To the Editor:
I am writing in response to William von Achen’s letter ("WRPI outage triggers anger") from February 7. I can perhaps offer a different perspective on what might actually be the source of Mr. von Achen’s frustration with the radio station and his perceptions of WRPI’s commitment to RPI sports.
WRPI is a Union-funded and student-run club and is unique to some extent in that we serve not only the RPI student body, but a 70-mile radius of listeners as well. We are an all-volunteer station, which means that everything at the station is done because our members—students, community members, and alumni—are genuinely interested in what takes place at WRPI. Those who have listened to our programming may find it refreshingly diverse, or perhaps maddeningly inconsistent. WRPI allows for social discourse, non-format music radio, and coverage of events that may interest our listenership, including sports programming.
Among my various and sundry tasks as WRPI member at large is the organization of radio engineer training classes. These allow me a unique view of where station members wish to take WRPI—each new trainee describes their interests in radio in the first training class. And I can say that not a single one of these individuals in any of the last 16 sessions of our training course (nor in the year prior, when I assisted with but was not responsible for the classes) has expressed any interest in bringing RPI hockey to our audience. This despite the efforts of the Executive Committee and sports announcers to encourage students to help broadcast home and away games. For those following the WRPI sports story, you should know that not a single member of the WRPI sports department has met our clearance or membership requirements (see The Polytechnic from November 8)—this, in short, means that none of our station members are interested in making a commitment to sports broadcasting. In a station maintained on a daily basis by the efforts of a volunteer membership, such a clear definition of the station’s priorities is difficult to ignore.
That said, it is also clear the extent to which students and alumni appreciate coverage of these games—although the outage on the January 26th solicited zero comments from listeners to WRPI’s program director and acting sports director (excluding one forwarded "anonymous" comment from a participant in the WRPI sports department), and the incident went without comment on the RPI sports e-mail list. We have no intention of discontinuing sports broadcasts, but are actively evaluating what broadcasts might meet the needs of RPI sports fans, station members, and students willing to commit their volunteer efforts to broadcasting these events.
I will add that I find roundabout communications with anonymous "insider sources" a distasteful, if not completely irresponsible, way to accomplish an open discussion in any forum. The WRPI Executive Committee has open public meetings each Monday night, and can be reached at wrpi-ecomm@rpi.edu. Those interested in sports broadcasting should contact WRPI’s program director at wrpi-pd@rpi.edu, and any interested parties can discuss these issues or register for our training course with me by e-mail at wrpi-mal@rpi.edu, by phone at 276-4703, or visit during my office hours at the station Wednesdays from 12-2 pm.
Matt Waggner
EMAC ’02
