Column: KCOU fails to provide desired musical selection
Published Nov. 30, 2007
Hey KCOU, ESPN called, and they want their sixth string back.
How do you start your day? I generally wake up to KCOU/88.1 FM, MU's favorite (and only) student radio station. Why KCOU? Generally, it's because I enjoy hearing new music and getting a decent variety without thinking too hard. But this year, all I keep hearing is random students talking about what they would do if they were coaching the Rams this season or something half-baked about politics. So, I roll my eyes, let out a sigh and move elsewhere on the dial where musical greats such as Nickelback and Britney are waiting.
Anyone else who tunes in to KCOU will find themselves in the same position — hearing way more talk than music during the day. Thanks to the increased amount of sports talk shows, a daily morning show and some disc jockeys who prattle on about their depressing lives, KCOU has sacrificed music for inane babble that rivals Bill O'Reilly in its stupidity.
Where has the music gone? Am I supposed to tune in during odd hours of the day to get my fix? Has the management of KCOU been informed of some overwhelming demand by students for more talk radio because of some survey that has shown today's students are tired of music and would rather hear about what the morning DJ did this weekend? I doubt it.
KCOU used to be a refreshing break from bastardized corporate radio such as Clear Channel.
KCOU should be the premier outlet in Columbia for new music and not the premier stomping grounds for tomorrow's morning DJs. Playing a wide variety of music on stations such as KCOU is a longtime tradition of just about every big (and small) college town across the country.
Without college radio, musical acts including R.E.M., Modest Mouse, Wilco, Mos Def and pretty much any other non-major label artist might never have gotten the exposure they did.
Should KCOU's role in this storied tradition come to an end? The answer from some of those in charge seems to be "yes," as they want to effectively gut this town's college radio station in favor of pursuing more shortsighted goals such as playing "Who wants to be Marv Albert today?"
Although this abundance of talking, whether it be sports or otherwise, could be "music" to their ears, it seems to be driving students away from this once proud station and back to their iPods.
If the problem isn't clear, then perhaps we should apply this approach to something more familiar: What if The Blue Note started doing trade shows and political book-signings instead of musical acts? And how about if Ragtag Cinemacafé stopped showing independent movies and replaced them with screenings of "Kazaam"? (At least Shaq is a better actor than Kevin Bacon.)
Don't get me wrong; I enjoy hearing certain kinds of talk radio, including both sports and politics. Hell, our football team is No. 1 in the country, and I would love to hear more analysis of that.
But I don't think broadcasting each and every student's opinion on anything he or she cares to discuss is as important, especially when the sports talk runs more to pro-sports than MU. It is a disservice to KCOU's listeners to expect us to listen to these programs — let alone enjoy them.
KCOU is supposed to be a music station, but at most times these days, you will catch anything but.
avtty5@mizzou.edu