The
PIONEER
ISSUE 6 | October 15, 2015 | Whitman news since 1896 | Vol. CXXXVIII
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W by ELLEN IVENS-DURAN Staff Reporter
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WCW, Whitman and Walla Walla’s local community radio station, put its digital live stream back up on Friday, Oct. 9, after months of effort. Due to unreliability and technological issues, the stream had been taken down, but K-Dub’s staff seem to have hit upon a fix. Carolyn Erving, a senior at Whitman and K-Dub’s General Manager, had been looking for a solution to the problem of the defunct stream since June. “[We’ve done] a lot of research on how can we make this better and how can we present this in an aesthetically pleasing way that’s also financially viable, meets legal requirements, and is easy for people to use. And is feasible for our staff to actually put in place. And all of those different components are a lot to deal with,” said Erving. In order to solve the problems
Station solves live stream puzzle, charts new directions
with the stream, which included intermittent failure to broadcast, incompatibility with the website, and an inability to display the track and artist names, Erving has had to rely on her newly cohesive staff. Erving overhauled KWCW’s staff structure, adding and reviving positions such as Chief Operator and Community Outreach Coordinator to craft a staff of 15. Henry Carges, the Head Music Director, has been another key player in resolving these issues. “We ran into a bunch of technical issues because we don’t have the funding of a big school, so a lot of those big schools have someone they can hire to do all their coding for them and then, boom, they have their new stream,” said Carges. “It’s kind of something we’ve had to learn how to do ourselves, which has been a lot of work.” Until Friday, KWCW’s webpage only allowed listeners to see the name and title of the track that is currently playing on their terrestrial, that is physical, broadcast. Peo-
ple trying to tune in from outside the city limits of Walla Walla were out of luck. KWCW’s auto DJ, which broadcasts pre-loaded music when live shows aren’t on-air, was the only input feeding into the digital broadcast. Now, instead of the auto-DJ playing continuously, the stream will be broadcasting live shows as well. “What you’re seeing on the website is everything that needs to be there to be up to code as a [digital] stream, college radio stream,” said Erving. That remains true, as DJs are obligated to record the name and artist on each track they play in real time on a program called Spinitron. That information will then be transferred from Spinitron to the pop-up live stream. This solution allowed K-Dub to use a simple program already in use to display track and artist names, which they were not previously able to do. “One of the things that’s different about the way K-Dub is run that’s different from other college radio
stations is that it’s accessible to DJs and we don’t want to have to make it so that you have to have a really large knowledge of how computers work to be a radio DJ,” said Carges. KWCW’s DJs existed in a world apart from the frantic work of the staff. They seemed relatively unaffected by the problem. “I’m actually very surprised to see how many people are listening to our show on the radio itself, which I feel is not the easiest venue,” said senior DJ Eric Underwood (whose show with Jack Swain, BERLAMBURGLERBER, takes place from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on Tuesdays). “I was very pleased to find out that people were still listening, and to get calls into the show.” Senior Rose Gottlieb (of The Rose and Grace Show, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesdays) who, like Underwood, is continuing a show from this summer and took a similar tone. “I never had [the live stream] so I can’t miss it,” said Gottlieb, “but it
would be nice to be able to tell my parents and [other] people...it would be nice to have people listen to it from afar.” Now, Gottlieb will have that option. Riding on their successful fix of a persistent problem, Erving and Carges are traveling to New York for the College Music Journal’s annual music marathon and conference, held this year from Oct. 13 to 17. Erving will be speaking on a panel regarding radio management, but that isn’t the only reason for the trip. “We’ve been nominated for an award, as station with the biggest improvement, which is really nice and really flattering just because of all the hard work that has been put in and now we’re being recognized at a national level,” said Erving. “As far as I know it’s the first time K-Dub has been nominated for an award at this conference. And CMJ is basically the conference for college radio, it’s the conference for the industry.” In the meantime, feel free to listen live.
