Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Hot Goss Ousted WRVU DJ Pete Wilson Speaks Out Against 'Micromanaging and Censoring' by VSC
Posted by Steve Haruch on Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 10:11 AM
Along with those of two long-standing “community” (non-Vanderbilt-affiliated) DJs, my application to do a show this fall was rejected by Student Media Adviser Chris Carroll (acting alone). When I discussed this with him, I was told he thought I’d be “toxic” at WRVU because I had often stated publicly that an online-only WRVU would be a poor substitute for an FM station and thus the sale was a bad idea. He claimed I would badmouth the station and poison student morale. (I’m an alumnus and a VU staff member. Before turning in show applications, we’d been told that VU-affiliated non-students’ applications would merely be “reviewed” by VSC and did not need “approval.”)
Further along, Wilson says, "It was also clear that Carroll was retaliating against me for opposing VSC."
When WRVU capped the number of community "non-affiliated" DJs two years ago — keep in mind here that Wilson is a VU alum and staffer — a commenter by the name of "Intern Lance" wondered "if WRFN will wind up as the winner of this situation." In this case, maybe they have: Nashville Jumps now appears on the Radio Free Nashville schedule on Saturday nights from 9-11 p.m. And hey, it's still one of the best radio shows around — no matter where it's beaming from.
Comments (25)
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That kind of insight is why you guys pay me the big bucks.
-- (Former) Intern Lance
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I said it before and I'll say it again, the VSC has taken the "we'll shit on your lawn, want you to clean it up, but only if we approve of the way you clean it up" approach since announcing the sale. I give WRVU-HD a year Chris Carroll tells everyone to F-off and puts a Starland Vocal Band CD on repeat.
I was called by one of the Vandy undergrad donation solicitors two nights ago and let him know that I'm pledging $0.00 until they put WRVU back on the air. I bring this up because he then said "Yeah, I've talked to a number of people who are doing that. I think the University really screwed up on that." My answer: "Yep.".
Vanderbilt can continue to try to distance themselves from the choice to systematically destroy WRVU, but no one buys that line. They are paying and will continue to pay a growing cost for their decisions.
In defense of the awesomely attired Starland Vocal Band, not even the painful nature of their music warrants such an association.
So glad our beloved Pete and Nashville Jumps is back on the air. He deserves all the wattage he can get. Maybe again someday, from Baxter to Bucksnort...
During his tenure at Vanderbilt, Chris Carroll (and his students) have taken advantage of many resources the Nashville community has to offer. And yet by orchestrating the death of WRVU, he has made Nashville less of a nice place to live, and showed no respect for the community that has given him so much over the years. And now he is ruthlessly settling scores by denying Pete Wilson a radio show.
Vanderbilt University and its affiliated entities (medical and sports programs) will not get a dollar from me as long Chris Carroll is employed there and WRVU is off the airwaves.
Chris, you are piece of shit. To hundreds and possibly thousands of respectable members of this community, you are a laughingstock. I also have information that many of your colleagues are embarrassed of you. I am being completely honest when I say that as I raise my children, I will use you as the first example of the kind of person NOT to be. Fuck you, and yours.
The point Luke makes that Nashville is less of a nice place to live with the "death" of WRVU is spot on. I'm an ex-DJ of the station, and Vanderbilt grad. This is a travesty. If you Google "Chris Carroll College Radio" you will find that he has a history of antagonism towards college radio. Shame on Vanderbilt. They knew what they were getting with this guy. This is a perfect instance of the Vanderbilt and WPLN boards being cozy and striking a deal.
Nashville is a small town, getting bigger. At this point, the "powers that be" run in the same circles. Hell, go to any "black tie benefit" and you have been to them all. It's the same people. From Vanderbilt board members to WPLN board members, media people, developers, public relations people -- they are all part of the same clique. And they are all afraid to rock the boat. The fairgrounds supporters realized this and got together. They won at the ballot box. I think those who support WRVU need to get together in the same way. These outsiders are happy to ruin Nashville for their own benefit. It's time to speak your thoughts to neighbors and friends and get behind WRVU.
The link below takes you to a story on Chris Carroll's involvement with shutting down college radio.
Is he a "hired gun" paid for by public radio? Many think so.
As much as I like public radio (NPR), they have been very aggressive in transferring college stations to their ownership. In my opinion, Chris Carroll is much like a union buster. He is HIRED to come in as an all around good guy, however, he ultimately reports to his real leaders.
In my opinion, it his HIS job to bust up college radio stations, see that they are sold with minimal media reporting, then move on. The Vanderbilt board is in cahoots with the board members of WPLN. Carroll is the "bitch" they have hired to do the dirty work. This has been a long-term process. The long term approach has made it much easier to bury this story. Read the link below, or Google "Chris Carroll College Radio" and you can see how subversive Carroll has been.
http://www.scpronet.com/point/9603/p09.htm…
Write your letters to the FCC. Look online and inspect the public file for WPLN. Challenge the license when it up for renewal.
