As your typical music-obsessed Dartmouth student, I can't help but go green with envy upon hearing about the exciting craze that's been sweeping college campuses for several decades now: they call it "free-form college radio." Apparently, some schools have this cool deal where students can broadcast their favorite tunes in crystal clear FM stereo, without being told what to play and when to play it. These stations shower their localities with music played by DJ's who are free to share their own musical vision, whether it's rock, funk, gospel, Brahms or what have you. Doesn't that sound nice? "Well, sure," some say, "but it's an impossible pipe dream here in Hanover." Really, I think that's just a smokescreen.
Unencumbered by the commercial controls that pervade American radio, colleges often provide the most vibrant and interesting radio to be found in their areas. Free-form FM stations at schools like Louisiana Tech, UC Irvine, Tufts University and others add a little spice to the airwaves, which are increasingly choked by the blob-like conglomerates Clear Channel and Disney. Unfortunately, and despite our excellent facilities, Dartmouth currently does not use its FM radio station to enrich our community. It's a tragedy that I hope we can fix.
A return to real student-run radio would let us add character and vibrancy to the entire region by broadcasting the music that interests us as individuals; it would be a non-profit way to enhance the lives of both students and locals. Unfortunately, thanks to a stranglehold on WFRD perpetuated by a tiny number of student leaders, we at Dartmouth College have been deprived of this opportunity. Instead, the 6000 watts of transmitting power at WFRD-FM, owned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College, have been spent beaming out unto the world the sad artistic wastrel known as "99 Rock."
This station, inexplicably and despite the great diversity of Dartmouth students and their musical tastes, only plays a certain brand of corporate white-male Modern Rock "music" that, I dare say, interests virtually none of us. In its misguided attempt to compete in the dark world of corporate radio, 99 Rock gives the area the mistaken impression that Dartmouth does not care about music or diversity. It's time for us in the Dartmouth community to demand that we, not just the long-time student leaders at WFRD, get programming input and artistic control over one of our key interfaces with each other and our community.
Just imagine: students and community members signing up for two-hour slots of playing whatever they want, as long as it's interesting and legal. Audio anarchy, you say? Not at all. I think it would a spellbinding audio experience continuously renewing itself with new students and the diverse viewpoints and tastes of our community. We have so much cultural identity to share and celebrate; we own the means to do it. It is only right that Dartmouth College Radio should be used in a way that would most benefit the larger listening community, not just serve as a training ground for those (few) students who are interested in the radio business.
I have spoken to some people at Dartmouth Broadcasting and listened to their story. The economic realities of radio dictated their shift in format from Classic Rock to Modern Rock, they said. It's the only vacancy in the conventional radio format spectrum in the Upper Valley, they say. Their argument is that they are a financially independent student organization and it's their decision to make. The format change was a "student decision," said one radio boss whose name now escapes me.
Well, I think it's time to leave conventional radio formats behind for our station. Instead of running WFRD as a pseudo-commercial enterprise with poor quality music and 30-second ads for laundry detergent, we should tailor the station's content to the real market it should serve: ourselves. Dartmouth radio practically cries out for a fuller exploration of all the enthusiasm and variety inherent in the student body. Indeed, we have the right people and facilities to make free-form FM radio a success here, at little or no additional cost to the College. With the continued support of area businesses, a new free-form WFRD-FM could be a cultural asset that appeals to a wide spectrum of people both on campus and all over the Upper Valley.