Game Management plays crucial role Seniors FMS majors bring Triby ALDEN GLASS Staff Reporter
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very week, fans of Whitman athletics stand on the sidelines and watch as student-athletes, decked out in gold and blue, compete and represent the school. Yet, what many often fail to notice is that behind the scenes of every sporting event, there is a small army of unsung heroes clad in dark blue. The game management team arrives at games long before any athlete and stays until well after the final whistle blows. Game management’s job is typically broken up into three distinct areas: set up before the game, management during the game, and clean up afterwards. Senior Rachel Brock is currently employed by the game management department, and shared with The Pioneer how setup works at a typical soccer game. “Setting up the field begins about two and a half hours before the game starts. We all arrive and set up the goals, tents, benches, flags, bleachers, and all other equipment,” Brock wrote in an email. “The goals are definitely the most difficult thing to set up–it usually takes part of the group the entire time to set them up. Setting up usually takes about an hour or so, again, depending on the goals.” After the field is set up and the two teams arrive before the game, the management team takes a quick break before beginning their work during the competition. Sophomore Hannah Trettenero listed the types of jobs they are typically responsible for at a soccer game. “I have only worked soccer games so far so I cannot speak for the other sports, but soccer is pret-
ty straightforward,” Trettenero said. “During the games we do ball retrieval, game statistics, game clock, videotaping, and audio commentating.” Brock elaborated on the process and discussed some of the difficulties of working during the soccer games. “Everyone has [a different job] during the games, from ball retrieving to filming. I take stats and sometimes announce when I can convince people to let me do it,” Brock said. “Soccer stats aren’t that hard to take until someone scores. It’s hard to get the numbers of who scored and assisted, especially when you don’t know the team and can’t see the numbers on their jerseys.” Along with these jobs, basketball and volleyball provide a whole new list of responsibilities for the game management team. Operating the electronic score board, especially the shot clock, becomes increasingly important in basketball games, for example. With fast-paced action and referees demanding precision, there is a very small margin for error. The work done by game management is vital to the varsity athletics program. Film sessions are done with the videos shot by student employees. The NCAA uses the stats collected by game management to keep track of player’s performances. Sophomore Gabe Jacobson is a varsity athlete on the men’s soccer team who sees the tremendous value that game management brings. “It’s pretty vital. I mean, ball retrievers, for example, are super important in helping everything go smoothly, and also the scoreboard and time people need to do their job right or everyone on the field will notice,” Jacobson said. “The hard part is
that nobody notices if they do it right, but everyone does if they mess up.” The man behind the scenes of the whole program is Bryce Heuett. When interviewed by email, Heuett discussed how he came to work at Whitman for this program and what he looks for when hiring new employees. “I was hired from Southern Utah University where I was the media relations assistant. I applied to Whitman because I’m originally from Pullman and wanted to be in the Northwest,” Heuett said. “The main thing I look for in potential employees is a willingness to learn new skills. I understand it is difficult to get much game management experience so if they’re willing to learn that is the main thing, but not the only one.” While game management is a tough and sometimes thankless job, it isn’t without its benefits. Brock explained why she puts in the effort and spends the time each weekend at sporting events. “I do game management because I want to support my friends,” Brock said. “A lot of my friends are on the women’s and men’s soccer teams and by working the games, I guarantee that I will be there to support and cheer them on (although silently because I’m not actually allowed to cheer).” Heuett shared similar thoughts about his favorite part of his job. “I really enjoy sitting back and watching the game after set up is all done,” Heuett said. “It’s stressful having to supervise all the positions and I’m constantly worrying about something going wrong, but I can’t complain too much; I love sports and now they’re my occupation.”
Cities Film Festival to Campus
Four FMS seniors worked to bring films to campus on Oct 10th. Photo by Lee
by MARTINA PANSZE A&E Editor
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ver four-day break, many students who stay on campus notice the unsettling absence of those who are traveling. On Oct. 10th, however, an especially eerie ambiance emanated from Olin Hall, where a crowd of horror, science fiction, and fantasy movie-lovers gathered for the TriCities International Film Festival. This year, the festival extended its reach from within the Tri-Cities (Pasco, Richland, and
Kennewick) to open a fourth location on Whitman’s campus. The event, which was sponsored by the Whitman College Film Department, ran in the Olin Auditorium from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.. Viewers were welcome to come and go throughout the 8-hour festival. The Tri-Cities International Film Festival (t) runs independent or student-made films and is the first film festival Whitman has ever hosted, excluding the screenings of work created in Intro and Advanced Filmmaking. see FILM FESTIVAL, page 4