The Students' very Own

Campbell says it's unfortunate that the staff this year is almost unchanged, "at the moment it seems to be a very closed club. That may be of our own making, when you think about it. A lot of people may find it hard to get in." Campbell didn't exactly extend an invitation to new people to go along (although he may have meant to) but he did say they would like to see more comment coming "from outsiders", and more interest taken.

Active feels a close tie to Orientation. "I certainly feel our excuse to broadcast is Orientation", says Campbell. The station runs semi-regular summaries of what is coming up during the day, but it doesn't really monitor events. It doesn't say, for example, that such and such a band is playing in the quad in tenminutes time. Campbell tends to disagree. It's up to each announcer, he points out, but they do keep track on the pink programmes. "Perhaps that another criticism," he allows, but does not really think Orientation coverage is a problem. "The Orientation controllers have seen us." he says, "they've supplied us with information but they haven't said they aren't happy with what we are doing ... We have a definate responsibility to fit in with students. I think we are doing that".

The Orientation controllers say they are too busy to listen to Active and they don't have a radio anyway. They might be surprised to hear one of the jingles that station plays, which promotes the major Orientation bands. Instead of saying that this is the music we can hear during Orientation, they say this is the music we can hear on Active. Is this a sign of competition? Campbell says no. "In the jingles we do say 'Deadwood Revival'. We are pushing the bands. We give away tickets to every dance or hop... We are competing in the entertainment sense, but it isn't a question of pushing us rather than Orientation." In fact, Campbell thinks that without Active advertising it the Orientation programme would suffer considerably. There is another factor as well. "It gets to the point of deciding how far in each direction you want the station to go. Stations down town are all music. At what stage would we lose listeners by going too much into the talking area?"