Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Cubs Combat Casino
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
So, since yesterday when we posted the literal scoop about WLUW's potential future as an independent, community, listener-sponsored radio station, we've gotten some more information.
First and foremost, we got an email from Craig Kois, who relayed the following to us:
"Jocelyn...Thanks for your detailing of Monday's meeting. I have forwarded the link to our staff since I was not able to take notes that evening as planned.
I do want to clarify that I am not okay with not being here for this final year of delivering our
community-based programming because I am still committed to our audience and to the current mission of WLUW. The idea that Shawn and I will be gone did not come from us nor from WBEZ.
Again, thanks for being at the Monday meeting and for spreading the word about what is going on."
Craig Kois / WLUW
Second we found out that our good pal, Scott Smith, at Time Out Chicago wrote a piece, and he got the bigwigs to talk to him. Nice work, Scott.
Thirdly, we got an email from Robert Feder, lamenting the fact we didn't link to him (or use his first name). The first name thing should be a compliment -- we figured if you're into radio goings on, you know who Feder is. However, the lack of link was an oversight on our part, not an intentional slight.
Lastly, it has been noted several times in the comments of the original article that the students of WNUR are not required to participate in the radio station as part of their studies at Medill. Point noted.
So, that's all the news that's fit to print ... for now.
Image by kid static
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
All I can say is this - please, please, please do nt revert back to the pre-Halloween 1997 format. The last thing Chicago needs is another radio station with shooting-laser sounds during their station IDs and crappy top 40 dance music.
I hope that the management of the university recognizes that, in a world where journalism is increasingly focused on the hyper-local, a station that speaks to a multitude of diverse, small communities is the best training ground.
-justin government (former WLUW DJ, friday night punk show)
So Shawn and Craig are both leaving and it's entirely Loyola's decision. I think that pretty much blows a hole in some of the previous commentors, who basically said "well, maybe this isn't so bad... maybe Loyola will more or less continue the current format, etc., etc." If they wanted to continue the current format, wouldn't it make sense to keep Shawn and Craig around? Keep in mind that those two were at the station before WBEZ took over. They were taken on as employees by WBEZ five years ago, so it's not like they don't have ties to the University or are strictly WBEZ employees.
I also take exception to the timeout article, where Loyola speculates that WBEZ leaked the story to Feder. It makes no sense for WBEZ to leak a story to the media BEFORE telling their staff what was going on? Just doesn't make sense.
After looking at the "WLUW update and FAQ page" that Loyola posted on the web, which the Timeout Chicago article linked to, I fear the worst. The update had a defensive, snide and petty tone, and the e-mail address that was provided for questions and comments is bogus. I have tried to send an e-mail to that address twice and it has come back as undeliverable both times.
I used to work with a woman whose husband was on the faculty at Loyola - he served on an advisory committee concerning WLUW during the period it was managed by WBEZ. The woman and her husband were new to Chicago and didn't know the background of the situation. She kept trying to convince me that the station wasn't serving the students. She and her husband had bought whatever Loyola was telling them about the situation. I really think Loyola has it in for the station in its current format. I want to believe otherwise and I will do my part to let Loyola know that they should maintain the station's programming and format until they make their decision known, but I fear that they have made up their minds already and that their decision will not be good for the station or its listeners.
ouch. sounds like your article was the journalistic equivalent of swiss cheese. keep up the good work chicagoist!
Just to clarify I was talking about the upate Loyola provided being snide, petty and defensive, not the update by Jocelyn above.
Hi, I am Jenny, host of WOW on WLUW. I am also a Loyola grad who became involved in the station as a student, and stayed involved after I graduated many years ago. I have been through several turnovers with WLUW in the last eleven years, so I suspect a widescale drastic change may be unlikely (who knows, I could be wrong). However, the firing of Shawn Campbell and Craig Kois, two people who have run the station during and prior to BEZ’s tenure, is extremely concerning. If Loyola wants students to learn from the best, Shawn and Craig are the best - no one cares more about community radio than they do, and they are a loss to us volunteers personally and professionally as well as any future students who will never have the chance to learn from them.
Many of my fellow volunteers have vowed to continue doing what we do for the next nine months we are under BEZ’s management - the consensous is that we owe it to our listeners as well as to Craig and Shawn’s legacy. If you want to support us, please continue to listen to WLUW’s programming - we’re sticking it out for you. If you’d like to express your concerns to Loyola administration, I encourage you to be polite and emphasize the benefits of a station that showcases diverse music, news and discussion that can’t be heard anywhere else on the radio - WLUW’s mission does embody Jesuit values of social justic and service learning, so we believe we are only an asset to the university. Contact info is at www.luc.edu
Finally, there is a new bill which would allow for low power FM radio stations in urban areas. If this bill passes, there would be the opportunity to create a very similar radio station to WLUW, and WLUW volunteers are already organizing towards this goal. I encourage you to sign the petition at http://www.freepress.net/lpfm/