For your listening pleasures

Unbeknownst to many students, the second floor of UT’s Student Union houses an audio sanctuary. It is a room of purpose and intriguing presence and a hot bed to music lovers and news seekers alike: the university radio station.

Entering the station of WXUT 88.3 F.M., nostalgic euphoria is the first impression. The CD-tiled corridor opens up to a work space for a dedicated group of young and cultured dreamers. Novelty signs, bumper stickers and promotional posters decorate the walls and, in the corner, a rabbit-ears television set and Super Nintendo signal a work place induced for relaxation.

Amongst a couple of Dell desktops and lounge couches is where you’ll most likely find the station’s general manager, Allison Dow, a senior majoring in an individualized program. While Dow and her staff take the work they do extremely seriously, sadly, much of the country, and the UT campus does not.

“College radio has always been viewed as ‘little kids with crayons’ instead of architects building a house,” Dow said. “But they [the public] don’t realize that soon we’ll be building the houses.”

Over the years, college radio, and radio in general, has taken a back seat to the abundance of newer technologies available, including iPods, cell phones, the Internet, file-sharing networks and satellite radio. Though statistics on college radio in general are scarce — WXUT did not have any figures on the number of listeners who listen to the station — studies show young people are listening to radio less and less. According to a recent New York Times article, the amount of time 18- to 24-year-olds spent listening to radio from 1998 to 2007 dropped by 18 percent.

The station is run entirely by students with some paid staff and other members who are trained to operate the equipment. Most students who work at the station said they are doing it for the experience or to boost their resumes.

While the listeners may not be tuning in, Dow said over the decades, college radio has carved out its own niche in the entertainment field and offers students a unique perspective. According to Dow, college radio is the one independent voice in a field of commercialism and top 40 rotations. Though regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, Dow said college radio is the choice of the musically experimenting listener with an ear open to more variety and less mainstream regulation.

“Everybody is constantly in search of new music,” Dow said. “Our goal is to find the coolest, most cutting-edge music.”

With a broadcast radius of about 10 miles, WXUT can best be described as a hodgepodge of music and programming, playing everything from rap and pop to hard rock and local artists. Some of the station’s most popular programs include everything from “House of Hate,” a heavy metal show and the stations longest-running program, and “Capture Suplex Radio,” a pro-wrestling forum.

Despite its diverse programming and dedicated listeners, WXUT has not been immune to the budget cuts happening that are shaking-up the radio industry. UT, which finances the station, made budget cuts resulting in the lay off of a station engineer. Dow said she sees the move to cut jobs on radio as a possible “non-priority move” — not necessarily a gang up, but a “disregard to radio,” she said.  

“One of the reasons we’re not viewed or respected enough is because we’re an independent station run by students,” Dow said.

While angered by some of the budget cuts, the staff at WXUT has not been deterred by the shake-ups. According to Dow, the industry is still alive and well, especially in the underground music scene. Dow said record labels still check-in on a regular basis to keep tabs on what’s popular and who is being played.

Despite the popularity of wireless media devices, Dow said there will always be a need for radio.

“[People] with an opinion will always get attention,” she said.

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