Not a fully neutral piece, but well-considered and largely without rancor, can be found here. James urges involvement from the community that WTJU serves, and makes some excellent points, especially in this area: if you are getting in touch with WTJU or Marian Anderfurer, it serves no-one to be rude or hysterical. We aren't the Tea Party, and if I'm going to whack someone upside the head, it's going to be some jerk on "our side" who's just looking for an excuse to cut someone's propane lines. Anyone who answers the phone at WTJU or UVA deserves to be treated with the same respect you would treat any other human being you're having a discussion with. Actually, given the average national level of discourse, let's try and speak to each other even better than we normally would.
So far, the vast majority of public opinion seems to be on the side of keeping WTJU more like it is now than was suggested by Mr. Beard and the Office of Public Affairs. I think a great deal of that has been everyone's even tone. Thanks, everyone, for not acting like wild-eyed freaks. We may have actually surprised some people who don't know anything about WTJU; these people might be checking us out. In fact, I'm sure that, with the increased publicity we've been getting, our listenership is up. Now is the time to bring your very best game on the air. Not that any of us phone it in (although I have spent large chunks of shows lying on the floor, for various reasons, from time to time), but this is a time to truly think about what you're trying to do with your radio show, and broadcast your masterpiece. We play music we love. Let's show everyone what that means, and why it's such a valuable and unique asset WTJU has that is nowhere else on the dial for hundreds of miles.
There's still no new blog up at the WTJU site. Hopefully this means that they are considering and reconsidering what to say, and not just looking for the perfect picture of a kickin' rad youth wearing an RHCP t-shirt.
Oh, and I might as well plug: if you want to say hi to me (I'd enjoy meeting any of you I haven't met yet), my band will be playing at the Twisted Branch Tea House on Saturday. I bet if you identify yourself to anyone in the audience, they will thank you heartily for being a DJ at WTJU.
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