UCI Radio Staff Turned Off Over Threat to Autonomy

UC Irvine students who run the campus radio station KUCI are resisting an effort by the student government body to take a firmer hand in determining programming.

Although Associated Students of UCI (ASUCI) officials say they are interested only in finding out how the station can best serve listeners, student operators of the tiny 25-watt station are worried that campus officials and the student government want to abandon KUCI’s eclectic programming mix of jazz, blues, rock, gospel and alternative music in favor of a single format.

That doesn’t sit well with the station’s staff of student volunteers, according to Jeanette Grimm, general manager of KUCI-FM, a non-commercial station supported mainly by fees paid by UCI students.

Looking toward the day when UCI’s weak-signaled radio station may become a more noticeable presence on the Orange County airwaves, ASUCI is gearing up a task force to consider changes.

Grimm said that David Hurwitz, president of ASUCI, told her recently that the student government wants to “narrow down the programming to one kind of music” and that Hurwitz personally favors progressive-rock programming. Currently, Grimm said, KUCI blocks off time during the day for several kinds of music, moving from blues and jazz in the morning to reggae in the afternoon to alternative rock from late afternoon through the night. On weekends, she said, the station devotes special shows to gospel and classical music and to ethnic and foreign-language programs that include broadcasts in Chinese and Persian.

Grimm said this range makes KUCI unique and serves listeners by giving them something they can’t find elsewhere. A single format, especially progressive rock, would duplicate commercial radio fare, she said.

But ASUCI officials wonder whether the station has a substantial following under its current setup. A steady format, regardless of its content, could allow the station to build a steadier listenership, said Lance MacLean, ASUCI’s director of program services.

Since it was established in 1969, none of KUCI’s programs have had a truly broad listenership. With only 25 watts of broadcasting power, the station’s signal at 88.9 FM can’t be heard more than a few miles from the campus.

But ASUCI may try to change that. The agency’s executive director, Dennis Hampton, said Monday that he expects to receive a report on Friday from a consultant hired to research the possibility of KUCI’s boosting its power.

Hampton said the obstacle until now has been strict federal communications guidelines designed to protect other stations’ signals from interference but that a recent relaxing of regulations could allow KUCI to get a power increase.

If the report is favorable, it could prompt university officials to seek a boost up to 3,000 watts. Such a move would coincide with UCI’s efforts to “be great in all areas” and be perceived as a major force among American universities, Hampton said. It would also be costly, he said, with estimates of the price of new equipment and facilities for a more powerful station ranging as high as $250,000.

In any case, ASUCI wants to review the station’s operations and determine whether it is meeting the needs of UCI’s students. Fees collected from students and disbursed by Associated Students pay the bulk of KUCI’S annual operating budget of about $38,000.

Hampton said the first step will be in-person interviews with a sampling of the student body to find out whether they listen to KUCI and what they would like to hear on it. “Let’s try to find out, take a really good assessment of what students really want,” Hampton said. “I’m a little disappointed that people (at KUCI) are fighting it, when all we’re doing is collecting information.”

Hampton said that Grimm, the KUCI general manager, will help MacLean draft the survey questions and that KUCI staff will be invited to all sessions of the student government committee looking into station operations.

According to MacLean, KUCI declared its financial independence and tried to operate for a time without money from student government. But in December, he said, KUCI agreed to submit to closer control in return for regular funding.

Under a new ruling by the university chancellor, Hampton said, ASUCI has been given clear operating authority over KUCI after many years in which the university’s right to oversee the radio station was left “vague.” One of the first changes to be made, he said, will be the hiring of an adviser, at a part-time salary of $7,800, to help students run the radio station.