Radio Drama

Word is that local Oshkosh campus radio station WRST is experiencing a revolution of sorts, and not one of those 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' revolutions -- more like a 'military junta seizes control of power, executes the prime minister, and generally screws the rest of us' revolution. Long story short: community (i.e. non-student) shows are being 'encouraged' off the air.

From what I've been able to piece together, it all started when the campus Radio, Television, Film department changed the workshops requirements for the undergraduate degree program, adding two required workshop classes in a non-major field. That means that while before, for example, a television concentrator would take three TV workshops to get a BA, now they have to take three TV and two non-TV workshops. (Workshops being classes where you get hands-on exposure to the medium in question.)

The proximate result is that there are a bunch of not-exactly-motivated 18-to-21 year olds forced into workshop classes (and thereby on-air) they don't particularly want to take. Since they don't want to take them anyway, they really bitch and moan when they find out that it's traditional for new radio personalities to begin their on-air careers during the so-called 'graveyard' shifts.

As a result, community members, who currently hold some of the premium broadcasting slots (e.g. late afternoon and evenings), are losing their access to these times. This pisses them off, as they've often been working for years to cultivate their audience, who expects to hear them at the slot they're currently located at.

I'm not saying this is the entire story, and I'm certainly not saying I'm an authority on inside working politics at WRST. Hell, all the people I could track down who are authorities didn't want to go on record about this, so if you took this all to be the insane ramblings of a diseased and misinformed mind … well, from a purely journalistical standpoint, I'd have to agree with you. For now.

More later. I for one am still curious what prompted the change in the academic requirements.

Oh, have I mentioned that part of the WRST mission statement is to serve "listeners in the city of Oshkosh and surrounding areas"?