Thursday, June 28, 2007

Clearly identified with Miami

I urge Miami University to continue to provide full financial support to WMUB. The radio station provides the voice of the university to the community.

I know a little bit about public radio; between 1979 and 1982 I was a student staff member and eventually one of the first paid employees at WVXU . It was deeply offensive to me when Xavier University sold off the station to fund a new campus building. People worked for decades to transform WVXU from a closed-circuit operation to a medium-power station to the Midwestern public radio hub it became. The university's move was a slap in the face to the personnel, the listeners and the community alike. Now the buyers have taken the further step of breaching the spirit of the deal by selling off New Paris-Richmond's WVXR to create a religious station, in a needless duplication of programming already widely available in the region. So much for operating in what the Federal Communications Act calls the "public interest, convenience and necessity."
 
If the "old" WVXU management made any mistake, it was in failing to clearly associate itself with the university overall. This is a mistake WMUB has not made. The station is clearly and consistently identified as the voice of Miami University, and the relationship is beneficial both to the station and the university.
 
I have been a supporter of several public radio stations over the years, and became a member of WMUB last year. Keep a good thing going!

--Steve Gottlieb, Connersville, IN

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home