Such was the fate of Rice's KTRU. So fell San Francisco's KUSF and Vandy's WRVU. Now comes WRAS' turn.

Stop me if you've heard this one.

Launched in 1971, Georgia State's student-run radio station has been invaluable to independent artists. The first to spin acts like Outkast, REM and the Indigo Girls, the station has been a must-get for bands hoping to make a splash on the CMJ charts. It's also been a boon to the Atlanta arts and cultural scene, promoting events through regular calendar announcements and ticket giveaways, as well as providing a training ground for jocks and engineers, many of whom went on to careers in broadcasting, production and music management. In 1987, 'RAS' clout got even bigger as it upped its output to 100,000 watts.

Now "Album 88" is getting nutted. After secret negotiations with Georgia Public Broadcasting, University president Mark Brecker announced last month that GPB will take over 14 hours of WRAS' air, replacing student-programmed content with NPR feed from 5 in the morning to 7 at night, leaving only the night hours for independent shows.

The takeover of both drive times and work day hours will be a terrible blow, not only to independent radio and its listeners, but to bands, venues, artists, galleries and performance spaces who rely on WRAS for promotion.

Adding insult to injury, the takeover isn't even necessary. Atlanta already has an NPR outlet in WABE, which supplies good local news coverage as well as national feed staples like All Things Considered.

While Brecker calls the gutting a "win-win" with "new and exciting opportunities in the changing media landscape" for Georgia State students, the pollyanna act isn't fooling students, alumni or Atlanta listeners, whose protests have delayed the switch from earlier this month to a newly-scheduled date of June 29. Students and supporters continue to oppose the move through their blog Defend WRAS and Facebook page.

They could use your help. Whether or not you're a resident of greater Atlanta, or a musician, artist or club owner, whether or not you even like indy rock, punk, reggae, folk, world music or anything not spun by the ZRock/PowerCountry behemoths, independent, community radio is essential to the character and health of our towns and cities and every station that falls to the onslaught of the homogenized server feeds, even good ones like NPR, is a loss to our national soul.

Please lend your voice to those trying to stop this takeover. Thanks.





More on the station and the sword hanging over it from Garrett Martin at Salon: College radio is dying — and we need to save it.





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