I was walking through the Pioneer Student Center before my early class the other day and I stopped to grab a cup of coffee. I noticed that the PSC was playing slow jazz. While I am all for slow jazz, I do not appreciate it in the morning or in my student center. Again later that day while walking back through to grab some lunch I noticed they were playing lame 90’s pop music that sucked when it came out and still sucks today. That then caused me to ask the question, “Why isn’t the student center playing the student radio station WSUP?”

As a member of the WSUP executive staff for the past three semesters, this especially annoys me. WSUP is the oldest college radio station in the UW system, and one of the few that is completely student run. What kind of message does it send, especially to prospective students, when our own PSC does not play a high caliber college radio station such as WSUP? Additionally, the students do help fund our operation so it should only be simple logic that we are played in the center for the students.

Robert Berres, the Station Manager of WSUP Radio, said, there was at one time a contract in place to play WSUP in the PSC during the school week from roughly 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. . This contract itself is frequently broken as there have been many times that I noticed WSUP is not being played during those hours, or at all throughout the whole day.

During the evening, specialty shows are aired at WSUP. These shows play music that is not in our format and are subject to more specific tastes in music. Switching the PSC radio over to different stations during these specialty shows is fine. However on weekdays, from 7 a.m., when the PSC opens, till 6 p.m. when the shows start, WSUP plays the format music of alternative rock and includes news, weather, sports, public affairs and the campus and community calendar. This makes WSUP a great alternative to a satellite radio station that is located out of the state and does not care about our campus or our community.

An argument that has been brought up before on this issue that there are also faculty offices located in the PSC and the staff does not wish to listen to WSUP. I do respect their opinions, but this is the PSC, not a primary office center. I am not demanding to have WSUP played on the intercoms in Gardner Hall or the Ullsvik Hall, because those buildings are for office use and for class use. As current program director at WSUP radio I am well aware of how much our organization supports our campus and community; now it is time that we get that support back in return.