The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 12, 1995, Image 3

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KEOS brings community
radio concept to B-CS
By Jay Knioum
The Battalion
I n a building that looks like a cross
between a house and a pawn shop
sitting darkly on East 32nd St. in
Bryan, radio station KEOS is strug
gling to keep the head of alternative
music above water in an ocean of
conservatism.
Radio station KEOS was born in a
tiny chunk of donated office space
behind Earth Art in downtown
Bryan.
This station was the result of
three years of work, since March 22,
1991, when Brazos Educational Ra
dio was formed.
The KEOS Mission Statement re
flects BER’s goal since its inception:
“To provide musical, cultural and in
formational programming which cel
ebrates and expresses the diversity
of the community.”
As far as diversity goes, this sta
tion’s format can’t be described in a
few short words. Flip the dial to
KEOS 89.1 FM on a Tuesday night
and you may hear bluegrass or vin
tage country. There is Israeli and
Jewish music on Wednesday at sev
en, or Celtic on Thursday. On Friday,
the vibe goes from jazz to hip-hop.
Heidi Halstead, the program di
rector for the station, said that ex
cept for training and FCC guide
lines, the programming is at the
whim of the volunteer DJs who
man the station from 7-11 p.m.
Monday through Friday.
“Also, if listeners call in and sug
gest something to play, we’re really
likely to play that, whereas on com
mercial radio, they may not be likely
to play Trout Fishing in America, or
bluegrass or jazz. Commercial radio
is very much dictated by the format
they select.”
Eric Truax, the president and
general manager of KEOS, said
that commercial radio is ruled by
dollars, where KEOS is about peo
ple, not profit.
Truax, the station’s founder, said
that mainstream commercial radio
was the source of his inspiration.
“The first glimmering of the idea
was listening to what was on the ra
dio, or to what wasn’t on the radio,
and realizing there was a serious
need for alternative voices,” he said.
Truax had been impressed by the
diversity of radio in other cities
where he had lived and worked, such
as Dallas, Austin and Los Angeles.
He said he had noticed the presence
of small, college radio stations in
these cities, particularly Los Ange
les, and saw the need for such a sta
tion in B-CS.
Halstead said she became inter
ested in KEOS because of her work
in other radio stations.
“I noticed through my other ra
dio work that there wasn’t a really
big drive for young people,” Hal
stead said. She said her goal is to
provide training in radio for chil
dren, teenagers and college stu
dents, as there aren’t that many op
portunities for young people to
learn these things.
To help young people break into
the “radio biz,” KEOS has formed in
ternship programs with various Uni
versity academic departments.
Wendy Albert and Erica Graff are in
terns working through the Depart
ment of Women’s Studies
Both are senior English majors
at A&M, and both have been given
the title of Director of Women’s Pro
gramming for the station. Eventu
ally, both Albert and Graff will host
a two-hour show focusing on wom
en’s music.
Albert said their goal is to spot
light female artists who you don’t
generally hear on the radio general
ly. Getting specific, Graff said, “Defi
nitely Indigo Girls.”
“There are some other people out
there — Michelle Shocked, Loreena
McKinnet,” Albert said. “There are
some women out there who have real
issues they want to bring out.
Both said: “Nothing like Whitney
Houston.”
Graff did express fears that go
with doing a show dealing only with
women’s music, particularly in a con
servative climate.
“My view of how people view
women’s groups here is that their
first impression is; ‘oh, a women’s
group. Either they’re male-bashing,
or they’re lesbians, or something
like that,’ but I really want this ra
dio show to be for everybody.”
Brad Alexander, who does the
Underground Almanac, the station’s
hip-hop venue, said he came all the
way from St. Louis, Mo., not to at
tend Texas A&M, but because he
needed a change.
“I wanted to take a step back,
take a look at myself,” he said.
Through his show, which airs on
Fridays at 9 p.m., Alexander said he
hopes to teach the public about the
difference between hip-hop and
gangsta rap music.
“Tony, Toni, Tone! and Arrested
Development are great hip-hop
artists,” Alexander said. “People
like that, who have something to
say. It’s OK to bitch, but you’d bet
ter have a reason, something to help
with the problem. If you’re going to
talk about a problem, you should
have a way to fix the problem.”
