{"id":30190,"date":"2015-02-27T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/?p=30190"},"modified":"2015-02-27T00:22:10","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T08:22:10","slug":"college-radio-survivor-remembering-film-a-matter-of-degrees-and-more-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/2015\/02\/college-radio-survivor-remembering-film-a-matter-of-degrees-and-more-news\/","title":{"rendered":"College Radio Survivor: Remembering Film “A Matter of Degrees” and More News"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I finally got caught up on my radio station tour reports from 2013 and posted a piece about my visit to San Francisco Art Institute’s streaming radio station The Tower<\/a>. Although it’s in a tiny space, the station presents an inspiring array of programming that’s often linked to the adventurous artistic endeavors of its student and faculty DJs.<\/p>\n

Touring College Radio Stations in Kentucky<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m always excited to visit college radio stations and last week I had the opportunity to visit three in Kentucky. Despite inclement weather and snow closures, I was able to take in the sights and sounds of University of Kentucky’s WRFL<\/a> in Lexington, Georgetown College’s WRVG<\/a>, and Bellarmine Radio<\/a> at Bellarmine College in Louisville. Each station had its own unique characteristics and I look forward to sharing more details in my field trip report series<\/a> in the weeks to come.<\/p>\n

Art x FM and the Film History of WXOX<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to visiting these college radio stations, I also visited Art x FM<\/a> in Louisville. Currently a streaming community radio station<\/a>, Art x FM holds a construction permit to build a new low power FM (LFPM) radio station with call letters WXOX-LP.<\/p>\n

Art x FM has college radio roots, as its founder and General Manager Sharon Scott played a big role in the fight to save Vanderbilt College radio station WRVU-FM<\/a> after students lost access to its terrestrial signal. Inspired by her time in college radio, she started Art x FM and applied for its LPFM license.<\/p>\n

\"WXOX<\/a>

“A Matter of Degrees” sticker on sticker-covered door at college radio station WRFL. Photo: J. Waits<\/p><\/div>\n

In a very strange coincidence, while touring WRFL with Scott (we’re friends and took a road trip to Lexington together), we spotted a WXOX sticker on the wall. It was not for Art x FM, however. Scott did some sleuthing and found out that the sticker was an old promotional item for the 1990 film A Matter of Degrees<\/a>. A description attached to the film’s trailer on YouTube states, “A college student living in a commune decides that he doesn’t want to go on to law school. When a corporation takes over the campus radio station, he decides to disrupt the graduation ceremonies.” The cast is full of an interesting mix of characters, with the station’s founder played by musician John Doe<\/a> (of X fame).<\/p>\n

Considering that the GM of the new WXOX was also involved with a fight to save a campus radio station, this is an eerie coincidence, indeed! The movie was filmed in Providence, Rhode Island, with much of it shot at Brown University. The plot was apparently inspired by changes made at Brown station WBRU<\/a> (read a bit about the station here<\/a> and here<\/a>). An article<\/a> in the Brown Alumni Magazine about Brown alumnus and famed Hollywood music supervisor Randall Poster states, “Inspired by WBRU\u2019s changeover from free-form to commercial formats, Poster and Jack Mason \u201985 cowrote the movie A Matter of Degrees<\/i> after graduation.”<\/p>\n

I would LOVE to see this film!<\/p>\n