Document text
University FM
and the Arts
In our modern world of technological advances, FM
radio is more or less taken for granted, Color television
is the new wonder boy of everyday living, relegating
radio to an incidental experience, a pastime, a media to
keep one company while doing the laundry, waiting on
the dentist, shopping at the local super market, or
driving to work. But in the world of the fine arts FM
can serve a higher educational purpose as a valuable
addition to those various media which contribute to.
our artistic environment. FM is a welcome solice from
the “come on” disc jockey, the hard sell and endless
commercials, the give-aways, the gimmicks, and the
echo chambers. FM has long been known for its
abundance of classical and semi-classical music and for
its interesting and educational discussions and seminars,
often concerning the arts and artists.
It is such a qualitative position in which the Univer-
sity of Kentucky’s FM station WBKY, 91.3 me, finds
itself. According to station manager Don Wheeler,
WBKY’s purposes are to function as an extension of
the University and as a service to the community. Thus
in its programming it is a voice that speaks in a broad
sense of the educational goals of the University. It is
an incidental educational experience in the best sense,
although it has no direct educational goals.
Within the past few years WBKY has progressed from
a student operated, student programmed station to a
staff run organization, in which the skills of outstanding
students are utilized under the guidance of the perma-
nent staff. In the new administrative structure the
station is under the auspices of the School of Communi-
cations and its subsidiary program, Media Services.
Approximately two-thirds of its air time features classi-
cal music, and it hosts many programs of the round-
table, discussion-seminar type. Its library contains over
3,000 records of music of all kinds.
The future of WBKY is bright, and all the fine arts
are due to receive their fair share of time. Opportunities
for the “experts” concerned with theatre productions,
art exhibitions and musical performances at the Univer-
sity and in the community to air their viewpoints will
be made possible by increased programming of the
discussion programs. Wheeler indicates that this might
be done at the expense of some of the classical music
time now scheduled, but should enhance rather than
detract from the total programming.
Station manager Don Wheeler (standing) and announcer
Bob Cooke in the control room of the University FM
station WBKY.
As a representative of the University, the station
hopes to depend more on the various departments for
the development of and comment on their subject areas.
This kind of department extension has far reaching
possibilities for the arts and calls for more faculty and
student participation.
One result of future planning might be a resurrection
of the live radio drama, produced by a local community
and/or campus group. An adaptable script, affected by
a local writer, a good production crew and three or four
actors would bring an interesting highlight to weekly
programming.
Hopefully, the future also brings improved technical
capacity. At the present time the WBKY signal carries
a maximum of 22 miles, the weakest in the area. The
decisions to “go stereo”, to broadcast more hours daily,
and to increase the power to put the signal into cities as
far away as Louisville rests in the hands of University
who appreciate WBKY’s contribution to the
see this as a wise and beneficial move—what
better representative of the University and its programs
than one of its outstanding public voices. 2