Imagine working 20-50 hours per week without pay in addition to taking a normal Dartmouth course load while trying to maintain some semblance of a normal student life. Seems impossible, but Dartmouth's radio stations WDCR-WFRD require that students in their leadership positions make the organization their number one priority.
Dartmouth Broadcasting is run by a Board of Directors: nine students in the positions of General Manager, Program Director of WDCR, Program Director of WFRD, and Directors of News, Sports, Technical, Career-Alumni Relations, Finance and Production. Students apply for these positions with the knowledge that they will be calling the radio station their second home as long as they hold their position. Dartmouth is unique in that students run two commercial radio stations successfully all by themselves. But this amazing feat can only be accomplished at the expense of its Directorate's GPAs and social lives. Of course, good grades do not have to be forsaken nor are friends necessarily forgotten, but for WDCR and especially WFRD (99 Rock) to function competitively as professional stations, students must arrange all business and programming decisions in addition to managing a volunteer staff of around 100 students.
I was Program Director of WDCR during the terms summer '95 and winter '96. Although I love the station -- it has been a large part of my "Dartmouth Experience" -- I found the position to be thankless and stressful. Only students who truly want to enter the field of broadcasting will find Directorate positions rewarding. Spending 20-50 hours a week at the station trouble shooting does not prepare you for your govy final or career in international law, but it does give students the hands on experience that all television and radio stations require of prospective journalists and DJs.
In previous years, students active at the station zealously worked to keep it running. Many of them barely graduated because of their pathetically low GPAs, but their experience with WDCR-WFRD paved the way for their careers in broadcasting. However, current Dartmouth students don't seem to have as much time to devote to any one organization. Our generation of Dartmouth students are more academically oriented than previous years. More of us are writing theses and doing independent research projects and do not have the time to devote our lives to one activity. Furthermore, after all that college preparation in high school, we're accustomed to doing several different activities; it's difficult for the average Dartmouth student to commit to just one!
This change in student willingness to commit wholeheartedly to one organization is exemplified in the dedication at WDCR-WFRD. Whereas 14 years ago Dartmouth students built the station studios themselves, during renovations this year outside engineers were hired to install equipment into the new studios being built in Robinson Hall. Ironically, the engineer hired is the alumni from the Dartmouth Class of '83 who had installed the old studios while he was a student here. While I regret that our generation of students does not have the enthusiasm to design and build our own studio, I can't imagine any current students being able to undertake such a project unless they were to receive class credit for it. Likewise, in previous years students would rally to build huge, beautiful snow sculptures for winter carnival. Lack of snow in recent years aside, students now have the attitude that we should have a large beautiful sculpture, "but I don't have time to go out there and build it."
I am perplexed by this situation. Although Dartmouth traditions like the snow sculpture require the participation of many students, how can other organizations like Dartmouth Broadcasting continue to be so dependent on so few students when the average student's willingness to commit has so obviously changed? Yet at the same time, no organizations on this campus could function properly if there were not a few especially dedicated students who keep them running.
The WDCR-WFRD Directorate staff for the '96-'97 academic year was selected this week. All those chosen have proven their commitment and concern for the stations and I have confidence that all will fulfill their position requirements to the best of their abilities. However, although they have all made this commitment with full knowledge of the constraints it will make on their personal time and personal lives in general, I question whether or not this is necessary. Why should students have to sign over their lives to one organization? Dartmouth students have changed over the years, and organizational structures should also change to reflect the demands of student lives. I propose that a more elaborate Directorate structure be devised to include more students in the Dartmouth Broadcasting hierarchy. Not only would this ease the burden on those already in Directorate positions, but it would include more students in the leadership experience.
