(Incredibly Sad) Link of the Day - 2/22/06

I am an alumnus of the University of Maryland at College Park. For 4 years, I paid good money to the school to get my learn on. It was a standard school. Nothing incredibly great. Nothing incredibly shitty. I had some good times and some bad. Took some great classes and some horrible ones. Made some good friends and some asshole friends. All in all, I'm happy with my decision to have to gone there. No regrets.

Through all of it, one particular experience stands out.
For 3.5 of my 4 years there, I was a DJ at the college radio station, WMUC 88.1FM.  I started out with one of the bitch slots in the very early morning on a weekday and gradually worked myself up to a primetime slot that actually had a decent amount of listeners. I even had a position my senior year as the Assistant Program Director. I didn't actually do much as the Assistant PD, as all of actual "work" of it was taken care of by the actual head PD. But it gave me something good to put on my resume once i entered the life of a real, live grown up.
For all my years there,  i found a great deal of solice in the fact that i had a place to  go and actually have some fun, make some friends, and spread the word of what i consider to be great music. Everybody that worked there worked towards a unified goal. That was to preach the gospel of non-corporate radio, as well as to give a cold shoulder to all the Creeds, Avril Lavignes, and Verve Pipes of the world. We were a pretentious, yet fun loving bunch of slackers who knew the difference between good and bad.
When I finally graduated, I left school and never looked back. The only thing that i truly miss from time to time is WMUC. Sometimes, when I get a new album that I think is particularly great, I think to myself how much i would have taken pleasure in playing it on my show. Or I think about the words i would have used to write a review of it on the front cover before we cataloged it in the "new" bin of our CD drawers. All in all, I loved WMUC. It was one of the greatest places in the entire world.

Here is why i suddenly draw attention to this...
A couple old chums today alerted me to this article. It about a newer, larger station based in Baltimore called WYPR. They're aiming to create a larger area for their public radio station. They want to expand more in Baltimore and even dip their feet into the Washington, DC market.
Now don't get me wrong, i've always loved the concept of NPR. Hell, on my Sirius Satellite tuner, National Public Radio is the only FM based stations that I have set into my pre-programmed options.
But the problem here is that they have recently received clearance to take over the 88.1fm frequency in Washington. Yes, the exact same frequency that has been used by WMUC, in my appoximations, forever.
Here is the take home point on the article that is located on the second page:

"WYPR, with headquarters on Baltimore's North Charles Street, also is planning to transmit to the Washington suburbs. The station has gotten permission from the Federal Communications Commission to push aside a low-wattage student station at the University of Maryland, College Park that already occupies WYPR's signal on 88.1 FM. (Brandon and Bienstock both said they would help the college station move its signal to the Internet.)"

This makes me terribly sad for obvious reasons. I know that there must be plenty of people working at the station as we speak that take as much pleasure in being there as I did while I was there. They deserve the same experience that I had.

Besides from that, fuck these Brandon and Bienstock fellows. If they knew the first thing about WMUC, they'd know that they've already been streaming over the internet for about 10 years. So their jesture of good will means nothing. Anybody can throw music out there over the internet. But there is something about being broadcasted over the actual radio dial that makes you feel a little more important and appreciated. This will break the hearts of anybody that has every worked there or is currently working there.

I've run out of things to say. This just really sucks.

If anybody out there from WMUC is reading this and needs help fighting this in anyway, just know that i'm here. I've got my gloves on. I'm ready to scrap.

Comments

[ping]

especially his cover of heartbeats. holy shit so good broseph!

[tricky]

fellow alum...augh! that sucks! I remember listening to WMUC as a student but the signal would fade once I drove 100 feet off campus but anyway there was some good music on there and not your pop top 40 sHITS...WMUC will be missed.