2008 Woodie Awards
Lack of appreciation, funding, silenced radio
Chris Garza
Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: Features
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KBCC radio started dying in 1995 and had completely been removed from the BC curriculum by 1998. A mixture of depleted funds and low enrollment in the department were the main reasons as to why a campus radio station is no longer in session.
"As my memory serves me correctly, those years were fairly lean for the college," said then Dean of Instruction David Rosales, "it was mostly a time that if hiring was done, it was done on a replacement basis."
With the departure of full-time advisor Ron Dethlefson in 1986, there was not enough funding to hire a full-time adviser. When Dethlefson left KBCC in 1986, he retired from advising the radio station, but not from teaching at BC.
Rosales continued, "Since Dethlefson did not retire but transferred, we did not replace one-with-one."
The school was able to hire an adviser on a part-time basis, but part-time was not enough time to deal with the responsibilities of running a radio station.
The students who were still involved with the radio station were having trouble maintaining the station.
"I got screwed because I was covering a lot of shifts," said music director from '91-'93 George McArthur. "I was missing classes because I was covering a shift and people weren't doing their slots. People stopped caring."
McArthur Continued, "It's kind of dumb when everyone wanted (the station) dead but you're too stupid to realize it. Over the years student interest dwindled and at one point we realized that the students weren't getting paid anymore money at a radio station if they went through our program or if they just walked off the street," said former President of BC from 1983-1997 Rick Wright.
The students may not get paid anymore money from going through the program at BC, but the knowledge and experience they received was priceless.
"The degree itself is the most useless thing in the world," said McArthur, "If you go to a radio station and say 'hey I got a communications degree, they are going to say 'Hey, way to go. Show me how you use it." He went on, "that piece of paper itself doesn't get me the job. But the knowledge that I received does."
"As my memory serves me correctly, those years were fairly lean for the college," said then Dean of Instruction David Rosales, "it was mostly a time that if hiring was done, it was done on a replacement basis."
With the departure of full-time advisor Ron Dethlefson in 1986, there was not enough funding to hire a full-time adviser. When Dethlefson left KBCC in 1986, he retired from advising the radio station, but not from teaching at BC.
Rosales continued, "Since Dethlefson did not retire but transferred, we did not replace one-with-one."
The school was able to hire an adviser on a part-time basis, but part-time was not enough time to deal with the responsibilities of running a radio station.
The students who were still involved with the radio station were having trouble maintaining the station.
"I got screwed because I was covering a lot of shifts," said music director from '91-'93 George McArthur. "I was missing classes because I was covering a shift and people weren't doing their slots. People stopped caring."
McArthur Continued, "It's kind of dumb when everyone wanted (the station) dead but you're too stupid to realize it. Over the years student interest dwindled and at one point we realized that the students weren't getting paid anymore money at a radio station if they went through our program or if they just walked off the street," said former President of BC from 1983-1997 Rick Wright.
The students may not get paid anymore money from going through the program at BC, but the knowledge and experience they received was priceless.
"The degree itself is the most useless thing in the world," said McArthur, "If you go to a radio station and say 'hey I got a communications degree, they are going to say 'Hey, way to go. Show me how you use it." He went on, "that piece of paper itself doesn't get me the job. But the knowledge that I received does."
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