WREK-FM faces proposal to go commercial

Jeremy Varner knows: Money changes everything.

??
So when he recently sat down with Georgia Tech administrators and students to hear a proposal to make Georgia Tech’s student-run WREK-FM (91.1) a commercial station, he knew he was looking at a possible sea-change in the station’s basic mission. “People will most likely lose sight that we’re trying to educate listeners if we’re in it for a profit,” says Varner, a civil engineering major who doubles as general manager of WREK.

??
The school’s athletic association would like to get more coverage of sports, particularly Yellow Jacket football games. Tech games currently air on WQXI-AM (790), which has to power down at night according to Federal Communications Commission regulations and can’t reach the suburbs. And if WREK was on a commercial band, it would mean enormous advertising dollars for the university if it broadcast Tech football and basketball.

??
“Right now any of our discussions are very, very preliminary,” says Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich. “One of the options we want to evaluate is whether the station has the ability to be student-run and utilize some of its time for athletic events in more of a traditional way.”

??
Varner also says Georgia Public Broadcasting has asked the station if it could lease airtime to broadcast NPR programming during morning and evening drive time. Though NPR is already broadcast on WABE-FM (90.1), the station primarily broadcasts classical music, not public affairs.

??
The proposals raise the question of whether WREK should retain its traditional role as a learning lab for college students or evolve into a money-making enterprise for the university. Like most college radio stations, WREK is student-run, housed in the school’s student center. It operates on a $50,000 budget that’s entirely funded through student activity fees, and has the reputation as a haven for eclectic music that you can’t hear anywhere else.

??
“If you want to have your horizons broadened and listen to a variety of music, WREK is a great thing, a cultural transmitter to the city,” says Hans Klein, the former faculty advisor for the station. “But from a business perspective, it’s something that could generate lots of money.”

??
Varner says administrators might hire a radio consultant to evaluate the feasibility of going commercial. But Tech students aren’t happy with the idea, and the school newspaper, the Technique, has already editorialized against the switch.

??
“Any move that takes control of Tech’s station and its programming out of the students’ hands should be firmly opposed,” the paper said. “WREK is first and foremost a student station, and should remain one.”