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By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
Across the country the music played
on college radio stations sounds differ
ent from music played on commercial
radio.
- The 200 to 300 college stations in the
United States play what's known as an
alternative music format. "Alterna
tive" is a catch-all term.
According to music charts in the
Gavin Report, formats at alternative
stat ions are most ly dominat ed by punk,
new wave and their direct descend
ants, but they also play rockabilly, rap,
reggae, heavy metal, local music and
some music so experimental it doesn't
have a name yet.
The Gavin Report is a multi-trade
music publication covering six differ
ent formats in pop music.
Peter Standish is the report's alter
native music editor. Standish said alter
native music strives to meet the com
munity's need for new and adventurous
sounds, a need that commercial FM
radio used to meet.
Standish said it is impossible for a
college station with a tiny budget, a
limited broadcast area and amateur
disc jockeys to compete head to head
with commercial radio.
People who want to start a new soft
drink company, he said, wouldn't want
their product to taste like Coca-Cola.
They would try to come up with some-
thing different. Similarly, alternative
radio has come to be the almost exclu
sive territory of college radio, he said.
Unlike most college stations, UNL's
radio station, KRNU (90.3 FM), does
nol. play alternative music. KRNU's
fo-mat is drawn from the national top
40 charts.
According to Larry Walklin, chair
man of UNL's broadcasting department,
KRNU's official purpose is twofold to
proide an opportunity for UNL stu
dents to acquire broadcast experience
and to provide programming not oth
erwise available in Lincoln.
Walklin said KRNU fulfills its
second purpose through a variety of
i
oisiiesiii;
It has always been my contention
that the most comfortable human
beings do not realize they have toes.
Remembering that there are tiny
' appendages somewhere at the end
of your body is usually a sign that
things are not going well.
The past week and a half I sat
through my classes realizing I have
toes, because UNL classrooms are
cold.
I think most of us can relate to
this toe theory. Think of last sum
mer. Do you remember whether you
had toes? Probably not. You dt pend
on them for balance, but you proba
bly don't think about them.
t'E 1 Bill
Think of the last time you stub
bed your toe when you got upx to
change the TV channel. Do you
remember hopping around on one
foot, swearing out loud if you could,
"and wondering if life would ever be
worth living again?
At that particular moment, you
were painfully aware that you had
toes.
Ingrown toenails often make
people aware they have toes
sometimes for days at a time.
And anyone who has ever broken
a toe knows how painful that can be.
Most hospitals say they can't really
do anything if you break a toe. Casts
aren't mads that small. They just
till yea net to walk on it eventu-
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With eyes on the clock, Scott Thien follows the tightly scheduled KRNU radio program log. Thien alscsakes some of
his own program selections.
news and sports coverage, including music format. Besides its new music programming, said, many record companies will
live broadcasts of the Legislature and At 7200 watts, WNUR is the nation's McLaughlin said, WNUR also has jazz, donate new and experimental music to
NURnard nf Regents' meetings. KRNU most Dowerful college radio station, dance, free-form, folk, reggae, rhythm alternative stations.
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Walklin said.
When asked why KRNU does not go
to an alternative format, Walklin said
KRNU's DJs are playing the kind of
music they'll probably be playing once
they enter the job market.
Standish said he thinks college stu
dents have little difficulty moving from
alternative to commercial radio.
Kathleen McLaughlin is the program
director for WNUR, at Northwestern
University. Like KRNU, McLaughlin
said, WNUR's purpose is to provide
programming otherwise unavailable in
the Chicago area. However, WNUR ap
plies this principle primarily to its
People with broken toes often
ask themselves why they even have
toes in the first place.
Toes were a major point in the
evolution vs. creation argument.
Would any god in hisher right
mind have invented tiny appendages
whose sole purpose is to only be
noticeable when causing pain of
some sort? That's the evolution
argument.
Creationists say toes exist bev
cause some girls have cute toes.
