WALT in the news

Last week, The Davidsonian published a staff editorial about WALT. In response, Wes, Taylor and I submitted a letter to the editor. Unfortunately, we were informed that our letter was too long, so I had to cut it down a little. Hopefully, that version will appear in Wednesday's paper. Below, however, for you loyal WALT blog readers, is the unedited version. We'd love to hear your comments, so leave them below!

To the Editor,

The WALT executive board appreciates the attention that the The Davidsonian brought to the radio station last week with its staff editorial. However, we would like to clarify some of the points the article made, and to correct some others.

First, the editorial stated that only “five percent of the campus population” listens to WALT. This is incorrect; roughly five percent of the campus population produces radio shows as DJs. Indeed, the editorial itself made clear that WALT has had a daily average of about 200 unique online listeners this semester. Last September, 47% of our 1,640 online listeners were on-campus. While technical limitations prevent us from determining exactly how many students listen during a given period, these figures indicate that the number far exceeds five percent.

Second, the editorial’s criticism of WALT’s self-promotional activities shows a general misunderstanding of the station’s philosophy as a student organization. We find that students don’t tune to WALT as they would to a commercially-viable, 24/7 radio station; rather, they listen to specific shows on WALT (which has become even more convenient with the advent of podcasting). Ultimately, WALT is a shell organization for a variety of products, and not a product itself. If we provide the opportunity for DJs to reach their target audience, we consider ourselves successful.

To that effect, we actively promote our website, blog, podcasts, and online stream through Crier ads, mailbox fliers, and Facebook ads. We encourage our DJs to advertise their own shows as they see fit. Some want the whole campus to listen live, while some want only their close friends and family to download their podcasts. The e-board wants to encourage every student who has an interest to become a DJ, and so we leave it to them to determine how much exposure they have on campus.

Four years ago, WALT was a station of roughly 30 DJs with a weak AM-signal and zero campus presence. Today, with over 70 DJs, we continue to broadcast on 1610am but now offer live on-campus streaming and podcasts that are accessible worldwide. Additionally, we financed and produced two successful freestyle rap battles, two benefit CDs of Davidson artists, and we are currently planning our fourth annual Battle of the Bands for later this Spring. While we recognize that we can still improve as a station, perspective is important: we’ve come a long way in just four years.

Again, we want to thank The Davidsonian for drawing attention to WALT with their editorial. We also want to take this opportunity to thank the student body for listening, and encourage them to continue exploring the diverse content that is produced by their peers every week at www.listentowalt.com.

--The WALT Executive Board

Doctor, Doctor. Give me the news.

Hey, Kids. As Promised, here are WALT's latest charts and official ADDs to rotation. Keep on spinnin' the platters that matter.

WALT Playlists for CMJ NMR Issue #997

GODDAMN GO CARDS GODDAMN

Radio 200

Rank Artist Recording Label User Supplied Version
1 OF MONTREAL Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Polyvinyl
2 TOM WAITS Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers And Bastards Anti
3 VARIOUS ARTISTS 8-Bit Operators Astralwerks
4 APPLES IN STEREO New Magnetic Wonder Yep Roc
5 SHINS Wincing The Night Away Sub Pop
6 SONDRE LERCHE Phantom Punch Astralwerks
7 DEAN AND BRITTA Back Numbers Rounder / Zoë
8 CAT EMPIRE Two Shoes Velour
9 ELENI MANDELL Miracle Of Five Zedtone
10 YOUTH GROUP Casino Twilight Dogs Anti
11 LOCKSLEY Don’t Make Me Wait Feature
12 GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN The Good, The Bad And The Queen Virgin
13 XAVIER RUDD Food In The Belly Anti
14 KELLER WILLIAMS Dream SCI Fidelity
15 BUSDRIVER RoadKillOvercoat Epitaph
16 DR. DOG We All Belong Park The Van
17 DECEMBERISTS The Crane Wife Capitol
18 WARM IN THE WAKE Gold Dust Trail Livewire
19 YOKO ONO Yes, I'm A Witch Astralwerks
20 WOGGLES Rock And Roll Backlash Wicked Cool
21 TEDDYBEARS Soft Machine Atlantic / Big Beat
22 SLEEPING IN THE AVIARY Oh, This Old Thing? Science Of Sound
23 FRAMES The Cost Anti
24 DEAD MEADOW Dead Meadow Xemu
25 MAPS OF NORWAY Sister Stations Guilt Ridden Pop
26 THESE MODERN SOCKS These Modern Socks Princess
27 DEAR LEADER The Alarmist Lunch
28 LIPBONE REDDING Hop The Fence BeBop
29 KRISTIN HERSH Learn To Sing Like A Star Yep Roc
30 PIEBALD Accidental Gentlemen Side One Dummy

* indicates information which has not yet been verified by CMJ staff.


Radio 200 Adds

Rank Artist Recording Label User Supplied Version
1 THE VIEW Hats Off To The Buskers Columbia
2 THE SLIP Eisenhower Bar/None
3 SILOS Come On Like The Fast Lane Bloodshot
4 AQUALUNG PRESENTS "PRESSURE SUIT" * single * columbia * waiting for CMJ verification
5 UNSACRED HEARTS In Defense Of Fort Useless Serious Business

* indicates information which has not yet been verified by CMJ staff.