I'm not sure I buy HVB's theory, though I certainly sympathize with her/his attitude. If Carroll actually is part of a conspiracy with the express purpose of transferring college radio stations to NPR, he has been spectacularly inefficient at it. The University of South Carolina's WUSC was not sold, and remains with the university.
Numerous documents easily available on the Internet--including the one HVB linked to--do suggest a long-standing, strong and somewhat mysterious animosity to college radio, though. It led to serious conflicts and what appears to have been unethical behavior at both South Carolina and Tulane (if the information is right). And between the change in the constitution of the Vanderbilt Student Communications board of directors years ago, the community DJ limit established two years ago, and other bits of history, it's not hard to infer a "long-term process" to make WRVU vulnerable.
Why has he come into such conflict with the student radio station at all three of the three places he's worked since ca. 1990, while apparently getting along fine with students in other media? I'd sure like to know, but I'm not sure we'll find a fiendishly coherent scheme behind it.
I don't know if it would be fair to characterize Chris Carroll's intentions as being willfully malicious attempts to destroy college radio, one station at a time. It would, however, be fair to point out that he figures prominently in a non-profit think tank dedicated to innovation in college media (http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/) and that he makes himself available as a speaker specifically on the topic of converged student media. College radio doesn't fit very cleanly into the "converged" ideal media landscape, especially when it's like WRVU and mainly music shows.
Our "the VSC has destroyed a community resource" is probably his "the VSC reclaimed a resource for the students that can now fit within the confines of InsideVandy." The exact same thing happened to Versus, the alternative (and, by most accounts, superior) Vandy paper that was dismantled last year. It's all about control and a wrong-headed attempt to establish a be-all-end-all media unit for Vanderbilt (which is something that is already out of vogue).
I agree--to call the mindless destruction that is VSC oversight a "fiendishly coherent scheme" is to give managerial credit where none is due. Watching it occur (from the inside as a DJ and from the outside as a listener since the '80s) has been excruciating. Long live radio.
I've followed the WRVU sage since VSC solicited feedback many months ago. From the beginning I felt in my gut that the whole thing was a setup, a charade, simply pretending to be open-minded and uncommitted, that feedback would be appreciated and duly considered. It all seemed like a ruse then, a done deal, and what's happened since then has only strengthened that conviction. The latest nonsense with the unfortunate Mr. Wilson is just more of the same, par for the course.
Well done, Pete. I believe Chris Carroll has abused his position, and should be fired. He is a sociopath, thriving in the modern corporate culture. It is a sad culture that rewards narcissists, because of their clinical lack of empathy, with positions of power. They function as hitmen.
Jim Ridley posted a story below, about the recent death of Walk the West lead-singer, Paul Kirby.
While a DJ at WRVU in the mid '80s, I played the hell of the WTW. So did the staff.
When I set the needle down on that Walk The West vinyl, I knew it was being heard all over Davidson County by thousands of listeners.
I felt like I was part of the music and part of Walk the West.
Rest in peace, Paul.
And long live WRVU (That is what he would want).
In light of comments made about a conspiracy (for lack of a better word) between the Vanderbilt and WPLN boards, let me elaborate. Or perhaps state something that hit me after reading the comments (which I appreciate).
A few years ago, WPLN FM converted to an almost all news/talk format. Prior to that, you'd get your morning and afternoon NPR with plenty of classical music in between. Also around that time, WPLN started up the 1430 AM, which was also all news/talk when is was launched. (And still is).
I heard many complaints from the WPLN community that they were not happy with the classical music format being turned off.
I have a feeling these complaints were heard by the fund-raisers at WPLN. I also suspect, that regular donors (and some big-time donors) held back their financial gifts to WPLN.
I think WPLN head, Rob Gordon, then decided he needed a frequency which would be 24/7 classical to get these donors back into the giving game.
AM was not an option for him (because of hi-fi fidelity issues). So, he (and the WPLN board) began to look for frequencies in the public radio FM band.
Who did they find?
WRVU.
What happened next? WPLN folk made some outreach to Vanderbilt.
Since all these board-members are part of The Swan Ball crowd, a deal was eventually struck.
Somebody said, "I'll give more money to Vanderbilt, if Vanderbilt gives WRVU to WPLN."
Board members at Vanderbilt said, "Ok, let's make a deal."
Hence, WRVU became a pawn in the game.
Quite disgusting.
And another example of the "elite" using a heavy hammer (filled with gold coins) to get what they wanted.
I should also add to the above Swan Ball conversation, that somebody said, "I'll give more money to WPLN, if they buy WRVU and play classical 24/7."
And maybe if you got if your lazy butt and worked for a living instead of sponging of the taxpayers and your rich parents, you'd be successful too, Communist homosexual.
Have any of you little lazy bums even bothered to do SCIENTIFIC AUDIENCE RESEARCH to prove that the majority of Vanderbilt students ever listened to your Communist radio station? Or do you just want to cram your weirdo minority tastes down the throats of the majority because you hate oridinary people who work for a living and giving the public what it wants?
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