In support of WMUB

We are writing in support of WMUB and of Miami's need to continue and to increase its funding of WMUB.

 

Residents of Oxford since 1966, Jack and I cannot remember when we first started listening to WMUB.  Certainly, we remember listening in the 1980's when Jack was on the Oxford City Council and Sally was involved in local, county, and state public offices – mostly with schools, but also as Butler County Commissioner and as Oxford City Council member in the 1990's.

 

We remember the change in WMUB from being a student driven radio station under the fine leadership of Bill (Luke) Utter.  It was great to feel a part of Oxford and Miami University with locally driven radio shows led by student broadcasters.  It was hard to imagine that a change to a broader range of programming could be suitable for our continuing listening.

 

At first, we were not convinced that the loss of local programs which we had grown to appreciate – and knew that many other more faithful listeners loved – could continue to draw our attention.  Admittedly, it took time for us to adapt.  We understood with others that there was a genuine loss of identity that had been so locally driven.

 

Fortunately, we stayed with 88.5 FM and tried out for the first time what it meant to us personally to face a national identity formatted by a new WMUB programming that expanded and challenged our horizons.  What we learned took Jack and me to family conversations between ourselves and among our family, to reading choices, to auditing Miami courses, to traveling internationally – all at a much deeper level.  Soon, we found friends and acquaintances talking and sometimes debating issues of importance to local, county, regional, state, national, and international issues.   Like our friends and acquaintances, we began to see that our individual action could make a profound difference in reaching a better world.   Today, we are learning the need to modify to change our current behavior environmentally to better the world's conditions for our children and the generations beyond – much influenced by what we hear and understand from WMUB's programming of national and international issues.

 

What is the bottom line to us?  We became Leadership contributors of WMUB for the first time in 2006.  We believe that not only the Oxford community but also the broader audience of WMUB grows intellectually from WMUB's local, state, national, and international programming. 

 

Our daily listening begins with Morning Edition, continues through the morning with the local program, the 2 hours of The Diane Rehm Show, and Tell Me More at the noon hour.  We are challenged by Diane Rehm and her guests, and we appreciate hearing issues and opinions important to African Americans. For us, afternoons on occasion include the excellent conversations on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Talk of the Nation.  Over the weekend, Jack listens and records the podcast This American Life.  Certainly, somewhere between 4-7 pm, we tune in All Things Considered – then, over dinner, Jack and I discuss what has challenged our thinking.

 

We would be remiss not to comment on how extensive to us is the WMUB listening audience…  When we listen to the local programs each day (Sally particularly enjoys Spiritual Matters on Monday and Local Experts on Wednesday; Jack, the Help Desk on Tuesday), we hear calls coming from Troy, Hamilton, West Chester, and many places in between.

 

Surely, we hope and believe that MU should continue and increase its funding of WMUB.  To us, WMUB's programming is – and should be - a public service.

 

As a MU Merger and Presidential Donors to the University, we want our – more importantly, current and future graduates' - diplomas to increase in value.  We believe that WMUB - through Miami's continuing and expanding funding - is building a community more ready and committed to supporting the present and future needs of Miami University – its quality of students, faculty, and state funding.

 

Again, we urge your recommendation for continuing and increasing WMUB's public service as a valued investment in Miami University's future.

 

--Sally Reed Southard of Erie, PA  (MU'61, BA in English with teaching certificate) 

--Jack F. Southard of Newark, OH, Miami University, Director Emeritus, DARS Project (MU '58, BA, Physics and Math; MU '59, MA, Experimental Psychology;  OSU, doctoral studies in Engineering Psychology)