At one time WUEV employed more than 65 students each semester in its news, sports and other award-winning departments—all directed by students.
At one time the sports department had so many sportscasters it was sometimes difficult to find assignments for all of them.
At one time newscasts were broadcast daily with occasional news shows thrown in that often irritated Crescent staffers because WUEV beat them with its ability to quickly go on-air.
And between 1993 and 2002, WUEV and its student workers won about 48 state and national awards.
One has to wonder: What has happened, if anything, to WUEV in recent years?
With a financial offer made to UE to purchase the station by an unidentified buyer for an undisclosed amount, Marcia Dowell, university relations director and supervisor to WUEV’s station manager, called on students and members of the UE community to provide university relations with “input to assist in considering pros and cons” of the possible sale of the station.
Jack Barner, vice president for institutional advancement, said Tuesday between 300–400 letters opposing the sale of the station had been received.
A web site, savewuev.com, created by a 2005 alumnus and former WUEV staffer to solicit support for the station, received more than 170 responses as of Wednesday from people supporting WUEV.
While it appears there are a great many people who back WUEV, senior administrators have repeatedly suggested that the lack of academic ties has something to do with the problems the station is experiencing.
Barner said this is why the financial offer deserves ample consideration.
“Right now that station is not core to what we are doing as an institution,” he said.
Barner said an academic tie consists of faculty supervision with an educational atmosphere integrating coursework or sponsorship of a student organization.
But while students working for the Crescent and the LinC receive credit for their experiences through three academic departments, their adviser is not a member of an academic department, but rather student affairs.
Faculty also voiced their opinions during Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
Michael Stankey, professor of communication, does not believe Barner’s description is accurate. He said each semester students can receive one hour of communication practicum credit for their work at the station. The station manager, he said, aids in the academic experience by supervising students.
Pat Thomas, associate professor of archaeology, said that WUEV attracts students from various majors, which contributes to its educational nature.
“It grieves me to see that some senior administrators don’t see the academic connection,” he said.
Frank Underwood, professor of physical therapy, said if the reason for selling the station is a lack of academic ties, UE must also sell the athletic department.
WUEV alumni and staff also see the station as an important educational tool.
Ryan Priest, a 1995 alumnus and former WUEV staff member, said his time at the station was definitely a learning experience.
“I learned more from my three and a half years at WUEV than in my eight semesters of classes,” said Priest, an Allstate communication consultant.
Junior Sam Divine is the student manager and has worked at the station for two years. She said her time at WUEV has taught her not only broadcast skills but interpersonal and managerial skills as well.
And Stacy Woodruff-Bolte, a 2000 alumna and currently a graduate student at NYU, worked at WUEV for four years.
“One of the assets of WUEV is that employment is not limited to just mass communication majors,” said Woodruff-Bolte, who was a sociology major at UE.
Barner also said the station has lost focus and its ability to define its role.
“The station has drifted somewhat,” he said.
Stankey said WUEV’s role as a student voice means it should offer a diversity of programming, which is a contrast to commercial stations that need a particular focus to develop a following. He said the station’s focus should be serving students.
“If you identify the focus as to provide the student population with an outlet of diverse options, then a clear, distinct focus isn’t necessary,” he said.
If the concern is about the station not meeting certain standards, James MacLeod, associate professor of history, said culpability lies with those who ultimately oversee the station. To sell it for that reason, he said, would allow those people to duck responsibility.
Jazz has been a staple of WUEV’s for years, but other music types and programming played a much larger role at various times in the last 10 years.
While Divine said students have control concerning the station’s programming, about 55 hours per week are devoted to automated programming, a decision Barner said he and Dowell made in 2002.
“It gives us that consistency we might have been lacking,” said station manager Mike Crowley, a 2000 Syracuse broadcast journalism graduate who came to UE in 2002 after serving as sports director for the Big Horn Radio Network in Cody, Wyo., for two years.
Barner said news programming, which had been reduced to a 30-minute segment, was discontinued in May 2005.
But at certain times, WUEV helped contribute to campus discussion and raise concerns.
During his time at WUEV, Priest was the anchor for “Inside Evansville,” a half-hour public affairs show that had a call-in segment with UE officials appearing on-air to address issues.
He was also a part of the award-winning news department when it was recognized in 1994 for its extensive coverage of the Congressional elections. Students monitored elections in four counties, Priest said.
Now a producer for Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Bubba the Love Sponge,” Lou Pickney, a 1999 mass communication graduate, got his start at WUEV, too. During his years with the station he said students had the chance to speak their minds during a half-hour weekly roundtable where UE sports was discussed.
“The news reported on was that in the community as well as that in the city itself,” he said via e-mail. “Since UE has city-grade coverage, the station did its best to cover stories involving the city, though we usually tried to focus on those stories that most involved UE.”
Barner said one of the ways to strengthen the station would be to transform it into a student organization.
Dana Clayton, vice president for student affairs, said WUEV is not a student organization because its main source of funding comes from UE’s operating budget. She said whether UE wants to trust students with the responsibility of adhering to FCC requirements is also a factor.
Barner said his department is not the proper place for the station and the communication department has not shown interest in overseeing it again.
Dean Thomlison, professor of communication and department chair, said the sale of WUEV would have a minimal effect on the academic purpose of his department, and that perhaps it is time for UE to go toward another medium such as Internet streaming or podcasting.
“Is an FM station educational experience where we want to put our educational resources?” he said. “This is really more of an administrative issue.”
Clayton said she does not know if it should be moved into student affairs either.
“I think we would have to look at the goal of the station and house it wherever it makes the most sense,” she said. “I don’t know if we have those answers right now.”
Stankey said when he arrived in 1995, the station was part of university relations. A few years later it was moved back to the communication department and a few years after that it was again moved to university relations.
“I’m not sure if there is any good explanation for that,” he said.
Finally, there is the question of the financial offer.
“This is primarily a business decision,” Barner said.
He said he could not release the amount of the offer, but it is between $500,000 and $1 million. He said entities interested in buying nonprofit stations are largely for Christian radio programming.
While the verbal offer from the prospective buyer came about two weeks ago, Barner said a broker approached UE about two months ago.
He said President Stephen Jennings told the company he would be interested in seeing figures. It was not until after the verbal offer was made, Barner said, that Jennings asked for input.
The board of trustees actually owns WUEV, and Jennings will be responsible for recommending to the board how he believes they should proceed.
Longtime trustee Bill Bussing, owner of the Evansville Otters, told WEHT News 25 that the station has no connection academically to what UE does and that it might be time for a change.
“As a trustee from the university’s standpoint I think we have a fiduciary obligation to consider any offer for the station,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we’ll accept it.”
Barner said WUEV has an annual operating budget of about $166,000, with $15,000 covered by underwriting.
As of Wednesday, it was not known whether Jennings would reach a decision before this weekend’s board meeting. The board does not meet again until May.
Alumni have been largely opposed to the sale and some have threatened to stop their financial giving if the station is sold.
“I would have trouble in good conscience of giving money to the University of Evansville,” Priest said.
Since UE is only asking for input, Barner said it is too early to discuss how selling the station may affect UE’s relationship with concerned alumni.
He said perhaps the attention drawn to WUEV by this potential sale will put it back on track and convince the several hundreds of people who have written opposing the sale to help support the station. Barner said a “Friends of WUEV” fund could be created.
Many UE community members have expressed disappointment at the apparent short window for input and feedback. Barner said UE needs to make a timely response.
“It’s the nature of offers that they evaporate in time,” he said. “How much time you don’t know.”
Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday unequivocally opposing the sale of WUEV.
