Many colleges have radio stations that broadcast freely and independently from their campus (KZUU and KUGR, for example) and reach into their local communities.
As colleges tend to be considered to be the intellectual centers of their respective areas, does the station then have the responsibility to serve their community with public affairs and intellectually stimulating programming?
The thought came about after a lengthy discussion of KUGR’s community responsibility in the news field. Should we be attempting to provide people with authoritative information and commentary on the world around them? Or should we simply blast rock out of the speakers 24 hours a day?
We can, and must, do both because few others will.
Programming with local origination has dwindled with the deregulation of the radio industry. More and more stations are being consolidated under one roof. Some markets that serve thousands of people have only one local provider of broadcast news. Take, for example, Pullman. How many radio news outlets are there in the Palouse?
For that matter, how many news outlets are there period? There aren’t many sources for news or opinions. If the one news group in Pullman forgets to go to an ASWSU meeting, it is as if the event never took place. We have two fully functional radio stations on our campus. If both created independent news agencies with a hyper-local focus, now we have competition. Many news outlets compete for the best, most accurate coverage.
News programming can turn into the on-air coffee shop of local politics. Politicians and activists can sit side-by-side and debate the issues openly, mainly because KUGR has no advertising or network break to take.
Talent can be found by someone who understands the issues and can craft a dynamic dialogue. Imagine NPR, but by college students. With the resources available to college stations, there is no excuse for not trying to contribute to your community. In fact, I would argue such stations have a responsibility to do that.
The airwaves are a public trust, so nobody has a right to broadcast but the privileged. To take an air-time and churn out music and shoddy rip-and-read news programming is not fulfilling our responsibility.
Our responsibility is to the truth and to hold those who would twist it accountable.
Perhaps Pullman can truly live in the glow of Edward R. Murrow someday.