911CIIRCJIE "q 711[Irl!!1, November 22, 1983
Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
Vol. 82, No. 23
Symphony broadcast preempts grid contest
Hanging of the greens Tracy Land, left, and Tracy Evans prepare Christmas greens and decorations for the annual Feast of Carols Madrigal Dinner, a Christmas dinner. The event will be held Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m. in the University Center Ballrooms. —
By Mike Sherman Editor In the late 60's a televised football playoff game between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League was interrupted because the programers at NBC had a prior commitment—Walt Disney's "Heidi" was scheduled. That contest became known as the "Heidi game." Central State football fans experienced their own "Heidi game" Saturday. CSU wasn't in the playoffs. Neither were they interrupted on television. But when KCSC, the campus radio station, preempted the broadcast of the CSU-Eastern New Mexico football game with the Bronchos driving for a potential tying score in the fourth quarter, the "Prairie Home Companion game" was born. The Bronchos went on to score a touchdown and tie the game with little over a minute left in the game. The game ended in a 28-28 tie, but KCSC listeners didn't hear the action. Instead of the last minutes of the closest game of the year, they got "Prairie Home Companion," a live broadcast of the Minnesota Symphony. "It was taken off because of a prior commitment," according to Dr. Michael Dunn, director of the station. "We have a live broadcast every Saturday at 5 p.m. and
in a typical game things were out of hand by then. When you're beating a team like Langston 49-7, you should go to your live broadcast. "But I had no idea it would be cutoff in a close game. It was just an error in judgement. I called and tried to get through to the station, but I couldn't get through the switchboard." Coleman Hull, the disc jockey at the time of the interruption, said the decision was made because of the prior commitment. Hull also said he would do the same thing if the situation was to reoccur. Hull said the station had interrupted the broadcast of one other game this year. Hull said he received one threatening phone call before he left the station. For protection he called Campus Security and locked all of the station doors. Charley Newcomb took over for Hull as disc jockey shortly after the game had been cutoff. Newcomb said about 15 students from the residents' halls rushed over to hear the rest of the game. The line with the broadcast from Portales, NM had not been cut off so the students were able to hear the rest of the game, he said. Newcomb said he received at least 20 calls, most just asking for the score of the game. However, there were a few threats.
Banowsky addresses faculty
Oklahomans have 'inferiority complex' By MaryGaye Franklin Staff Reporter Oklahoma University Dr. William Banowsky challenged Oklahoma educators not to be satisfied with mediocrity and to strive for excellence in education during a speech here Thursday. Banowsky spoke to the State Conference of Faculty Organizations at a luncheon during their fall meeting on Thursday. "I wish that Oklahoma was less satisfied with mediocrity," Banowsky said. "Some how back in the past Oklahomans got the idea that they couldn't be the very best intellectually, culturally, academically and perhaps socially. "I think it is this inferiority complex that makes Oklahomans I
so rabid about their atheletic programs." Banowsky noted that the largest gathering in the state was at Owen Field in Norman when OU plays. He said that was because it was the only thing of national importance that Oklahomans could attach themselves to and that the fans get very impatient when OU loses a game. "I wish Oklahomans would get more impatient about the fact that Harvard has more books in its one library than all of the libraries in Oklahoma put together," Banowsky said. "Harvard has 15 million books and the largest library in Oklahoma, which is at OU, just got its 2,000,000th book last week. "Its no wonder that they don't
•• in this ssue. . Special report: The legacy of JFK page 4 & 5 Bronchos drop from top spot...page 7 Weekend sports round-up...page 8
take Oklahoma seriously in Massachusetts as an intellectual or cultural force," Banowsky declared. "They think Oklahoma is very adept at the viseral or physical, Havard wouldn't want to schedule us in football." Banowsky told the educators that during the past few years OU has purchased 400,000 books at a cost of $30 per book. They have spent $12 million on their cornputer system and raised the faculty salaries by 45 percent. Banowsky pointed out that the University of Texas has five Nobel Prize winners and four Pulitzer Prize winners on their current faculty. He said that the only way for a university to attract people of that calibre is with large endowments for research. "Oklahoma has yet to produce a Nobel Prize winner," Banowsky said. "You know who cares about that. In Oklahoma people worry about whether or not their people make All America. "Oklahoma has Rhodes Scholars but Nobel Prize winners will be more expensive and I'll tell you how expensive. When Oklahoma is willing to pay men and women $75,000 per year to do nothing but research. That is the hardest and most politically unpopular part of building a great
university. The point is Oklahoma can make it." "The University of Texas has an endowment of $1.6 billion per year. OU's endowment is about $70 million and that sounds rich because in 1978 it was about $15 million. Not counting the millions that have been dispensed to our foundation for work we have done, we have about $50 million sowed in permanent endowment," Banowsky said. Banowsky said that Oklahoma has had fove or six years of historical gain when other states were in the depths of a depression. Now Oklahoma is experiencing financial difficulties and he hoped that it would not mean that Oklahoma would lose the gains it has made in improving higher education. "All along my concern has not been last year or this year but whether those years spelled a transition in which the momentum would be lost and Oklahoma would return to business as usual," Banowsky said. "We are not in a race between excellence and paralysis, we are not going to close the doors of the universities in Oklahoma. We are in a race between excellence and mediocrity. That has always been the race." Banowsky said that as long as
Oklahomans are satisfied with mediocrity there willbe mediocrity. But that he feels that it is time that Oklahomans became as determined about excellence in academics as they are about excellence in atheletics. "We are in the right place at the right time and Oklahoma has to decide whether it is going to be a major or a minor sunbelt state and that decision will have to be made in the next half dozen years," Banowsky said. See BANOWSKY, page 3
Dr. William Banowsky