Page 15 - mcdanielfreepress2004

MARCH 11, 2004, Page 3 NEWS A tale of two stations with different results TV station flourishes Radio station struggles to survive under limitations JEFF CABINESS the station regain some order, STAFF WRITER but thinks the station needs ex- HEATHER WEISSE duces The Wire, a weekly posure. NEWS EDITOR Perhaps it's because news magazine show. All "Students need to be The small basement shows are broadcast on the same Jay-Z album has made more aware of what is studio space in Lewis Recita- Channel 26. been spinning on constant available to them," said Carter. tion Hall isn't ideal. The bud- Slade said that tele- rotation for the last two Since WMCR currently get is tight and some equ~p- vision production and ed- weeks. Or maybe it's the se- has no advisor, Mitch rnent is outdated. Despite iting courses go beyond crecy behind the floor-to- Alexander of the College Ac- challenges, students and fac- technical training. ceiling stickers that plaster tivitiesoffice has been working ulty members behind "It's not just push- the door. with the station to help with McDaniel Television are prov- ing buttons. It's conceptu- Believe it or not, the budgeting and bill paying. He ing that a little imagination alizing. It's visualizing. It's college radio station WMCR agrees that the station suffers can go a long way. telling a story," said Slade. 620 still has a pulse, or rather, from underexposure. a signal - although a weak "They function in a way that people can't see them," Many of the station's says Alexander. "They're troubles can be traced back The dark.sucker-covered door that shooting themselves in the foot hidesWMCR. to the Fall 97' semester, when because people walk by and communications professor range also comes withPed- see it's dark on the inside and Tony Kirschner took over as eral Communications think [the station] is inactive." advisor for WMCR. Commision regulations, Kirschner thinks two The station was practi- something WMCR has never things need to happen before cally inactive with no real faced. It hasn't mattered if the station can truly function budget, no equipment up- deejays play unedited music well. grades, and only a few inter- or have an occasional slip of "Number one, they need ested students. Under the tongue. an advisor who cares and can Kirschner's guidance, things Students realized that make students interested. And began to look up with re- their best chance for in- two, get broadcasting online." newed student interest and creased exposure would to In 2001, Anthony the allocation of a decent transmit via the Internet. Leonard, a business/ economics Artino Young works behind the scenes of a taping of "The Wire," a weekly news magazine show budget. This way, anyone visiting the major, came to WMCR and But some students be- college website could hear a gave Carter a 'much needed came too involved. high quality broadcast. hand. "We've been doing a lot "It's a 1.6t more about be- "It's a student run sta- Leonard, now a junior, . The station of rebuilding in the past one coming a coherent thinker." tion," said Kirschner, who DSL connection purchased web a has since taken over as head of and to two years," said junior The station's biggest left campus last spring and Heather Cook, Co-General challenge is physically get- space, but nothing happened. the station. Heestimatesdevot- Manager of the television sta- ting programming on the now runs his own employee With waning student interest ing around 15 hours a week to in Vancouver, search firm tion and McDaniel's 'r.v Club air - and having the cam- and outright laziness, the the station, and wants to pin- Under the new leader- pus community tune in. Canada. "1 let them make online broadcast was never mote WMCR like a real radio ship of Jonathan Slade, assis- In order to keep the decisions, or what's the utilized. station with parties, concerts, tant professor of communica- viewers from seeing black, point?" However, the DSL com- and ad vertising. tions and station advisor, someone has to manually These students, who pany kept sending bills. Mas- "I want to be involved McDaniel Television has insert a tape every' two have since graduated, took sive amounts of promotional with everything," Leonard thrived this semester. Ap- hours. Slade hopes to even- full advantage of Kirschner's mail caused bills to go unno- said. prOXimately 50 students are tually buy a digital video laid-back approach, running ticed and the station was Since most airtime is oc- involved in the everyday pro- server that will allow pro- the station their way. charged for the unused ser- cupied by a five-disk changer duction process, either gramming to air continu- "They took the place vice. Eventually the error on rotation, Leonard is happy through their academic classes ally. over and created huge rifts .. was realized and the DSL was to set up interested students or the campus T.V. Club. Unfortunately, some I should have been more fo- cut off, but the debt had to be with a time slot for a show. It Slade, who took a fu\l- students may not catch cused as to what they were paid doesn't matter what type of earn pus programming time teaching position this doing," said Kirschner. Approximately three music is being played or if stu- past fall after teaching as an when channel surfing. Range has always been years ago, Adam Carter, now dents just want to talk. adjunct profess.or for t.he p~st "If you run an auto a major issue for WMCR a senior English/History ma- "I'm all for diversity on eight years, brings With him channel set-upon your tele- The station broadcasts over jor, was recruited to the radio," said Leonard. more than 15 years of televi- vision and nothing is play- the AM band on a signal that be the executive of sion industry experience and ing on the station at that dies once listeners leave Hip Hop at WMCR. numerous Emmy awards. time, the channel will not campus. It's impossible to The communications be added," said Ernie Ogle, "It was a department annually spends campus telecommunica- get on the FM band because mess," Carter re- it is too tied up. about $5,000 on new television tions manager. Kirschner estimates called. "Physically, equipment. This year, the ~t~- Ogle said that if the that-it could cost approxi- technology wise, tion acquired three new digi- channel is not added, the there were prob- tal cameras and a third digital television remote skips mately $20,000 to increase lems with people editing suite. over that channel. To rem- the current AM signal. With stealing music." But that hasn't stopped edy the problem, he sug- WMCR's $2,500 budget, the Carter is gests rerunning the auto idea is unrealistic. Extended the scavenging. proud of helping According to Slade, setup or manually adding computer monitors in the stu- the campus channels using dio were recycled from the the remote. Saftey of clubrooms questioned campus garbage. "It's a piece- tions The telecommunica- pro- inserts office meal station," said Slade. "We gramming onto seven use everything we can get." Clubroom from page I Responding to grow- channels on the campus license). "We've changed certain cable network: Channel 25 ing interest in television, the "[The policy 1will allow policies to deter outsiders from communications department broadcasts a campus bulle- a Club Room, however there hosts to bring guests, but we coming, but the students here has expanded its course offer- tin board and WMCR; were no final decisions about will be much more tightly need to start taking responsibil- T.Y. ing. This sprin?, the depart- McDaniel 26; and airs on those options. controlling it. There will be a ity for their guests," said BSU Channel Channel ment offered five televis~on 29 is reserved for special From now on students sense that the people attend- President and junior Krtstal classes: three p rod ucfion video conferencing. The will turn in their college IDs ing will be held accountable, Johnson. classes, a course on documen- four remaining channels as they enter a BSU Club and that we are paying atten- A BSU Club Room sched- tary film analysi~,.and a class on non-linear edltmg. broadcast French, German Room, and collect them as tion to things," said Sayre. uled for March 27 was canceled "I think we can look for- One production class and Spanish programs they leave. Non-students and replaced with a Free Style sponsored by the foreign who wish to attend the gath- ward to very positive parties Battle of Poetry. On April 3, fol- generates public service a~- language department. nouncements. Another .IS ering will have to present a as long as we can use new lowing the BSU Fashion Show, working on a twelve-scene fic- valid JO (a student ID from a ways to keep things under the scheduled Club Room will tional show and the third pro- different college or a driver's control," he added. take place.