October 3ft
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O The Battalion
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the real news about KEOS 89.1 FM
'ommunity radio station offers diverse programming, volunteer opportunities
lawyer, Skip
es his
ng how a fine
1 manager’s
that’s the
l e doesn't 1 Column written by John Burton.
nronriatefo the Battalion apologizes for the
ual errors, for not contacting
)S and for any other problems
ditor’s Note: In the Oct. 23 issue
he Battalion, numerous mis-
es were made concerning radio
ions KEOS, KAMUand KANM in
ipropriatei)'."
guaranteed |
ason, thelastl
11 , th ‘ ee hat may have arised from this situ-
nd Angelo; .r. / ,
th relatio: • WP 11, The following is a column
briefly \- \ubmitted by Eric Truax, president
ordered mfflrazos Educational Radio.
h Pat
with Ray Mi
has not k\
lajor League
ong-time residents of Bryan/College
Station may know that the local radio
landscape was changed profoundly
ation objecteith the addition of community-spon-
) it being tfilred public radio station KEOS 89.1 FM
lignated ckj March of 1995, providing an eclectic
uly that it it; ux of music and a variety of voices previ-
■ on Alomat usly unheard on Brazos Valley Radio.
From contemporary folk to Texas blues
ar co-defert > garage rock bands, and from the world-
)b Ryan ha ass news coverage of the BBC Newshour
Jefenseinto > coverage of social justice and grassroots
oppingunif emocracy issues on Democracy Now,
lesign loot EOS is certainly a breath of fresh air.
ome asastuil But what most people do not know is
rom his fafeie circuitous route that KEOS founders
he sameBu tok on the way to the first 1995 broad-
t the ’85 Chif|sj. Sadly, one of those people who know
into oneofcothing of that history is John Burton,
)f all time.Blumnist for The Battalion,
ho as defen;; Burton’s uninformed and fact-free
the Houstorii)inion column on Thursday, October
at offensive Ird regarding KEOS was a particularly
bride, andttalicious and obnoxious diatribe. Why he
to spent a ft dt it necessary to invent his own mythol-
once forth gyjand to label a fledgling, volunteer-run,
ne. It willbe rassroots public radio station as “kom-
as A&M offe:tunist” and “dishonest” is a mystery, but
be backati’s no mystery he knows nothing of the
eek. istory of KEOS. As founder and president
fKEOS, I’d like to clear this up right now.
Chrism
e jourmlm
The most glaring error Burton made
was the consistent mistake of mixing up
KAMU 90.9 FM with KANM Cable Radio.
The facts of KEOS’ origin have very litde to
do with KAMU 90.9 FM, instead involving
KANM Student Cable Radio, which cable-
casts on TCA cable 99.9 FM.
KEOS was formed by a group of Texas
A&M students and staff, including my
self, who wanted an independent, alter
native voice for the entire A&M commu
nity, including non-students. Since we
knew that the planned programming
would be controversial, we specifically
wanted independence from the Texas
A&M administrative structure which had
already made ominous noises about
KANM’s programming on cable.
What do you do if you live in Bryan/Col
lege Station and you want to start a radio
station to broadcast a variety of voices,
ideas and music? What do you do if you
want to hear alternative political voices
and music and ideas from cultures around
the world, including public radio programs
heard in communities around the country
but not in Bryan/College Station? Do you
ask Texas A&M to do this for you?
We decided no, we would do it ourselves,
and in 1991 formed an independent non
profit organization, Brazos Educational Ra
dio, to begin navigating its way through the
Byzantine rules and regulations of the Fed
eral Communications Commission. This
was done openly with the explicit, but unof
ficial, support of KANM Student Radio.
Brazos Educational Radio is, and always
was, a completely separate organization
from KANM, which is a student organiza
tion formed under the rules of Texas A&M.
Our stated mission has always been to
integrate students into the management
and programming of KEOS, but we would
also include A&M faculty and staff, as well as
people who have nothing to do with A&M.
Unfortunately, a couple of years into
the process of forming KEOS, the situa
tion changed. The Department of Stu
dent Activities and some KANM students
began to insist on student exclusivity and
control of the planned station. They
wanted a “traditional” university-owned
and controlled model rather than the in
dependently-owned, KANM-operated
community radio model we originally
envisioned based on the success of simi
lar hybrid stations around the country.
