To the Editor:
As a former member of Dartmouth Broadcasting, I found the ideas put forth in William Meland's article "Change the Channel" (The Dartmouth, Jan. 28) ill-researched and unreasonable. The free-form radio utopia he describes already exists -- it's called WDCR, the AM radio station. After a very quick and easy training session, any Dartmouth student can happily play whatever music he or she chooses. And AM is just as crystal clear as FM, last time I checked. Unfortunately the majority of the listeners for 99Rock (the FM station) do not come from this campus but rather from listeners in the Upper Valley where it is extremely popular. The economic reality of the situation is that 99Rock is self-sustaining and requires incredible amounts of dedication on the parts of the small group of students who spend their precious unpaid time on it. It's not that these students are modern-rock diehards who refuse to play anything else, it's just that based on the listener base and advertisers, they are forced to play within certain restrictions. Dartmouth College is not what keeps the radio going financially -- it's advertising revenue. These students really care about the radio, and are constantly looking for responsible people to join in. Perhaps Mr. Meland should get trained as a DJ (if he hasn't already) and try to get involved with the radio to determine an alternate economic model instead of whining from the sidelines.
