Volume XV1, Number 2
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Monday, June 9, 1980 -0
The Great Student Radio Rip-Off
Or How To Run A Radio Station With Someone Else’s Money
Students are paying $20,000 a
year for a radio station that isn’t run
by them, is listened to by only a
minority of them, and is not even
controlled by them.
At present, WFAE is technically a
student radio station by virtue of
Article VI, Section 1 of the Student
Body Constitution which defines a
student media as “All media which
are supported in whole or in part by
funds from student activities fees
There are four arguments which
show that, in practice, WFAE is no
longer a student radio station and
should not be receiving student
monies.
Argument One: Staffing
The management of the radio sta
tion is non-student. Bo Pittman is
the station manager; he is not a stu
dent and he is a paid, full-time state
employee.
Kit Bumgardner was recently
hired to seek contributions to the
station. She is also not a student
and is a full-time, paid state employee.
The station’s staff is not primarily
composed of students. According to
the most recent WFAE program
guide, eight out of 18 staff members
are not listed in the student direc
tory. The people in the registrar’s
office tell us that if a name isn’t in
the directory, the person isn’t a stu
dent.
When the head of the Student
Broadcasting Association, Cheri
Patterson was asked by a Carolina
Journal reporter when the last
meeting of the association was held,
she couldn’t remember. She did say
the meeting was held before the
radio went off the air. WFAE went
off the air at midnight, December
21, over five months ago. According
to Vice-Chancellor for Research and
Public Service, Doug Orr, the ad
ministrative division which has ab
sorbed WFAE, the reason for the
chancellor placing the formerly stu
dent radio station under this ad
ministrative arm is, “Tb make sure
everyone is having a say in how the
station is developing.” It seems to
us that with the SBA not having
met during the entire time the sta
tion has been converting from 10 to
100,000 watts, everyone is having a
say in how the station is developing
— except the students.
Argument Two: Grants.
The University Research Park,
located near Raleigh, granted
$50,000 to the station on May 13,
1980. According to a memo sent
from Vice-Chancellor for Business
Affairs Leo Ells, which is on file in
An Editorial
Vice-Chancellor for Development
William M. Britt’s office , the
Research Park granted the money
for two purposes. First, the money
was to be used to get the radio on
the air. Second, the money was to be
viewed as “seed money” to en
courage other people to donate to
the radio. The memo was then sent
from Orr’s office to Barry Lesley
and to Vern Parrish. Lesley is head
of the Academic Contracts and
Grants office; Parrish is the director
of the Cone University Center and
acts as supervisor for all persons
employed at the radio station.
Copies of the memo were sent to
Chancellor E.K. Fretwell, Ells and
Britt.
None of the above are students.
In addition to the Research Park
Grant, the radio station submitted
an application for an Arts and
Science grant. In a memo from Pitt
man to Britt, stated “the Arts and
Science grant was submitted
through your office.”
Argument Three: Backing
Britt’s office maintains a file four
inches thick on the radio station.
This file holds the history of the
University’s efforts to raise money
for WFAE.
As far back as 1976, the develo-
ment office was soliciting for the
radio station. For instance, a Char
lotte Observer classified ad, ap
parently paid for by the University,
asked people to send in “seed
money” to finance an engineering
study of the radio. The significance
of this ad: people were asked to send
donations to Dr. William M. Britt,
vice chancellor for development.
(Continued on page 4)
Fire Deliberately Set
Staff Photo by Rick Monroe
firemen from the Newell Volunteer Fire Department cut an access door in the side of the building to hose down the still burning
attic area. It took eight fire departments and over 100 to battle the blaze which has been blamed on arson.
By Rick Monroe
Carolina Journal Editor
The fire which gutted several Phase III apart
ments was set deliberately, according to the
Mecklenburg County Fire Marshal.
Fire Marshal John W. Knowles said he had ruled
out all accidental causes and that arson was the on
ly possibility remaining. Electrical causes were im
mediately eliminated as the building wasn’t wired.
Knowles said the flooring was being installed so all
trash which a workman could have dropped a lit
cigarette in had been remove.
The $200,000 fire was determined to have
started on the upstairs balcony of the building
where during the morning of the blaze workmen
had been heat-treating the floor with water proof
ing. Knowles said that it was initially suspected
that this caused the blaze, but the fire would have
to have gone unnoticed from 11:30 am, when the
workmen finished, until 5 pm when the last
workers left.
“It just isn’t very likely that it would have burn
ed that long without someone noticing the smoke
of smell.’’ Knowles said.
He said that the water proofing material being
used on the floor was an asphalt based material
and that it may have contaminated the area so that
an accurate lab report concerning what may have
been used to start the fire may not be possible.
(Continued page 5)