Bill Jeopardizes Campus RadioI've been horribly lax about working on anything directly related to a radio station because of so much else going on right now. I'm glad there everyone else is doing the work that I would never be able to do to get a radio station going at UND (headed by Jackie DeMolee). All I think I've been able to provide is commentary which, as everyone knows, is pretty much free and meaningless in this country.
The bill referenced in the article above is interested; whether it threatens the existence of a campus radio station or not will depend on what the station plans on playing. I do wish there was a stepwise plan; maybe half the price for paying half the time for music. I guess there would need to be someone to regulate that, but we're in a crunch for jobs right now, right?
The alternative is to only play music that we have direct permission for, that is, music by unsigned musicians (or musicians whose labels give them enough control over their own creation to have a say in where it can be played) or those who have released their music into the public domain. This idea was brought up by Tim Pasch a while back. I'm not (and I don't think he was) suggesting we start a radio station by playing only music from the 1920's, but that we can be more creative in the first semester about what the content is. I'm willing to bet that talk and sports may get more attention than music at this point--can you imagine hearing actual students live commentating a UND hockey game, or talking to people who call in about tuition rates, or pranking the administration on-air?
Just something to think about. It's the first semester and people are going strong towards an online station by May. If we need a little extra support, I don't think it would castrate the new station to not pay some of the fees associated.