While campus radio station CiTR is increasing student funding and embarking on technological challenges, two of their longest-serving staff won’t be along for the ride.
CiTR has announced a restructure of the Music Director and Program Coordinator positions, ending the tenures of Luke Meat and Bryce Dunn. Meat had served as Music Director since 2004 and Dunn as Program Coordinator since 2000, though both had been involved with the station well before becoming paid staff.
According to a statement made by Board of Director’s Chair Janis McKenzie, the decision was made to reflect “the importance of a renewed focus on students as listeners and as programming participants and the need to adapt to and lead technological change.”
Funds brought in by the referendum earlier this year were an “increased vote of confidence” and bring the “challenge of even greater accountability to the student segment of our campus radio community,” added McKenzie in the statement.
Penny Clark, outgoing President, echoed McKenzie in saying that the decision to restructure was “hard, but made the most sense.”
Last semester, Clark campaigned in favour of the “Yes” vote for raising student fees in the March referendum. The question passed with 52 per cent of the vote, increasing the CiTR fee from $4 to $5 per student. Though the station was relieved to receive the extra funding, the low margin by which it passed was startling for the Student Executive.
“The referendum was important because it didn’t pass by very much, so we take that as a warning signal from students that they’re feeling disengaged from their club services,” said Clark.
In a meeting with staff and programmers on Thursday, those in favour of the decision reiterated the need for greater student involvement, something the old positions weren’t equipped to coordinate. “Dedicated volunteers are what help a not-for-profit like CiTR grow.
Volunteers require challenging and interesting responsibilities that give them a personal stake in the station,” Clark said. “We had positions that were designed to run the station but we need positions that are designed to draw volunteers into station operation.”
Student programmers currently represent 11 per cent of CiTR’s on-air talent, a figure Clark called a “big problem.” In comparison with other campus stations, CiTR ranks among the lowest in terms of student-produced on-air content.
Station Manager Brenda Grunau said those in Thursday’s meeting represented “the successful volunteers, but there are a lot more unsuccessful volunteers who aren’t here. We’re good at recruiting volunteers, but not keeping them.”
Clark added the station is looking for ways to become more user-friendly and student accessible by making it “easier to get shorter term or less frequent shows. It’s hard to commit to a regular schedule.”
But no one is quite sure yet what the restructured positions will look like. Further meetings and consultations will take place before the redefined positions are to be posted in July.
Janis McKenzie thanked Meat and Dunn “for their passion, dedication and valuable service to CiTR.” Nardwuar the Human Serviette, CiTR’s most notable programmer, offered a motion to give Meat and Dunn honorary lifetime memberships to the station.
“Luke and Bryce were really integral to CiTR. They gave everything to CiTR and they taught me about music,” he said.
“You don’t want to lose people like that.”
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Awesome. Now move on to the army of hipsters that have NEVER gone to UBC that monopolize this private fiefdom. 11 percent is made up of students, and this should surprise no one. There is maybe one UBC student that works with Discorder, which is essentially a soap box for a bunch of East Van hipsters to plug their friends bands, all of which sound exactly the fucking same.
If students wanted to be involved…. Students would be involved – THE DOOR IS WIDE FUCKING OPEN for them to walk through and be apart if it.
Bryce and Luke made HUGE changes at CiTR over the years and would be able to accommodate any possible new changes the station wanted to make – short term shows, more student involvement. CiTR has made a huge mistake letting these guys go and will figure that out when there is more and more dead air in the future.
The the previous “student” comment above, Bryce did go to UBC – that is where he started his show 18 years ago… oh yeah and started writing for discorder.. so if you wanted to be involved you could… don’t bitch about something your not interested in doing.
Love this: blame the students for not getting involved in a university club that is hijacked by people looking for easy money. Same old story everywhere. 11 percent? ELEVEN PERCENT?! Why should the students be funding a radio station they have no stake in? When students do go in there they’re told they can alphabetize records or clean up around the place. I know, I volunteered there for about three months and was treated like a doorstop by the ‘club’ of non-student thirty something wasters that run the show.
And I completely agree with the UBC students criticism of Discorder. I can get involved with them? Sure. I’ll buy that. Its an open secret that if you want to write for Discorder you have to be down with a little cadre of about 8 people who will shut you down in a heartbeat if you’re into anything besides the same five bands they review every month. Total waste of student funds, with no incentive to improve.
If only 11% of the people at CiTR are UBC students, why are students subsidizing CiTR?
If you actually want to protest the funding of CiTR, go make a petition or something.
I was part of CiTR’s on-air talent while studying at UBC a few years ago. Bryce and Luke were two of the friendliest and most competent individuals there. They always made me feel like a valuable member of the team.
The rest of the CiTR crowd was a mixed bag. Nobody ever treated me like a doorstop, but many of the Discorder people were incredibly cliquish and seemed thoroughly uninterested in communicating with anyone whose musical tastes weren’t exactly like their own.
UBC Student #2, here’s a hint: if you show up anywhere in life with no goals and no idea how you want to contribute, then yeah, people are going to treat you like a door stop and give you jobs that nobody else wants. That’s not because there’s anything wrong with the organizaiton. It’s because you have an attitude problem.
Guess what: CiTR is a radio station. You go there to make radio shows. There’s a procedure to follow for how to get one. If you follow it, you’ll get a show. It’s not real hard. Thousands of us have done it. It’s not CiTR’s job to find things to do for people who don’t want to do what the club was actually put there for. If you show up for the dance club but never take a lesson, you might find yourself cleaning the office too.
The door of CiTR is wide open for people who want to do programs. The station management are extremely nice professionals, not “wasters” — and thank goodness, because when I was at UBC, I sure didn’t have time to manage a non-profit organization, which is what CiTR is, while going to school.
Your comments are insulting to the hard-working people who are busting their ass running CiTR. And the reflect more about you than they do about the organization.
Grow up and realize you’re responsible for your own satisfaction and stop being an immature hater.