It’s sad to see great opportunities misused and unappreciated8212;someone needs to tell that to the staff of KUTE radio.
As of Sept. 23, the KUTE radio staff is not allowed to use the facilities in the Union because of repeated violations of Union rules and policies. These violations include drinking on campus and propping doors open late at night. At first thought, that might not seem like that big of a deal, but on a dry campus with underage students in the KUTE production booth and employees in the building late at night, violation of these rules becomes a major safety concern and a huge liability to the U.
“We aren’t trying to be jerks about it,” said Union Director Whit Hollis. “We have to keep people safe.”
And rightly so. Union rules aren’t all that stiff, and they are there to keep people and the building safe. These aren’t the kind of rules you fight in defiance as a cause. For all of us who use the Union, keeping Union rules is the cause. When you work at the Union and don’t keep the building rules, you’re fighting against yourself. KUTE fought against themselves and succeeded in getting put on probation for an indefinite amount of time.
“(They) couldn’t get across to the DJs that the rules were important,” Hollis said.
Chris Mosher hosts a late-night radio show on KUTE. He said it’s disappointing and disrespectful that some people aren’t taking KUTE seriously. But if the DJs of KUTE can’t take their work seriously, how can anyone else be expected to? Organizations such as KUTE exist to give students a chance to apply their skills in a student-run, yet professional, setting. Or at least that’s the hope. It’s too bad that KUTE’s behavior hasn’t been able to exemplify this principle. It seems it could learn a thing or two from KUER, another radio station located on campus that does understand the importance of professionalism.
“U of U is a dry campus, and there you go,” said Elaine Clark, who produces “Radio West,” a program on KUER. “Rules are in place because you’re trying to create a professional product.”
Professionalism doesn’t mean having to wear a suit and tie to work every day8212;it’s more about the attitude. It’s taking yourself, your organization and product seriously.
“A professional product needs a professional setting,” Clark said.
KUTE production has been suspended indefinitely at this point. Hollis said to regain their rights to broadcast, KUTE will need to rethink their policies, do some retraining with the staff and be able to convince him that this is not going to happen again.
Of course, that might seem difficult when Mosher said last week that, “It’s almost a tradition that we get put on probation a few times a year.”
It seems like it would have been much easier to just grow up a little bit and treat your job with some respect in the first place.