The blues had a baby and they named it WALT.

Hey, kids. So. Every week the Music Directors (David "I have a Chip on My Shoulder" Stroup and I) post our top 30 records to College Music Journal, which collects that from stations all across the country to make a Huge Radio 200 chart of the top 200 records in college radio. So. Theoretically, I'm going to start posting our charts every week so you, the dj/eboarder/enthusiast can see what's doing well at WALT right now. So... Enjoie, mes amis.

Radio 200

1
OF MONTREAL
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Polyvinyl
2
TOM WAITS
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers And Bastards
Anti
3
SHINS
Wincing The Night Away
Sub Pop
4
SONDRE LERCHE
Phantom Punch
Astralwerks
5
APPLES IN STEREO
New Magnetic Wonder
Yep Roc
6
VARIOUS ARTISTS
8-Bit Operators
Astralwerks
7
DEAN AND BRITTA
Back Numbers
Rounder / Zoë
8
GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN
The Good, The Bad And The Queen
Virgin
9
KELLER WILLIAMS
Dream
SCI Fidelity
10
YOUTH GROUP
Casino Twilight Dogs
Anti
11
BUSDRIVER
RoadKillOvercoat
Epitaph
12
XAVIER RUDD
Food In The Belly
Anti
13
DECEMBERISTS
The Crane Wife
Capitol
14
CAT EMPIRE
Two Shoes
Velour
15
ELENI MANDELL
Miracle Of Five
Zedtone
16
LOCKSLEY
Don't Make Me Wait
Feature
17
YUSUF
An Other Cup
Atlantic
18
WARM IN THE WAKE
Gold Dust Trail
Livewire
19
DEAD MEADOW
Dead Meadow
Xemu
20
LITTLE ONES
Sing Song [EP]
Astralwerks / Branches
21
YOKO ONO
Yes, I'm A Witch
Astralwerks
22
PIEBALD
Accidental Gentlemen
Side One Dummy
23
HAIKU
Blew
Bonafyde
24
DEAR LEADER
The Alarmist
Lunch
25
MAPS OF NORWAY
Sister Stations
Guilt Ridden Pop
26
THESE MODERN SOCKS
These Modern Socks
Princess
27
KEVIN DEVINE
Put Your Ghost To Rest
Capitol
28
VISITORS
The Visitors
Eschatone
29
WOGGLES
Rock And Roll Backlash
Wicked Cool
30
KRISTIN HERSH
Learn To Sing Like A Star
Yep Roc

Schedule and Podcasts

OK, ladies and gents, the schedule is up and the podcasts are... 'casting. Check it.

Let's get it started

[image provided by (jennY) on flickr through a Creative Commons licence]

Alright folks, it's go time. As of yesterday, the WALT Spring 2007 season has officially commenced. Once again, we have a great line-up. We have new DJs who will be doing their first shows this week. We also have some veterans, myself included, who will be doing their last "first" show. We are still adding some shows on, so I'll wait to report on numbers of shows and DJs for a week or so.

The schedule - along with the streaming and podcasts - should be available within a couple of days. Hold tight until then.

If you are interested in writing for this blog, please shoot me an email (jrtaylor --a-t-- davidson --d-o-t-- edu). We'd like to have music reviews, concert reviews, news from the music industry, etc.

A New Year for WALT... and its blog

Happy New Year to WALT DJs, our listeners, and members of the entire Davidson community. I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of 2007. There has been a lot of sadness with the departure of people we knew and people we admired: Gerald Ford, James Brown, and most recently and most sadly, Jay Chitty, a senior at Davidson College who died in a plane crash in Charlotte. Hopefully the year will only improve after these unfortunate losses to our communities and to our country.

On that note, I wanted to go ahead and announce on behalf of the WALT Eboard that Wes Cobb '07 is our new Station Manager. Under his semester of leadership, we will press forward with our fourth annual Battle of the Band, continue to improve and expand programming, and boost our listenership and community involvement. Taylor Ansley, who will be going into emeritus mode as he finishes his honors thesis in Political Science, has served the station well and we are all thankful for his dedication to WALT, its DJs, and its listeners.

Having stepped down as Program Director, I will be looking after the blog during my final semester at Davidson. With the help of our technical director Owen Bussey, we have successfully switched to the updated version of Blogger. Over the next week or two, I will be working with the layout of the blog to make it more interactive and hopefully a little more user friendly. Please bear with me while I play around with the new layout and features.

My goal for this space in the spring of 2007 is to turn it into a place where like-minded music-lovers can gather to share stories, links, videos, music, comments, and viewpoints. We had a great start in the fall, from off-the-wall clips on YouTube to album reviews to concert schedules. I think the next step is to get more people involved in sharing these and other ideas with us.

So, on that note, drop me an email [jrtaylor (at) davidson (dot) edu] if you care to become a contributor to the WALT blog. In the meantime, enjoy the first few weeks of 2007, and we'll see you soon when WALT gets back on the air later this month!

Christmelicious

Best. Christmas. Song. Ever.