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| Tom Varner Dear Ms. Dowell, I just learned today (Feb. 8, 2006), that UE is considering selling WUEV. From what I have gathered, the university has been approached by an outside party to buy WUEV. The university has stated that if this is happens, then a separate campus-only station will be opened so that students can still have the same opportunities. This isn't true. Should the university decide to sell WUEV, students will not have the same opportunities in radio and media that they have available to them currently. WUEV has been around for over 50 years. Though it is a university-owned station, it has established itself as a premier radio station. The station is a fixture in the community and is one of the distinguishing characteristics that makes UE unique from other academic institutions. Working at UE, students gain the feel and experience at what it is like to work at a radio station where people outside of the university listen to them work. This experience cannot be duplicated and should WUEV be sold, this valuable opportunity for students will be lost forever. WUEV has won numerous awards and through the different show formats, has a wide variety of listeners. I would be willing to wager that the majority of them do not wish to loose WUEV to another pop or country radio station. I worked at WUEV for three years, three years as a DJ on Rated G and Solid Rock and a year as the producer of Rated G. Rated G earned some very distinguished honors, including a couple of Marconis and a Gabriel Award, and during my tenure as producer the show was nominated for a Peabody Award. I have many, many memories of the studio and it is a special place to me. The station provided me experience of the finest caliber. This is something that cannot be duplicated at a campus-only station (I know because I've worked at one of those now, too). The university has done a variety of things over the past several years that I have not exactly agreed with (beginning with the elimination of the school football program) but I stood by and supported my alma mater nevertheless. Should the university decide to sell WUEV, I cannot support the university in the same way as I have. I know that there are many other alumni who feel the same way. Selling WUEV would be a diservice to the students of UE, the alumni who support the school, and the community at large. Selling WUEV would be a dishonor of everything the university supposedly stands for. Please, do not allow WUEV to be sold. Sincerely, Tom Varner Class of 1998 |