DAILY LOBO new mexico
Lakewood see page 7
wednesday
September 28, 2011
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
KUNM celebrates 45 years of eclectic programming by Luke Holmen holmen@unm.edu
KUNM celebrates its 45th birthday this fall. The radio station first broadcast within a three-mile radius from a 10watt transmitter on top of the SUB in 1966. Today, the station’s alternative news and music reaches half of the state. According to Arbitron Radio Ratings and Media Research, KUNM now has a listenership of roughly 115,000.
“If you want to get a well-rounded musical education, you listen to KUNM” ~Mary Oishi KUNM Development director Mary Oishi, who also DJs blues sessions, said KUNM is on the cutting edge of music. “If you want to get a well-rounded musical education, you listen to KUNM,” she said. “If you want to listen to the same 10 songs over and over again you can turn on any other station.” Since the 60s KUNM has been an important voice on campus, said Richard Towne, KUNM’s general manager. The station reported alternative music and viewpoints throughout the 60s and 70s before listeners had the option to search the Internet for viewpoints and content that weren’t available through major outlets, he said. The station broadcast live on NPR during a Vietnam war protest following the Kent State shooting in Ohio. UNM students locked themselves in the SUB to protest Navy ROTC training drills.
Zach Gould / Daily Lobo Elaine Baumgartel has been working at KUNM for the past eight years. She has worked several jobs at the station, from phone operator to radio host. Baumgartel currently hosts the Call-in Show and the local Morning Edition. KUNM marks its 45th anniversary this month. KUNM houses the second-largest collection of vinyl in the Southwest, as well as racks of CDs of local and newly released music across all genres. Towne said KUNM is unique because it is not controlled by national conglomerates or music industry interests. “It’s an interesting hybrid of a lot of things,” he said. “We play everything from hip-hop to metal to classical, and we are unusual in that we have
both very good news and very good music where most stations focus on one or the other. We don’t even have set playlists.” Towne said KUNM receives very little funding from the University and student fees and has to raise a lot of its own budget. “We have to raise $1.8 million a year to cover all of our expenses,” he said. “We only get $60,000 from the Student Fee Review Board for funding.”
Towne said 15 percent of funding for KUNM comes from PBS, which could face budget cuts in the next 6090 days and potentially hurt the organization’s ability to retain programs and keep students employed. KUNM currently employs 1520 students per semester and has more than 100 volunteers. Elaine Baumgartel, host of “Morning Edition” and the “Call-In Show” has been working at KUNM for eight
years. She started as a volunteer and has worked on various programs across all of KUNM’s departments. “I love public radio,” she said. “It’s been really cool to start on the bottom level as a volunteer, and you can come in and get trained and learn and get paid to learn and then get skills that are then useful in the work place, and be able to qualify and be eligible to be hired full time. It’s really an amazing place and an amazing experience.”
Obama honors UNM engineer US to bar Palestinian by Chelsea Erven
news@dailylobo.com
A UNM professor will be honored in the White House for her accomplishments in the field of engineering. President Obama announced Monday that Dr. Yasamin Mostofi, UNM assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. “The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers,” according to a White House press release. Mostofi’s research involves wireless communications and mobile systems for a digital world. “Dr. Mostofi’s research on mobile multi-agent systems that are cognizant of the dynamics of the wireless environment repre sents an innovative and exciting investigation likely to impact
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
issue 28
Courtesy Photo Yasamin Mostofi future technological development in significant ways,” Catalin Roman, dean of the UNM School of Engineering, told UNM Today. “This award recognizes both her important achievements to date and the promise they hold for the future. We are delighted to have a member of our own community being honored by our President.”
Mostofi said her research is highly relevant. “Due to the complex nature of multi-agent systems, the best solutions are not the product of research in one single area anymore,” she said. “Instead, new multi-disciplinary approaches are needed.” Researchers are nominated for the award by 16 different federal departments and agencies. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy selects the finalists for approval by the President. Mostofi is one of 94 awardees this year. “It is inspiring to see the innovative work being done by these scientists and engineers as they ramp up their careers — careers that I know will be not only personally rewarding, but also invaluable to the nation,” President Obama said in a press release. “That so many of them are also devoting time to mentoring and other forms of community service speaks volumes about their potential for leadership, not only as scientists but as model citizens.”
see Award PAGE 2
Prayer without borders
String season
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bid for statehood by Tarek El-Tablawy The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N.’s political chief said Tuesday that Israel and the Palestinians remain far apart on reaching a peace accord, but insists “now is time for everyone to give diplomacy a chance.” B. Lynn Pascoe told the U.N. Security Council that the main obstacles to setting up a Palestinian state — a bid that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted last week despite a promised U.S. veto — are political, not institutional. He said that the main issue remains the “continuing Israeli occupation and the ongoing Palestinian divide.” The remarks at the monthly briefing on the Middle East came as Israel announced it would build 1,100 more homes
on contested land in Jerusalem. They highlighted the tenuous path confronting not only the Palestinians and Israelis, but also the “Quartet of Mideast mediators” — the U.N., U.S., European Union and Russia. The Quartet has drafted a plan to bring the two sides together for negotiations, with an ultimate goal of achieving a deal by the end of next year. “Resuming negotiations, and making progress, is easier said than done,” Pascoe told the council. With the Quartet’s proposal and the push to restart negotiations, he said, “this would be a moment where the parties would be truly tested in their readiness to make serious proposals that addressed the core concerns of the other.”
see Palestine PAGE 3
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