaining informa
tion and one day for interview
ing, with eight schools and over
100 firms participating. This fair,
although perceived as primarily
for business majors, is open to all
areas of concentration, and bene
fits any student with a solid lib
eral arts background. The non
profit fair, although some stu
dents not think there were oppor
tunities for majors outside the
social sciences, did indeed pro
vide opportunities for business
and other pre-professional fields,
as well as for science, math, and
sports studies majors. Kaplan
said that students with any major
could benefit from both fairs if
they asked good questions and
looked deeply enough into each
agency.
A variety of organizations,
agencies, and institutions at
tended the fair, including Friends
Homes, Inc., Wesley Long
Community Hospital, the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation,
Boys and Girls Clubs of High
Point and the Greensboro Area
Chamber of Commerce.
Kaplan believed that the pro
fessions who attended the fair
left feeling "impressed with the
students, the questions they
asked, their enthusiasm, and their
Want to learn more about learning? About yourself as a
learner?
Members of the Guilford community are invited to lunch
Tuesday, March 27
12:15-1:30 p.m.
Bring your tray and join us in the private dining room; there
will be a sign-up sheet at the cafeteria entrance.
Special guest: Dr. Martha Sharpless. an authority on
strengths and weaknesses of individual learners and on test
ing for learning styles and disabilities, will be available for
questions and discussion.
programming includes rhythm and blues,
reggae, folk, and international as well as
alternative music.
Bailey explained the crucial role image
plays in commercial radio. Record com
panies send radio stations free records de
pending on the quality and consistency of
the stations' reports to music journals.
"What they look for is a quality music de
partment and how well you're influenc
ing ratings and [record] sales," said Bailey.
"We're competing against grad schools
with professional music directors."
Bailey said that CBS Records, one of
the nation's largest corporate labels,
ranked WQFS as one of the top college
stations nationally. Additionally, Bailey
said that other record companies have
encouraged the station to apply to the
Gavin Report, the nation's foremost
commercial reporting agency, which
would rank WQFS in the top 30 of college
stations nationally.
professionalism."
Students seemed to appreciate
the informality of the fair and the
opportunity to collect informa
tion and practice interview skills.
Jim Keith, Guilford's director
of experential learning, talked to
the organizations about increas
ing their internship offerings to
Guilford students. Not only did
students benefit from the stand
point of long-term careers, but
many had the chance to apply for
summer jobs and internships.
Larisa Hulnick, a junior who
attended the fair this year to get
an early start, said "I found the
job fair informative and helpful.
The people there had a lot to say
about how to get a job and where
to start looking."
The nonprofit fair "seems to
fit Guilford's character," said
Kaplan, since many students here
are interested in jobs that will
benefit society, and that is the
goal of many of the organiza
tions represented.