By James Riswick
Opinions Editor
When driving around campus and in Malibu, I am always happy that I checked the CD player option when I bought my car three years ago. Without my own selection of digital music, I would be forced to listen to either static from the radio or that old Ace of Base tape I got for my birthday in 1993.
These alternatives are bleak, which is why having a Pepperdine radio station is so crucial. Not only would it serve the Pepperdine community directly, but Malibu residents as well, who no doubt receive the same shoddy radio signals that we do.
After years of not having local radio, the hopeful arrival of KWVS is certainly a welcome prospect. But, wasn’t there a radio station before? There was, KMBU, but it was broadcast on channel 6 on cable TV and was shut down in 1999 after numerous complaints from students, faculty and administrators over the lewd nature of the station’s programming.
“Students were taking advantage of the airwaves,” director of broadcasting Susan Salas said in a Graphic article last year. “Inappropriate language, music and conversations were being aired, and the standards and regulations of the radio station were not being followed.”
With the resurrection of Pepperdine radio, telecommunications has eliminated the possibility of KWVS meeting the same fate as KMBU. But instead of cleaning up their act, the act is being changed all together. KWVS programming will be almost entirely Christian in nature, with Christian music being the only genre allowed.
But there is a very large gap in between the unedited, occasionally profane music and programming of the previous radio station and the proposed all-Christian format of KWVS. Why can’t a happy medium be found that won’t offend, but also won’t keep listeners away by sticking to a small, mostly unpopular genre?
Pepperdine students certainly have a greater love for Christian music than most other college students, but it’s not the only type of music they listen to. There are also plenty of students, like myself, who if given a choice would not listen to Christian music. But we also wouldn’t listen to Marilyn Manson and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Pepperdine’s radio station should represent both these types of listeners. It should support Christian music, but not exclude perfectly acceptable, non-profane music.
It has been pointed out that telecommunications majors will benefit from the experience of working on a real radio station regardless of the programming. This is certainly true, and as a Graphic editor I can appreciate this sentiment. Like the radio station, the Graphic has two specific goals in mind: the first is to keep the student body informed, the second to increase the journalism experience of both writers and editors. In fact, the experience of working on the Graphic can be equal to or even more valuable than the information we learn in journalism classes. The same can be said for students who will work on KWVS.
But if one university goal is met — student experience — the second is not — meeting the needs of the student body. A campus radio station should reflect the student body and its tastes, while still maintaining a defined level of professionalism. Four years ago, this should have been the case, but it wasn’t. Instead of reprimanding or firing students who used profanity or played obscene music, they shut down the station, robbing students of a radio station for both experience and listening enjoyment.
If a Graphic staff member acted in an inappropriate manner, our faculty advisor would deal with that person and an apology would be issued if needed. The Graphic would not be pulled from circulation.
Instead of eliminating KMBU all together and switching to the new all-Christian format, administrators and other professors in the telecommunications department should have monitored the radio station more closely. Almost every radio station in America has guidelines that include things they can and cannot say. Why can’t Pepperdine do the same thing?
But because they can’t, or won’t, police themselves, Pepperdine students will have to live with a diet of all-Christian music, some student talk shows and two-hour shows done by professors. As fun as “Dr. Blah’s thoughts on transcendentalism” sounds, I’ll pass, thank you very much, and I’m sure a lot of others will too. The new radio station simply does not meet the needs or tastes of all students Pepperdine. And it should, because it’s the only alternative we would have to static and that old Ace of Base tap
November 14, 2002