WEGL is at an ideological crossroads.
On one side sits new station manager Cheeano Cambridge.
He wants WEGL to be more professional.
He wants music to be arranged in recognizable blocks--jazz, alternative, hip-hop, even country--and the indie and "weird" music of WEGL to be offset with more "mainstream" songs to "bring in new listeners."
"We're in college to get a degree and find a job," Cambridge said. "You create a lab so that once you leave here you can transfer into corporate America more easily."
And then there's the other side--those who want to "Keep WEGL Weird," a group that is now 800 strong on Facebook.
These current and former DJs and WEGL fans like Auburn's college radio station just the way it is--impromptu ragtime music and all the rest.
They have no desire to turn WEGL into a business or prepare themselves for corporate America.
They want to play music and express themselves.
But that's irrelevant now that Cambridge is the boss.
"You can no longer be competitive with other schools without some kind of structure," he said.
He wants WEGL to be a business.
And he has every right to take this stance. He is, after all, the boss, for a bit anyway.
But here's the thing: WEGL isn't a business.
WEGL's funding comes directly from student activity fees.
The station doesn't have to kowtow to advertisers or please station producers. It is its own entity, free to more or less broadcast what it pleases.
Which is what it does, or did at least, in true college radio fashion.
But Cambridge wants to "challenge other major universities" and make WEGL the best, which is where more mainstream music and more "traditional" radio activities like an expanded community presence fit.
Should WEGL even be concerned with challenging other major universities?
What good does that do beyond boost resumes and induce back-patting?
Making WEGL more professional and getting rid of dead air and lazy plug-and-shuffle iPod shows is a good idea. Props there.
But trying to sully WEGL, a college radio station, with attempts at expansion and market domination undermines the foundation of the station.
Not every endeavor undertaken in college or life is about making money or being the best.
Sometimes, believe it or not, people pursue interests out of pure passion.
We only hope Cambridge finds the right balance between professional and weird.
Regardless, Keep WEGL Weird.
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