They get married and quickly spread
more little Christians around, or
something like that. Guys have toes
because it would be kind of silly to
have put toes on girls and not guys.
Or did I get creation confused with
evolution?
Anyway, I think I've proven my
contention that life is more accep
table when you are unaware of your
toes.
Sitting in class Tuesday I felt this
wiggling sensation dotm around my
feet, I realized I was rubbing my
toes against my socks because they
were cold.
This happened during classes in
both Andrews and Burnett halls.
One thing I noticed about toes is
that when they are demanding atten
tion, almost everything else in life
takes a back seat.
In. college class, concentration is
one ofthe most important aspects
of learning, since there is so much
material to assimilate. Many things
can break or impede this concen
tration , a boring professor, a
wink, a nap or a hangover and
cause a tragedy in our American
educational system. One thing that
should net break this concentration
is a eeli eLiscrocn. Students don't
(
1
Musically, it Dlavs one of the nation's
most radical alternative formats. Fifty
m 1 i -
percent of WNUR's playlist is less than is more expensive than ja. mainstream budgets with an annual tund-raiser.
two months old. If a given song is format would be, primarily because of McLaughlin said WNUR DJs have no
picked up by any other local stations, the large number of import albums the difficulty finding employment in com-
WNUR drops it, McLaughlin said. station buys. However, McLaughlin mercial radio.
Work critiques social issues
By Jennifer Welton
Staff Reporter
Marbles are filled with many colors
and shades, yet all are the same size.
Like marbles, the human species con
sists of many colors and attitudes, yet
all humans share the same biological
classification.
deserve this,
Tuesday it was 11 degrees out
side. After class I went outside to
warm my toes.
As you can see, everything comes
back to toes.
Many problems in the universe
can't be solved easily. This nuclear
war thing, for example. I say, how
are we going to know if we can sur
vive a nuclear war, unless we try it?
Or this abortion thing. I say, wait
until they're 3 years old and kill all
the ugly ones. Still, there are people
that would argue with these posi
tions. This cold toe syndrome does have
a solution.
Turn up the heat. There is no way
to justify students at an institution
of higher learning sitting around in
cold classrooms.
I don't want to hear about cutting
down the heating bills, or the uni
versity's budget woes, the Lied Cen
ter for the Performing Arts, or the
departmental cuts, or the rising
costs of education.
I want to forget I have toes.
I want to sit in class and concen
trate on the coercion tactics of the
Hamadryas baboons or the prob
lems with Syd Field's script-writing
formulas.
Final notes:
This is not just my complaint.
Several people have complained to
me about this, as if I look like a
thermostat. Also, I've noticed sev
era! people bundled up to keep
warm in classrooms. Have you ever
tried to fill in one of those computer-graded
exams while wearing
mittens?
. Scziscf you in your infinite wis
i .dcn v.rA &:y why net put on two
and blues and local shows.
McLaughlin said WNUR's format
Songwriter Pete Shelley put it simply:
"And you're homosapien too!"
Art Review
Visiting artist Margo Humphrey lec-
tures today at 7 p.m. in the Sheldon Art
Gallery Auditorium.
pairs of socks? I tried that. When
your toes get warm they start to
sweat, then you go outside and they
get cold. So you end up with a sock
full of cold sweat. Have you ever
tried walking around with a sock
full of cold sweat? It's not great.
That's all I have to say. I'm think-
w ff 1) n
i
Andrea Hca aily Neoraskan
In addition to money received from
the university, WNUR supplements its
After viewing Humphrey's lithograph,
"The Marble Box," I see the social
implications the artist is making on
life and its many prejudices.
The piece has underlying symbolism
and sexual connotations. There is an
allegory in the lithograph pointing out
See ART on 1 3
. ing about walking over to Chancel
lor Martin Massengale's office now
and seeing if it is cold in there. If it
is, maybe he will want it a little
warmer, too.
If it's warm, I'm going to wonder
just where student's toes rank in
the hierarchy of this university.