As a new member of
EARS and a first year student
| was looking forward to
spending this semester trying
a tadio station on for size.
-With all the hype that Dave
Schindler had given to me
over the last two years since
| had met him, | thought this
would be a wonderful experi-
ence for me! Once there |
was welcomed with open
arms, and thought | would get
involved by recruiting more
members, helping out with
administration stuff, maybe
having a show, and by trying
to procure the work study
position being

offered.

The first thing | noticed
was the lack of publicity. |
had gone there on a day
when all the other clubs had
their tables set out and were
rallying for members. The
EARS office was closed! |
looked and noticed that there
was a local radio station set
up in the Winter Garden and
they were interviewing peo-
ple, promoting UNBC and
talking with students and pro-
fessor’s. | asked myself why
EARS was not taking advan-
tage of this?

My first impression was to
be quite upset. Why weren't
they taking advantage of
such an opportunity to initiate
new members into their very
own Club, EARS and to hype
it up so that students would
see this and want to join their
campus radio! The explana-
tion | got was that ‘it was the
competition’. | thought this
was quite a defeatist attitude,
but seeing as | was new, |
kept my opinions to myself.

After joining and spending
a bit of time there everyday |
got the impression that it was
a fun place to be! Nobody
made mention of storms
brewing, then or in the past.
It sounded like a great club
and | began telling people
about it! | applied happily for
the work study position, just
chomping at the bit to get
started! The office was an
organizational mess, and
they definitely needed some-
body to come in and overhaul
it.

| was invited to attend a

Letters to the Editor

Ear Ache

staff meeting. | happily con-
curred and showed up. This
meeting had neither rhyme
nor reason. One fellow from
the community at large had
shown up and became a
member, offering his services
should the club need them.
Having come out of the busi-
ness world, | am aware of
how a meeting is supposed
to run. This wasn’t an official
board meeting, just a staff
meeting, yet | expected there
to be an agenda and a defi-
nite reason for the gathering.
This wasn’t to be the case.

It was slightly chaotic, and
| did my best to keep track of
what was going on, taking
notes at my own discretion,
and asking questions |
thought were relevant. The
conversation in the meeting
was quite scattered with peo-
ple getting distracted from a
definite purpose almost every
minute. | was a little per-
turbed as | have a daughter
who | had to find a babysitter
for just so that | could attend
this meeting. It seemed more
like a BS session than an
actual productive coming
together. At this meeting |
was asked to do up a flyer
and volunteer application for
people who would be joining.
| went home, smiling as | was
happy to be doing something
constructive and to be bring-
ing something that would be
of value to the club.

The next day my efforts
were largely unnoticed as
there were two directors of
the club going head to head.
| got the same story from
both after inquiring what the
problem was, and this was
that the other director, in their
opinion, figured that they had
all the ‘power’, neither was
giving appreciation for what
the other had done. Both
thought they had done so
much for the station, and dis-
counted the others efforts
completely. Both were at
odds, and | could see and
feel the tension in the air.

It suddenly all blew up,
and being witness to such
childish and outrageous
behavior from a couple of
adults was quite a shock to
my system. There was defi-

nitely a more aggressive
director, and | could see both
sides of the issue, but after
trying a few meagre times to
get them to keep the peace |
left the office.

On returning, | heard from
several witnesses that one of
the directors came at the
other in a threatening manner
which was then countered
with the other directors own
aggressive behavior. Then |
heard from a reliable source
that the third director was
insulted needlessly and
unwarrantedly. | don’t know
the exact reason for this,

except to say that it seemed °

to me that the insulting direc-
tor was simply blowing off
steam in the wrong direction.
Suddenly it seemed that
there was only one director,
one had left of his own voli-
tion, and the other was sim-
ply ousted without a second
thought.

This seemed very startling
to me, a new member, volun-
teer, and hopeful employee. |
thought this was a cool place,
where people got along and
worked well together to keep
the station running smoothly.
It being the first week the
radio station was actually
broadcasting to the public in
the community of Prince
George, there were a few
complaints.

All complaints should be
taken seriously; however, |
also believe that . these mis-
takes must be given some
thoughtful consideration. It
was the first week, mistakes
should have been anticipat-
ed, and instead of firing so

many of the DJ’s perhaps a-

more diplomatic and _ fair
option should have been
given by allowing the offend-
ing DJ’s to have another
chance. The DJ’s were all
supposed to attend a DJ Boot
Camp that had been set up.
None had attended up until
that point. Why wasn’t some
consideration given for the
fact that these DJ’s had been
on the internet, where any-
thing goes, for quite some
time, and the switch over

Continued on page 4

Backyard Barbecue
Break Down

by Dana Schwehr

This years annual
“Welcome Back” concert, put
on by the Northern
Undergraduate Student
Society (NUGSS) was a most
interesting experience.
Seven live acts, ranging from
alternative to hip hop to
Celtic, all shared one stage in
the UNBC Agora, and enter-
tained an unusually small
audience until the RCMP
came to shut down the party
at 11:30 p.m., one half-hour
into Spirit of the West's set.

That's right, this year’s
Backyard Barbecue was shut
down by the RCMP, due to
one noise complaint from the
South Ospika area at around
11:15 p.m. This year, the
Prince George Bylaw Office
told NUGSS that this year’s
event could not go past 10:00
p.m., due to noise bylaws. In
years past, there have been
many complaints about the
noise from the Backyard
Barbecue being heard down
the hill. This is because the
Agora acts as a_ natural
amphitheater, which com-
bined with past stage posi-
tioning, acts to channel the
sounds of the show down into
the bowl. According to the
Bylaw Office, the volume of
complaints in the past justi-
fied action against the event.
Because of this, it was broad-
cast by NUGSS that the
show would go only until ten
o’ clock. This caused a huge
decrease in ticket sales. This
was the first year the history
of the Backyard Barbecue
that tickets had not sold out.
NUGSS lost $5000 on the
event; usually they make

$5000. It was estimated that
if the show had sold out, it
could have netted $15-
20,000 for the student soci-
ety, which would have been
reinvested in the students, for
things such as a Student
Union Building.

Why did NUGSS not get a
noise permit? It was mainly
because of miscommunica-
tion between the university,
the city, and NUGSS, accord-
ing to Dan Wingham,
Associate Director of Finance
and Operations, as well as
the Media Contact at
NUGSS. Each organization
was working from its own dif-
ferent perspectives, and
none of these organizations
got together to coordinate
efforts to make the show run
smoothly. NUGSS did make
efforts to not disturb the city,
as they changed the position
of the stage, so the amount of
noise heard down the hill
would be reduced. This can
be seen as something of a
success, as only one com-
plaint was phoned in.

Unfortunately for everyone
involved, the show was run-
ning an hour behind, due to
technical difficulties. This was
partly due to new staff doing
the changeover onstage, and
this being their first show.
Also, the change from a rock
setup to hip hop, and back
again, caused problems as
well. The changeover from
Maestro to Spirit of the West
was scheduled to take fifteen
to twenty minutes, when in
actuality, it took closer to an
hour. Of course, no one want-
ed to have to cut any of the
bands short, or cut anyone
Continued on Page 10...

EARS

Extraordinary General Meeting
October ist, 2001

7:00pm to 9:00pm
In the Wintergarden

Items on the Agenda:
New director positions