Student Radio - 2NUR FM - MORE LETTERS OF SUPPORT - Background
External Links:
The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia
Professor Godfrey Tanner
IT BEGINS...
NEWCASTLE MUSIC SHOW AXED
Newcastle radio 2NURFM has axed student radio (The Godfrey Tanner
Project) and replaced it with easy listening, saying student radio is
unmarketable. Alas the "Independent Music Show" hosted by Kim Honan,
provided 90 minutes of Australian music a week. If you want to voice
your protest, contact station manager John McGahen at
[email protected] or the station at (02) 4921 5555 (phone),
(02) 4921 7158 (fax) or [email protected]
from www.themusic.com.au
This week sees the beginning of the 'easy-listening friendly' formatting of the 8-11pm spot on 103.7fm. The ridiculous nature is as follows:
Rather than having an announcer present - inserts have been prerecorded and inserted throughout the night's music format. What this means is rather than allowing the many students who have offered to host and coordinate the student radio program - the Manager has put more faith in a computer, once again proving that the shift towards completely automated 'idiot radio' is ever approaching.
Here's a run down of Monday Night's show to give you an idea:
Monday 8 - 9.30 pm 22/10/01
News
Sponsorship 1
Sponsorship 2
Weather
"And now 2NUR plays more variety at nights"
1. Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
2. Unrecognisable song - Sting
3. Unrecognisable song - Garbage
During the Godfrey Tanner Project recess 2NUR plays old and new favourites
4. Unrecognisable song (some commercial female band)
5. Jon English
6. Amanda Marshall
Prerecorded back-announce (8.30pm)
Sponsorship Message
Sponsorship Message
7. dodgy old song with a guy singing
8. some newish commercial chick (Jewell - Hands? )
9. "that's why I'm easy, easy like Sunday morning"
10. Fiona Apple
11. dodgy instrumental song.
"Through the summer 2NUR plays songs old and new on 2NUR 103.7"
12. Tracey Chapmen - Give Me One Reason
13. The Verve - Sonnet
14. The Corrs
Prerecorded back-announce (9.07pm)
15. Powderfinger - My Kinda Scene
Sponsorship Message
Sponsorship Message
Sponsorship Message
16. Wendy Matthews - The Day You Went Away.
17. some dodgy commercial male band
18. REM - Lotus
"during the Godfrey Tanner Project recess 2NUR plays old and new music"
19. Tim Finn ?
The students of Newcastle University have a long history as members of 2NUR FM - Newcastle University Radio. But this history has been totally ignored by the station's General Manager John McGahen, who has recently declared the last remaining student radio program (The Godfrey Tanner Project) unmarketable, and therefore not valuable enough to keep on air.
'The Godfrey Tanner Project' has been replaced with formatted music programming, similar to that in day time - EASY LISTENING.
While this will ensure a consistent sound for 2NUR FM, it brings an end to the already waning student involvement at the station.
The question to ask now is - what is the function of the University based radio station - and why have these decisions been made?
To put it simply: THE BOTTOM LINE.
The University has lost all interest in having a fully functioning radio station, as it costs them almost $1mil p/a to run. To combat this problem, they enlisted a former commercial manager, John McGahen of 2KO and NXFM (both OZstereo affiliates), to bring the dollars back in. His first decision: adopt a commercial format. Try to create a sound for the station.
In the 1999 shake up - the University's attempt to close the station down - over 1000 members of the community made their way to Newcastle University, voicing their opposition to the decision, thereby keeping the station on air. An advisory committee was set up, and it was proposed that the Radio station target a "younger more educated audience". The new station manager ignored this, and implemented a music format specifically targetting a 45+ audience - with little to no educational content.
And there was born the new call sign:
2NUR FM - For all your EEEEEEEEAAAASY Listening Favourites.
The University, though culprit in this decay, still sponsors 2NUR to the tune of $50,000 p/a to keep students involved and educated in radio practices. The station manager feels that basic operations such as filing and data entry are adequate services to provide in exchange for this sponsorship.
The students involved in the program have been on air for over 18 months, gaining experience in all areas, and receiving little criticism from the Program Manager or Station Manager. The station Manager has waited this full time before considering the shows quality - finally declaring it 'lacking in polish'. The solution of which he sees is putting it into recess for 4 months until February next year.
The students want to know the following: HOW will the program benefit from this recess? Will the current audience be alienated by this change in programming? Won't the new audience acquired over the next 4 months be alienated with the return of student radio?
The Station Manager has confirmed that Student Radio will return in it's totality, at the same time - 8pm till 11pm weeknights, at the beginning of 2002. He has not proposed how this will happen - nor has he considered what the effect of taking students off air will have on their already 'lacking in polish' presentation skills. The truth of the matter is - John McGahen has no intention of allowing "REAL" student radio to come into place, but rather a psuedo-easy-listening-friendly format, with 'artist bios' and lots of music to keep the easy listeners from tuning off the 103.7 FM frequenty.
This site will be regularly updated to keep you fully informed.
To voice your concerns, please contact:
John McGahen : [email protected]
2NURFM: [email protected]
or phone:
(02) 4921 5555 (phone)
(02) 4921 7158 (fax)