Open forum highlights debate about WREK ' s mission

Diversity: it ' s the mission and the drive of Tech ' s student-operated radio station, WREK 91.1 FM.

Throughout its history, WREK has often had to respond to shifting tastes in music. In 1970, after playing acid rock, the student managers changed the format to showcase the progressive rock music popular during that time. After criticism from members of the campus community, however, classical music was added and progressive rock was reduced.

In 1978, following a large allocation of funds from student government to upgrade the station ' s equipment, WREK ceded to student demands for a more " listenable " format, adopting the current system of shows and live DJs used today.

Some of these old debates are now resurfacing. After SGA ' s partial funding of WREK ' s recent move to the Student Center Commons from their old location by O ' Keefe, some SGA members are seeking to evaluate the station.

According to Amy Phuong, undergraduate student body president, the discussion on accountability began among the other SGA executive officers.

" We started talking amongst the exec[utive board]...and then from exec we moved into the [SGA] Advisory Board meeting, " Phuong said. " The general consensus is that we don ' t know what they play. "

" Part of me wanted to look again at the issue...now that they are in a new space, are they meeting the needs of the student population? " Phuong said.

Aakash Jariwala, WREK ' s general manager, feels that WREK, through playing a diverse range of music, meets that need.

" There is something for everybody...you are not going to like everything on the station, but there is something for you - we play quality diverse music, so it ' s every musical genre possible for students, " he said.

However, in response to the concerns within SGA, Jariwala organized an open forum to receive student feedback on the station.

" A lot of the suggestions that we got...were things that we already did but that people weren ' t aware of, " Jariwala said.

For example, according to WREK staff, some of the students who attended the meeting were unaware of what role students played in the station ' s operation.

" Some of the perceptions were that it is not student-picked or student-run, " Jariwala said. " The station is completely run and all the music is picked by students. "

Other comments at the forum addressed the kind of resources WREK has available for the student body.

" The stage area is not being used to its full potential, " said Nate Fisher, WREK ' s business manager. " It ' s one of the things that we are trying...a common theme for the entire forum was that this is a resource that is available, and we are trying to communicate to students what is available. "

However, despite the student involvement with the operation of the statement, WREK has been looking at ways to communicate with the rest of campus - students who do not necessarily volunteer at the station.

" We have no way of receiving any listener feedback, aside from being extremely active or writing correspondence...so that is something that we are looking at, and trying to change, " Fisher said.

On the other hand, Jariwala felt WREK allows greater student participation, especially when compared with the other student-run stations in Atlanta such as WCLK at Clark Atlanta University and WRAS at Georgia State University.

" Compared to WRAS and WCLK...on WCLK, you can ' t even be a student on their station, " Jariwala said. " For WRAS, it ' s a very hard process to change the music because they use a limited amount of music. "

Some of the comments brought up at the forum also included inquiries as to why WREK does not play music similar to other radio stations in Atlanta.

WREK officials countered that offering unique programming, as opposed to emulating another station, benefits students.

" The whole part of the radio station for Tech students is to provide them an opportunity to hear something that they are not going to hear that is on any other station, " Jariwala said.

According to WREK staff members, offering content similar to other stations may also put WREK ' s non-commercial educational license in jeopardy with the Federal Communications Commission.

" We are granted a non-commercial educational license, [so] the license has to be operated in terms for the educational benefit of the community, " Jariwala said. " To copy another format from another station...is not educational. "

For example, Jariwala said, " If we were to copy 99X ' s format, then 99X has reason to complain to the FCC. "

Some members of SGA, however, feel strongly that increasing listenership numbers should be the primary function of programming on the station.

" I am much more concerned with the magnitude of the listenership than diversity of listenership, " said Will Welch, a third-year International Affairs and Modern Languages major and a member of the Undergraduate House of Representatives.

Welch also feels that decreasing the diversity of the station would help increase the station ' s listening audience. " I would much rather have 10,000 people listen to WREK, then a thousand completely different people listening to WREK, " he said.

Jariwala defended the diversity of the programming. " Not everything on WREK is for everybody, [but]...there is something for everybody. "

Ultimately, however, the station seeks to maintain its mission of its on-air tag line, " quality diverse programming. "

" Diversity is our greatest pride, but it is also our biggest burden, " Jariwala said.

Founded in 1968, WREK was initially a part-time station, broadcasting between noon and midnight, reaching people living within a 10-mile radius of the campus.

Currently, the station broadcasts 24 hours a day from its current studio on the second floor of the Student Center Commons, reaching most of metropolitan Atlanta with its 40,000 watt signal.