{"id":7512,"date":"2015-04-24T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=7512"},"modified":"2015-04-24T07:19:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-24T12:19:26","slug":"loyola-turns-station-back-to-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/04\/24\/loyola-turns-station-back-to-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Loyola turns station back to students"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WLUW<\/a>

<\/a> WLUW studio<\/p><\/div>\n

An overhaul of programming designed to increase the role of students at Loyola University\u2019s WLUW FM 88.7 <\/a>will reduce or eliminate some of the station\u2019s longest running community-based talk shows.<\/p>\n

Among the casualties is Jerry Mead-Lucero\u2019s \u201cLabor Express Radio,\u201d <\/a>billed as \u201cChicago\u2019s only labor news and current affairs radio program,\u201d which has aired weekly on the nonprofit station since 1993.\u00a0Others cancellations include Jacob Briskman\u2019s \u201cLogic Consortium,\u201d Doug Williams\u2019 \u201cAzan\u201d and Mitchell Szczepanczyk\u2019s \u201cFrom The Trenches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moves, believed to affect at least eight more weekly or monthly shows, are the latest steps in the transition of WLUW from an independent community-oriented station since it was reclaimed and incorporated<\/a> into Loyola\u2019s communications department in 2008. (Six years earlier, university officials had turned over day-to-day management control of the station to Chicago Public Radio.)<\/p>\n

Don Heider, dean of Loyola\u2019s School of Communications, supported the decision in a letter Thursday to Mead-Lucero, host and producer of \u201cLabor Express.\u201d \u201cThe focus now, and really for the past seven years, has been on allowing the students to program the station, and in this way we are returning to our roots as a student radio station,\u201d Heider wrote.<\/p>\n

\"WLUW\"<\/a>

WLUW<\/p><\/div>\n

Suggesting that the show could move to another station or become a podcast, Heider added: \u201cIn either case you might be able to find a strong audience, rather than airing on a student radio station with a signal that only reaches part of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mead-Lucero said he and other hosts were given insufficient warning of the cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cA week\u2019s notice is truly very disrespectful to people who have put years into WLUW,\u201d he said. \u201cMost of the shows effected have close to (if not more than) a decade on air.\u00a0 For those programs that do air monthly, telling them a week before the end of April their shows are canceled means they have zero opportunity to inform their listeners of the change.\u00a0 And why the need to do this in May? The students go on summer break in May. . . . Already way too much of the schedule on WLUW is run by computer rather than people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to a petition signed by more than a dozen hosts, management declined to postpone the cancellations until June 1 or meet to discuss the changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese changes are necessary in order to offer more opportunities for students to be on-air, to increase programming quality and consistency, and to conduct live broadcasts from weekend events without having to interrupt specialty shows,\u201d Eleni Kametas, general manager and student advisor of WLUW, replied to them in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision, which was discussed in previous emails and at the spring all-staff meeting, was influenced by an increase in student interest due to music programming, on-campus promotions, and classroom outreach, as well as feedback from the community that expressed a desire to have weekend programming airing more independent music.<\/p>\n

\"I apologize if some of you are frustrated by this decision, but we are doing what we believe is best for the station.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An overhaul of programming designed to increase the role of students at Loyola University\u2019s WLUW FM 88.7 will reduce or eliminate some of the station\u2019s longest running community-based talk shows. Among the casualties is Jerry Mead-Lucero\u2019s \u201cLabor Express Radio,\u201d billed as \u201cChicago\u2019s only labor news and current affairs radio program,\u201d which has aired weekly on... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7512"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7522,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7512\/revisions\/7522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}