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Wednesday, November 2, 2011
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Student radio station receives national award Local college radio station, WUTK-FM, gains journal’s recognition for improvement Victoria Wright Staff Writer To win “Most Improved College Radio Station” is not an easy feat, but when passion is fused with hard work, the reward is worth the effort. WUTK-FM, better known as 90.3 The Rock, accepted the prestigious honor at the College Music Journal (CMJ) awards in New York City on Oct. 20. The “Most Improved College Radio Station Award” is voted on site among college radio stations nationally, making this the highest award 90.3 has received. Benny Smith, general manager and program director of the radio station, explained the moment the winner was announced. “We pretty much jumped out of our seats,” Smith said. “We were just a couple of hillbillies from UT. It wasn’t when we got up there that we thought, ‘Wow! We can actually win this thing.’” Matthew Smollon, senior in journalism and media management and WUTK music director, accompanied Smith at the show. “We didn’t remember many other parts of the ceremony because me and Benny were shaking,” Smollon said. In the basement of Andy Holt Tower, the faces of WUTK DJs remain practically anonymous to most students, unlike most college radio station DJs, who are placed in more public vicinities on a campus. Smith said it’s the station’s refusal of a generic image that truly stands out, even from under ground.
Smith explained that due to deregulation of radio ownership in the ’80s and ’90s, many were bought from local owners, and thus lost much of their originality. “Many radio stations got this cookiecutter formula and lose a lot of that local flavor,” Smith said. “They rarely have any local DJs anymore that get out in the community. I still think non-commercial radio like 90.3 still has soul. I think that’s the reason why we remain the favorite and have so much loyal listeners.” Smith also noted that the station’s community involvement has kept the station as Knoxville’s favorite for the past six years, though the road leading up to the award wasn’t an easy one. Improving business management was critical for the station’s progression. Smith said that the radio’s improvement is due to hard work from the students, and he credits the university’s financial aid. Though the station won the prestigious award, students of WUTK don’t plan on slowing down. Smollon described the everyday grind at the station in a complex, but effective analogy. “It’s a combination of balancing five plates and trying to herd kittens into a box,” Smollon said. “It’s a whole lot of people who have a lot on their plates and also trying to volunteer with something they love.” Both Smith and Smollon want students to continue keeping the station’s brand original and honest to the community. He said the station is not only beneficial for learning business skills, but also for acting as a catalyst for many careers.
George Richardson • The Daily Beacon
Lauren Gregg, sophomore in communications, and Nate Patton, sophomore in journalism and electronic media, DJ for their JREM 175 class on Feb. 8, 2011. WUTK was recently given the title of “Most Improved College Radio Station,” an award given out at the College Music Journal awards on Oct. 20.
Welfare system focuses on education Honors Program to exhibThe Associated Press When Carey Sommer entered foster care in California, he left his mom, his high school and his friends. Bouncing from home to home, he changed high schools nine times until the disheartened teen finally dropped out. “I just started to not really care about high school because I figured I’m just going to move anyway — why does it matter?” said Sommer, who was told it would take an extra year and a half to graduate to make up for credits he lost changing schools. Sommer, 19, is among the roughly 50 percent of the nation’s 500,000 foster kids who won’t graduate from high school, experts say. Nearly 94 percent of those that do make it through high school do not finish college, according to a 2010 study from Chapin Hall, the University of Chicago’s research arm. Some members of Congress and advo-
cates are trying to strengthen laws to ensure the child welfare system not only makes sure that foster kids are safe, but that they get a quality education. “Schools are often the most important source of focus and stability for children in foster care,” said a letter from federal agencies responsible for education and child welfare to state officials as classes were starting this fall. The letter advised officials of a 2008 law that requires the children to remain at the same school after they are placed in a new foster home. It is routinely ignored by state and local officials who say it’s impractical and too expensive. The law, however, lacks any penalties. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., proposed a bill to strengthen the measure and include education officials, in addition to their child welfare counterparts. The bill passed in committee with bipartisan support and is awaiting Senate approval. At a town hall in October, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Mary Landrieu, DLa., who co-chair the Senate Caucus on
Foster Youth, stressed that officials should ensure that foster children succeed academically, just as any parent would make sure their child excels at school. “Many of these children are strong, resilient, smart and hard-working, but we treat them as if they’re broken, and that’s a problem. We have to give them an opportunity to be in a stronger setting,” Landrieu said. The departments of Education and Health and Human Services will meet with state officials in November to discuss practical ways to implement the law. Among the hurdles that Grassley said that officials around the country face is trying to cut through bureaucracy between two federal agencies, the state and local governments. Around the country, small-scale efforts are already taking root. Teacher Mike Jones took over his high school’s discipline program in Sacramento, Calif., and noticed foster children made up the majority of suspended and expelled students.
it award-winning documentary on high school Robert Vogt Staff Writer
On Thursday, Nov. 3, a movement to transform education is hitting UT’s campus. The Chancellor’s Honors Program will show a free screening of the award-winning documentary, “The Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture,” at 6 p.m. in the UC auditorium. The film focuses on the high-pressure lifestyle high school students face, a lifestyle that leads to stress-related illness, depression and burnout across America’s secondary education system. These problems can extend to universities, fostering mental health issues as well as the aforementioned problems. “The Race to Nowhere” has received praise from the premier news publications of the country, including The New York Times and Washington Post. The latter published an article by Valerie Strauss that called for presidential attention to the struggles presented in this film. It’s no coincidence that such an eye-popping documentary was chosen by the Chancellor’s Honors Program. “We believe these topics are of particular importance to honors and other high-achieving students and have seen in recent Michael Rivera • The Daily Beacon years an increasing amount Students march down Melrose Avenue from Presidential Courtyard for “Take Back the Night” on Oct. 27. This of students with mental event is to increase awareness of sexual abuse and domestic assault.
health issues, partly due to academic pressures,” Carey Smith, graduate student in public administration and graduate assistant for the Chancellor’s Honors and Haslam Scholars Programs, said. “As the university’s academic profile improves, so does our need to recognize the pressures placed on high-achieving students.” In addition to the screening, students will also have access to a panel immediately following the showing, staffed by faculty from the UT Counseling Center and the Department of Educational Psychology. This panel will field questions and respond to comments offered by students in attendance, as well as offer questions and comments of their own. Particularly of interest will be their collective insight on the mental, psychological and social issues facing American students today. Ryan Clark, freshman in piano performance, said he cannot wait to see the film. “After going through the Advanced Placement program, I’ve become disillusioned with that entire ‘plug and chug,’ ‘do nothing but study hard and memorize facts and formulas’ curriculum,” Clark said. “I am anxious to see an articulate response to our current model of advanced high school education.” Space is limited. To register for a ticket, visit http://rtnutknoxville.event brite.com/.