Numerous meetings ensued, with
KEOS offering KANM the opportunity to
manage the station, so long as they ad
hered to the core principles of diversity
and allowed non-student involvement.
For whatever reason, KANM as an organi
zation declined to participate.
So, more than two years into the search
for an inclusive community radio station,
the KEOS board of directors and some
supportive KANM students found them
selves cut off from campus support and
forging new alliances off campus.
KEOS signed in on March of 1995 with
a small but very energetic group of volun
teers based in an old tortilla factory near
downtown Bryan.
From the first day, KEOS has been re
ceived with enthusiasm from Texas A&M
students, faculty and staff as well as nu
merous doctors, lawyers and other pro
fessionals living in Bryan/College Station.
KEOS was recognized by Insite Magazine
in their special Best of Bryan/College Sta
tion issue as one of the best radio stations
in the Brazos Valley.
We’re still growing more than two years
later and very much need your help.
Everybody is a volunteer at KEOS and
we’re always looking for help doing any
thing from answering phones to raising
money to being on the station staff.
Eric Trucuc is volunteer President of Bra
zos Educational Radio, the parent organiza
tion of KEOS. He is also Program Director at
KPFT 90.1 FM in Houston and Texas A&M
Class of1982.
College Station
& Bryan
Community Radio
Your Eclectic Company!
westm
ATMiih
ilm depiction sets setting
change at Texas A&M
or
James
Francis
opinion editor
he
big
buzz
is se-
ester is
e horror
1ml
now
at You
Did Last
Summer It
has all the
elements
if a great Scream ripoff, but
•gllhe title is a bit closer to Texas
Sf A&M than most students and
faculty might think.
This semester is simply
continuing the long-celebrat-
d tradition of absolutely
nothing being done by stu-
ents, faculty and the city of
College Station.
For everyone's reading plea-
■ure, I hereby classify all recent
ingoings under the film title, 1
;ht System^ (now What Hasn’t Been Done
ood Airp
Station^
ate
on the kj
s well.*
view(
erattf
to
n Fall. This film stars Joe Con-
tmction Worker as the man
vho will never complete renova-
ions to the construction prob-
ems on and off campus, Mary
ane Allnighter as the student
ho will never study or go to
lass, but complain when test-
aking time comes around and
ohn C. Administration as the
an whose only purpose in life
s to repeatedly say, “This prob-
em will be corrected, and I, with
whole-
en-
uing actions taking place.”
Think about it. Ross Street
has been a defunct visual locale
or spectators since Sul Ross
aved the first Reveille mascot
rom a dog pound. Everywhere
you turn, orange cones,
tripped blockages and traffic
irectors plague the streets.
It almost sounds like a new
fangled advertisement for
ucky Charms cereal. But be
lieve me, there is nothing
agically delicious about hav-
ng to take five detours in or
der to get from a residence
hall to the Memorial Student
enter Bookstore.
It is only a matter of time
efore some unsuspecting
tudent takes a stroll on Ross
treet and finds him or herself
uddenly being eye-level with
the curb. This is where Joe
Construction Worker comes
into the picture.
There are more than a cou
ple of people who have been
hired to take care of the con
struction troubles surrounding
and branching out from A&M.
One would think that a
hundred or so hired hands
could pull off paving a few
roads. But then again, there’s
nothing like driving home
from campus and seeing a
blinking arrow the size of
Mount Fuji closing in on your
car’s windshield.
Yet with all of this not going
on (nothing being completed
that is), students have other
troubles on their minds — the
main problem being that they
are in school, having to deal
with difficult professors, en
during classes and still find
time to work three jobs in or
der to pay the rent and tuition.
Although it is a noble
cause for students to deal
with all of this in their lives,
somehow classes seem to be
the only things that take the
lower end of the stick. So
what happens next?
Well, Mary Jane Allnighter
decides that after eight hours
of work at the bookstore, five
hours time to balance the
checkbook and cry over immi
nent bankruptcy and two
minutes to eat breakfast,
lunch and dinner in one sit
ting, she decides (at four o’
clock in the morning) that it is
time to study for her final
exam that is scheduled at
eight o’clock.
For all non-mathematics
majors, what Mary Jane is at
tempting to do is study 15
chapters in the span of four
hours — in actuality, only one
because the other three will be
spent falling asleep and waking
up 30 minutes into the exam.
Students really need to learn to
take care of themselves.
