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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1983)
•>1^0 1SOJ ;seg joup]^ 4eq4 uijy jojjoq p[o uy :uisp4ubh j sauip oijpads jo^ siajcaq; >[3aq3 dtDi uo s^iaovu KANM by Louis Hilgartner Battalion reporter After playing musical chairs with facilities, personnel, and fi nances, KANM (the student- run radio station) has finally found a home — just in time for its 10th birthday. The station has survived numerous moves and financial and equipment problems since first hitting the air on Oct. 8, 1973. Plans for the station origin ated in February 1973, when the Texas A&M Student Govern ment decided it had the funds and interest to establish a radio station operated totally by stu dents. A positive note for the bud ding station was that it needed no license to operate. The Feder al Communications Commis sion classifies stations such as KANM as "stations serving the public interest" and is not under the same restrictions as "com munity access stations." Equipment was ordered and arrangements were made with Midwest Video to get KANM on the air. KANM made its first broadcast from a small back room at Midwest on Oct. 8, 1973. Heavily underfinanced, the tation began with two home stereo turntables and a couple of electric cables hooked up to the Midwest system — through a hole in the wall. Although the Student Gov ernment technically was in charge of KANM and was re sponsible for its growth, enthu siasm waned. The station was kept alive only through the efforts of the various program directors and station managers who refused to let it sink. ten years old tomorrow From the beginning, KANM has allowed the disc jockeys to set their own formats regarding what kind of records to play and on-the-air announcing style. As a result, the majority of the DJs over the years have been "in the biz," as the saying goes, more for the pure enjoyment of playing music instead of any re wards, says Todd Gross, who is in his sixth year as station man ager. These "jocks" helped the sta tion gain a cult following, and the station expanded its facilities to another room, this time in the back of the Ridgecrest barber shop. Then came an historic event for KANM in December 1980. For the first time, a studio was set up on campus. Up until this time, KANM had been broadcasting only on Midwest cable (Student Govern ment's originally aimed to have KANM on the airwaves, but the idea was put on a back burner and left to freeze). With the sta tion's new growth came the time to increase the audience. This expansion was done by wiring up with Community Cablevision, which gave KANM the ability to reach all local cable subscribers. Although expanding its audi ence, the station only was able to upgrade its facilities when sev eral electrical engineering stu dents volunteered to make or re pair equipment for the station as part of their engineering courses. A lack of continued financial support and Student Govern ment's waning interest created the need for volunteer work. Most of the money needed for the station's operation came from private contributions from former DJs and program direc tors who already had gradu ated. This continues to be a source of funds for the station. Student Government's lack of interest continued and resulted in the disbanding of the Student Radio Board — the committee in Student Government that theoretically was in charge of KANM—in the fall of 1977. This left the student-nm station with little direction from the Univer sity. In the spring of 1978, the sta tion packed up and moved out of the barber shop and into an office in the Briarwood apart ments' recreation room. By now, the equipment built by student engineers was in bad shape and the station's signal was getting weak. Then came an historic event for KANM in December 1980. For the first time, a studio was set up on campus. Broadcasting resumed in a small room of B-l lounge. But once again equip ment problems plagued the sta tion and kept it from getting off the ground. By the summer of 1981, suf fering from a lack of financial support, the station folded its tent again and hit the trail. This time the destination was Gross's apartment. With almost no room in his apartment, he stack ed up the records that weren't being used, covered them with a mattress and slept on them. In the fall of 1981 KANM photo by Donn Friedman Todd Gross, station manager, works on KANM's production board, the latest addition to die studio. found another new home — in Goodwin Hall. For only the second time in the station's eight year existence, it was on campus. Although the new facilities were the best in the station's his tory, once again equipment fai lures and problems with the cable connections and phone lines limited the station's sig nals. This prompted Gross to sever all former ties with Student Gov ernment and establish new ones directed toward getting the sta tion on more solid ground. Among his requests were that the station be allowed to apply for money from the University and be assigned a faculty adviser. Upon completion of the re novation of the Animal Pavilion, KANM moved again in the spring of 1983. Surplus equip ment from KZZY in San Antonio was donated to the station, and the signal problems which pla gued the station have been solved, for the most part. "We're still working the bugs out," Gross says. Part of the new system in volves a better connection on General Telephone's local lines and a new link with Community and Midwest. With the donation of the equipment from KZZY, a new dimension is being added to the Pavilion studio. For the first time, KANM will have the capability to record its own commercial spots. The same equipment will double as a backup for the on-air system in case of malfunction. KANM see RADIO, page 13 Volunteers provide tours at exhibits by Robin Black Battalion reporter Texas A&M University Art Exhibits Docents group is celeb rating its fourth birthday this fall. The anniversary also marks the group's success and growth, says liaison chairman Ruth Clearfield. As defined in Webster's New World Dictionary, a docent is a person who gives tours through a museum or other exhibit and discusses and comments on the material observed. The Texas A&M docents are a group of about 40 volunteers, who work as a part of the cultu ral development department of the University Art Exhibits, giv ing guided tours of the various art exhibits brought to the Uni versity each year. The volunteers, who are trained before each exhibit by either faculty members with ex pertise in the area involved or by the artist himself, work entirely on a volunteer basis and include University employees and com munity members not otherwise involved with Texas A&M. Clearfield says the members are involved with the docents program simply because of a sincere interest in art. "We have docents whose vocations range from nurses to lawyers," she says. Most of the volunteers have no formal training in art, although some may have had art history classes in college, or had some background in a particular type of art or art period, Clear field says. "Occasionally some of us will sit in on an art history class," she says, "but most of the training we get is the one or two sessions before each exhibit." The docents are at the exhibits to give information about artists and their work, Clearfield says, especially during the lunch hour when there traffic through the exhibit is the greatest. They also give tours to groups from the University and groups such as senior citizens and pub lic school students. Until this year, the docents worked exclusively on tours for the University's temporary ex hibits. This year, however, they have begun a study of the Uni versity's permanent collection of art, including paintings, sculpture and wood carvings. Clearfield says the group soon hopes to give visitors tours of the University's permanent collection, along with an expla nation of the art and the artist's history. The organization was begun in the fall of 1979 as an extension of the cultural development por tion of the University Art Ex hibits program. Clearfield says the group was the brainchild of J. Wayne Stark, special assistant to president for cultural development, who wanted a body of volunteers to staff the various art exhibits brought to the University. r Stage Center Presents 1 “Sl y Fox Z by Larry Gelbart Based on ‘Vol Pone’ by Ben Jonson September 29, 30, October 1, 6, 7, 8 8:00 P.M. $5.50 per person L. “ADULT TONGUE-IN-CHEEK COMEDY From the creator of M*A*S*H! Call 846-4436 For reservations and information Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. J