There was general agreement
among the interns that KEOS will
be good for the radio scene in B-CS.
“Radio here sucks,” Graff said.
“It’s insulting.”
All told, KEOS will strive to be
come the fresh air that it feels B-CS
has craved for so long, mostly be
cause of it’s difference and diversity.
“People need to lighten up,”
Alexander said. “Tradition is fine,
but you should also look to the fu
ture. Don’t be stuck in tradition, be
cause it isn’t coming back.”
“Being different is not bad, it’s
better. If you’ve been somewhere I
haven’t been, then I want to know,
because then I can learn something
from you.”
Eric Truax, station manager of KEOS.
KANM and KEOS
Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion
Station emerges from FCC license struggle
Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion
Robert Anderson, station manager of KANM.
By Jay Knioum
The Battalion
A generous helping of blood, sweat,
tears and a dash of controversy —
that’s the recipe for radio station
KEOS.
The station is the newest addition to the
broadcasting scene in Bryan-College Sta
tion and seeks to provide an alternative
voice for local radio.
The station is young — it only started
broadcasting on March 25 — the station’s
Federal Communications Commission li
cense was issued a year ago.
As they say, getting there is half the
fun.
The official KEOS timeline details the
long road traveled to set up shop, from its
humble begirming as Brazos Educational
Radio, through the numerous problems
with applying for an FCC license, through
struggles to find a location, to the final
product — a 24-hour FM station.
What the timeline does not show is a
past of friction between KEOS and the
Texas A&M cable radio station, KANM.
KANM is a University-sponsored, stu-
dent-run radio station that is based in the
Koldus building. Because KANM has no
FCC license, it cannot broadcast over the
air, and is restricted to transmitting over
cable lines. KANM listeners must hook
their TV cable up to their stereos to get the
signal. Aside from the costs of cable TV,
getting KANM is otherwise free.
KANM is staffed only by A&M stu
dents, and has a University sponsor and
adviser. The station’s format is dictated by
the individual student disc jockey’s tastes.
DJs get complete freedom to play whatever
they wish on the two or three hours allot
ted to their show.
The student station is far from satisfied
with cable status, and has long sought an
FCC license, which would allow KANM to
broadcast over the air and become a fully-
fledged radio station.
Tim Sweeney, the associate director of
the Department of Student Activities, was
the sponsor for KANM through most of the
station’s struggle for a license. He said the
station applied three times for a license,
without success.
“The first time, they had problems with
the engineering survey, because they
(KANM) couldn’t find a tower broadcast lo
cation,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney said the obvious choice for a
tower location would have been Rudder
Tower, but all the antennae already jut
ting from Rudder’s roof for CB radio and
FM transmission would interfere with the
signal.
The second application snag came with
the engineering survey. Sweeney said that
this time, the frequency KANM would
broadcast on would collide with the signal
from a Waco television station.
“I didn’t realize that Channel 6 out of
Waco reaches into north Bryan, but appar
ently it does,” Sweeney said.
Then came the third application.
In order for any application to be con
sidered by the FCC, it must have a station
Board of Directors. Since KANM had no
board of its own, an impasse was reached.
On the one hand, the station could list
then-president Dr. William Mobley, then-
Vice President for Student Services Dr.
John Koldus, and the station’s adviser as
the Board. On the other hand, the entire
Board of Regents could be listed. Legal ad
visers to the station were divided on the
options, so the application was suspended.
Enter Brazos Educational Radio (BER).
This organization was formed by KANM
officers who were afraid of the possibility
that the Board of Regents would become
the station’s board of directors, and there
by gain complete control over the station.
Later, the BER organization made clear
it’s objective to provide more alternative
radio than that currently offered by the B-
CS area.
Beth Kirkpatrick, a graduate botany
student, was the program manager for
KANM at the time of the BER license ap
plication. She said some students who
were against the Board of Regents as di
rectors felt that way out of fear of suppres
sion.
“There were certain students at the sta
tion that felt that, if the Board of Regents
were the directors, then they would take
over and it wouldn’t be a student station so
much,” Kirkpatrick said. “They didn’t want
that to happen. They wanted it to be more
student-oriented, they said, and they
wanted it to be more diverse than the Re
gents would want, and possibly more con
troversial.”
