Dear Teya Ryan,

I am a recent GSU graduate and WRAS alumni. I am trying to understand the changes you have proposed for the current WRAS broadcasting schedule. Over the past couple of months we have heard all the right questions asked about this blatantly shady arrangement you forged behind the backs of those who will be most affected by the changes. Protests have arisen from GSU students, alumni, local and national press, members of the Atlanta community and beyond. Yet our questions have been granted very little in the way of straight answers. The official statements from administration at GSU and GPB reek of vague political rhetoric and seem to dance around a single truth: This deal has nothing to do with the welfare of the Atlanta community or the expansion of GSU student opportunities. Before your organization takes another step toward whatever you think is going to happen next week, I demand direct answers to the following questions:

1- How does eliminating WRAS’s unique and diverse programming in favor of shows that can be heard elsewhere represent an improved listening experience for Atlanta’s radio audience?

If you do not have a good answer for this question, you are not qualified to make decisions about non-commercial radio in Atlanta. Show me a stack of letters demanding more talk radio that is equal in vehemence and fervor to the #SaveWRAS movement, and I might believe you have some reason to think this is what Atlanta truly wants.

2- Do you realize that FM college radio is not just for college students?

Look at the rest of Atlanta’s radio dial. Four decades of Rock and Roll have been lumped together on some crappy station that isn’t even locally programmed. Since commercial stations are mainly vehicles for advertising to target demographics, this format is our only option for music that was popular more than ten or twenty years ago. WRAS provides the best local platform for new, independent and up-coming artists. Yet they also feature a wide variety of carefully curated specialty shows. These cover genres such as Classic Country and Western, Big Band, Motown, Doo-Wop, Lounge Singers, World Music, Folk, Psychedelic Rock, Blues, Jazz, Funk, and Soul ­­— most of which you cannot hear elsewhere on Atlanta’s dial. The students who program these two hour blocks of radio spend all week painstakingly researching the genres, and tend to showcase material which has never appeared on any commercial radio playlist.

These are some of WRAS’s most popular shows because they speak to all generations of music lovers. Many of them air during the day on weekends, when plenty of old timers still listen to music on their RADIOS, just the way they always have since before they had televisions. These are the same programs you are proposing to slash in favor of NPR shows which can be heard elsewhere, often at the exact same time. Do you understand how completely tragic and wrong this is? Furthermore, how can you claim to understand the meaning of “great radio” if you plan to interfere with WRAS in the slightest?

3- What opportunities, EQUAL TO THE CREATIVE FREEDOM OF RUNNING THEIR OWN STATION, will GSU students have access to at GPB that they DID NOT have already through the existing GPB internship program?

Every time someone asks this question to you or Dr. Becker, we hear a bunch of static about student access to the GPB television signal. This is all fine and good for students who are majoring in broadcasting or journalism. But WRAS offers beneficial opportunities to students from EVERY MAJOR at the university. Some of the station’s greatest programming was created by Math and Political Science majors who will never work in broadcasting again. Furthermore, there is no discrimination involved with applying to work at WRAS. Every single student who meets the minimum enrollment and GPA requirements, fills out the application form, shows up for orientation and completes the required legal process is IN. There is no competition involved. The chance is there for anyone who wants it. This is something which cannot be said for any internship I have ever heard of. If GPB will not offer such indiscriminate opportunities to each student from every corner of GSU, then what you are trying to give is in no way proportionate to what you are taking away.

4- Why was this deal, which is so sure to benefit GSU students, made without their knowledge or direct involvement?

And while we are on the subject, whose idea was it to conduct these operations under a shroud of secrecy? Was it you, who have failed before at butting into the public radio market via Atlanta’s college stations for the past decade because of “those damn kids”? Or was it our university’s president, thinking that adult students couldn’t possibly be trusted to take part in such important decisions? No matter how anyone tries to paint this, the way you went about it is the biggest failure of the entire deal. In shutting the students out from the start, you have nullified any claims you could possibly make for the purity of your motivations. There is no way either side will ever be able to convince people you had anything but your own mysterious interests at heart.

5- How do you expect this endeavor to be a success without the support of your public?

One would think that a Public Broadcasting entity might be a lot more concerned about the overwhelmingly negative public reaction and persistent backlash of media campaigns which have arisen in response to your precious deal. On the contrary, you have made no compromise to your intentions or your plans in the time since the contract was signed. You have barely reacted to criticism of the deal, and you do not seem the slightest bit threatened by the widespread protest. It’s almost as though you perceive your political agenda to be of higher importance than what the people want. Tell me, do you have some other source of capital besides donations from the public? Then perhaps you should look into purchasing your own commercial radio license.

I have read many of your interviews on these topics, and you have admitted that you don’t have answers to some of the most important questions which have arisen in the wake of this so-called partnership. You have also made it clear that you would rather bank on a lull in the protest movement to ease your efforts forward than find the missing answers to address these perfectly valid public concerns. You can’t expect your words to hold credibility when your actions tell such a different story. You seem fully determined to go through with this brutal act of cultural massacre despite the important questions hanging unanswered in mid-air. If you cannot or will not answer them in a way that satisfies public scrutiny, I demand you at least make an honest statement regarding your true intentions with the WRAS takeover.

I don’t know about you, but my imagination tends to run wild when I don’t get straight answers to valid questions. I’ve had almost two months to think about what could be going on here. In this case, all signs point to some kind of shady political circle-jerk. I also smell an entirely selfish desire to compete for profit in Atlanta’s existing (and already sufficient) public radio market for a fraction of what it would cost to purchase your own signal. How these motivations are connected is anybody’s guess, but it doesn’t take an ethics professor to tell that this is unacceptable behavior for a publicly-funded entity.

Because you have decided to force yourself into a market that doesn’t need you, fully legitimate public radio outlets will lose funding and college students will lose valuable learning opportunities. The Atlanta community will lose the last quality-driven source of music on local radio, and up-coming artists will lose their most powerful outlet for exposure. It would be one thing if you were bringing something new or unique to the table in return. As it stands, roughly 80% of the programming you offer is available from multiple existing sources. How do you sleep at night knowing that this is what you are doing under the guise of having GSU students and the Atlanta community’s best interests in mind? Why bother with the charade at all if you are so sure your deal is safe from the whims of public demand?

From where I am standing, it looks like your main goal is to derive increased donations and political influence from public resources. Furthermore, you seem to truly believe that GSU graduates and the public you claim to represent are stupid enough to sit by and let you get away with it. I can think of no other explanation for your flippant handling of the public outcry and your failure to answer certain questions directly. If I am wrong about any of this, then I challenge you to prove it.

Yours with utmost sincerity,

Melissa Limina GSU

Class of 2013

WRAS Volunteer DJ from 2010 – 2013

Host of WNGTI, 8bit 88 and Macaroni Radio

Founder of Adventures in Paradise