This does not only mean
physical fitness, but organiza
tion and time management.
A student cannot expect to
pass any class in college if he
or she never attends the class
or always makes the attempt
to pull the mighty allnighter.
And this leads to the last
character in our film, John C.
Administration. John’s role is
to keep up the positive out
look of the University. This
school is all about Aggie
spirit and celebration of
time-old traditions.
But, as with any other uni
versity in the nation, it has
its problems. These are not
problems that cannot be
corrected, however.
Stands must be made, deci
sions carried out and opposi
tion to whatever situation is
being handled must be ad
dressed and made to know
that everything will work out
for the better.
What seems to happen,
however, is that the stock re
sponse of “This situation will
not continue without investi
gation” is all that we ever hear.
Investigation is all fine and
dandy, but it is my opinion
that John C. Administration
believes stock quotes will sat
isfy students and faculty
enough to the point where no
one will question the outcome
of the situation in question.
John does his job, some
times above and beyond the
call of duty. There exists, how
ever, room for a bit of change.
All kidding aside (but read
between the lines to see the
sincere and honest concern
about everything discussed),
A&M, College Station, students
and faculty have a moral im
perative to improve on certain
aspects of life gone bad, or
slowly diminishing if you will.
Students make the Univer
sity; they even make up the
city. Although College Station
is a unique name, we all know
that this place we love so dear
should be called Texas A&M
University, Texas.
Shape up Aggies (students
and faculty alike). This is a
great place to attend school
and a nice place to live.
The only way to keep up this
grand status is for everyone to
pull together in order to form a
cohesive union of hard, dili
gent and insightful workers.
Mail Call
Generalizations
demean genders
In response to Donny Ferguson’s
Oct. 29 column:
I, for one, am wrenching sick
of being placed beneath the na
tionwide label of the simple-
minded, incompetent, goof-off
of a male that your column
readily addresses.
Not only is it arrogant to
deem your personal opinion to
be “the truth,” but the state
ments that I read seem more
like insults to all men.
First, your sources and proof
are lacking in that they seem to
be based on a mere generaliza
tion — the “Flomer Simpson”
image stained onto American
men of late.
Your examples hardly de
scribed any respectable guy I
have come to know, besides a
couple of lazy slobs not fit to
represent the male population.
I, as well as dozens of guys I
have come across, am fully ca
pable of dressing myself sensi
bly and presentably without
some girl picking my clothes
out for me.
It is also unfair to label any
programming as “male” or “fe
male” shows, whereas you
completely disregard, even
slap in the face, any guy who
watches shows with any real
substance. I don’t know what
you do with your free time, but
I’m not one to sit around
watching sports news all day
while mindlessly fumbling with
a lump of silly putty and nei
ther are many other guys that
spring to mind.
In your column, you have
simply extracted the best in
women, the worst in men, and
stamped the whole collection of
examples as “official.”
You have neglected the
qualities in men that still re
main, or the details about
most men that may just prove
you wrong. I have known some
brilliant guys. I have known
some brilliant girls.
I have also known some of
both sexes that are not the
brightest bulbs on the planet.
I come from a high school
where the top three students
were all guys. I have also been
to commencements where the
valedictorian was female.
I’m not trying to say that any
body is smarter than anybody,
but only that you are not giving
credit where credit is due. Just
consider your main sources:
television watchers and slobs.
In a few cases involving some
guys, you may be right in your
set image, but it is far less than
fair to judge an entire sex by its
worst specimens.
Tony Guerrero
Class of’01
Female character
defiled by column
In response to Michelle Voss’ Oct.
29 column:
There are predators in every
corner of nature. Even though
Voss tempers her column about
predators preying on unsuspect
ing freshman girls, her words still
seem to give the impression that
the problem is much bigger than
it appears.
I also feel her comments are
disrespectful to the women she
references. If we accept Voss’
premise, we must accept the fact
that women are not intelligent,
bright, free thinkers.
My experience has taught me
that women in general are very
strong-willed and determined
people. As a final note, even us
“nice guys” like Taco Bell and
ramen noodles.
Keith Gatewood
Class of’99
The Battalion encourages letters to the ed
itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in
clude the author’s name, class, and phone
number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to edit
letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters
may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc
Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also
be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111
Campus Mail: 1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu
For more details on letter policy, please call
845-3313 and direct your question to the
opinion editor.
James Francis is a junior
English major.
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