…then you probably hadn’t considered the possibility that its blight might consume an additional frequency.
WCU and a brigade of lawyers are trying to wrangle the rights to broadcast at 95.3FM, which the FCC has tentatively awarded to the Sylva-based environmentalist group The Canary Coalition.
The Smoky Mountain News has done some interesting reporting on the issue from the Coalition’s side here and from the University’s side here. Of some interest to us is the notion that “local musicians [could be] featured” under the Coalition’s plan for the frequency, whereas WCU primarily hopes to expand coverage of its sports teams.
Our take: In a just world, WCU’s piss-poor use of the frequency they’ve already got would be grounds to deny them another swath of the radiation spectrum. “Power 90.5” is a glorified Clear Channel training facility and an aesthetically bankrupt betrayal of the very idea of college radio.* For WCU to claim, as it does in the SMN article, that its programming is in any way “unique” or “locally-originated” is laughable.
It’s not a just world, of course. Fortunately no one listens to the radio anymore.
* This seems like a good time to mention that Two Hours With Ory is a near-miraculous exception to everything written above.