Those certain students were then-
KANM officers Eric Truax, Beth
Weissinger and Janina Hurtado. These of
ficers went on to form BER with the intent
of acquiring an FCC license for a radio sta-
"We've tried to go and talk to
them time after time after time,
but nobody wants to listen ...
They've met us with folded
arms and blank stares."
— Eric Truax,
President and general manager of KEOS
tion independent of A&M’s influence. That
station would one day be called KEOS.
Later, Heidi Halstead and Mark McCann
were added to the BER roster, and
Weissinger left the organization.
The story of the two stations got compli
cated after differences arose between
KANM and BER. KANM is run completely
by students, but BER’s board included a
student and members of the A&M staff,
and the B-CS community.
Weissinger and Hurtado were the two
students on the board.
BER pursued a license application on
its own, but some KANM officers from the
time say they thought the license applica
tion was to be for KANM. Various fund
raising benefits were held, from which
both BER and KANM drew a percentage.
Questions about which group received
or deserved money from fundraising or
other sources have since led to confusion
on both sides.
Sweeney said there is no trackable evi
dence that KANM had given any funds
over to BER.
“There was some solicitation to get
some funds from KANM to pay for some of
the expenses for KEOS, but to my knowl
edge, I’ve never signed off on anything the
whole time I was adviser,” Sweeney said.
“Not a penny was to go to either BER or,
now, KEOS.”
Janina Hurtado, a senior journalism
major who has been involved with KEOS
since its beginning, said, “From what I can
remember, there’s been at least two benefit
concerts,” Hurtado said. “One which
KANM sponsored, and BER also received
some of the funds; but there was also a
BER benefit where KANM received some
of the funds.”
Individuals from both sides agreed that
misinformation and bad attitudes made
the problems between KANM and BER
even worse.
“I tried to give them (BER) chances (to
meet with KANM),” Kirkpatrick said. “I in
vited them to a couple of meetings so they
could present their case to the DJs.”
Kirkpatrick said the meetings were
geared to inform the student workers at
KANM of events, since they had heard
only rumors and stories.
“By then, because of the rumors that
had been flying around, the DJs weren’t
that open to discussion,” Kirkpatrick said.
“The people on the BER board were defen
sive, which is understandable. I mean,
you’re in a room full of 60 people, and
they’re all glaring at you.”
Truax, president and general manager
of KEOS, also said communication was dif
ficult in explaining BER’s actions. He said
attempting to combat the idea that BER
used KANM’s money for their own purpos
es was basically futile.
“I don’t know where this conception
came from.” Truax said. “We’ve tried to
go and talk to them time after time after
time, but nobody wants to listen. No
body listens. I’ve tried calling, we’ve
tried going to meetings, we’ve repeated
ly tried contacting them to set up a dia
logue, but they’re not interested in a di
alogue. They’ve met us with folded arms
and blank stares.”
Even so, the general attitude on both
sides seems to be one of acceptance or res
ignation. Now, both stations are just trying
to take care of business.
Zack Coapland, the current student ac
tivities department adviser to KANM, said
KEOS is still trying to set up some sort of
partnership with the campus station.
“I’ve had a conversation with Eric (Tru
ax) recently, where he wanted to get to
gether and talk about what kind of rela
tionship we could have, and what they
could do for us,” Coapland said. “That offer
has no meaning to us.”
Robert Anderson, the current station
manager of KANM, said the relationship
between the two stations is civil for the
most part.
The differences between the two sta
tions and their goals seem to stand behind
many reasons for the split.
Halstead said KANM’s focus has always
been on students, while KEOS has a much
wdder scope.
“I think KANM really has their own pri
orities in terms of students, and putting
students on the air,” Halstead said. “Our
vision of alternative community radio was
a broader one.”
Halstead said that whereas KANM’s fo
cus is students of A&M, KEOS chooses to
represent the “student of life rather than
the student of A&M.”
Sweeney said the indecision over who to
name as the board of directors was proba
bly to blame as a basis for the problem.
“If everybody would have just calmed
down and if we would have just put the
Board of Regents down as the board of di
rectors on that second application, and
submitted it, I think we would have had it
without a lot of trouble,” Sweeney said.