WRVU Friends & Family is an independent nonprofit organization not affiliated with Vanderbilt University or the VSC.

On September 16, 2010 Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC), the guardian of WRVU's FM license, made a surprise announcement that it would be "exploring the migration of radio station WRVU to exclusively online programming and the sale of its broadcast license". In a release to the press, VSC Chair Mark Wollaeger, Professor of English, used the following logic for taking WRVU 91.1 FM off the air: 1. “Currently operating revenue for student media is mostly generated from print advertising whose future is less than certain” 2. “Our surveys indicate that each year fewer Vanderbilt students are listening to over-the-air radio”                     **************************** In his September 19th meeting with astonished WRVU DJ's just a few days after they learned of the possible sale of their 91.1 frequency, Wollaeger stated frankly that the VSC, under the direction of Chris Carroll, had been loosing revenue sources over the past few years and that the radio frequency was their only asset.  "We don't own anything" Wollaeger said in an exasperated remark he (and only he) found entertaining.   He added that the VSC would not have to sell the station "if we (the VSC) could support ourselves". Wollaeger proceeded to insult the DJs on several accessions by calling their listenership "small". He falsely stated, "Arbitron ... the listenership is so small it doesn't even register. ... It's way down in Nashville. ... The estimates are, like, 300 regular listeners in the community." Offical Arbitron numbers from October 2010 prove, however, that WRVU has a CUME of 30,000 REGULAR LISTENERS each week! DJs were mostly courteous in their objections to his uniformed ascertains.   One even suggested finding other ways of securing VSC revenue such as fundraisers and alumni pledge drives.   "We've tried that," Wollaeger said, "We've tried everything". Most WRVU alumni questioned, however, including former General Managers and Program Directors, said they had never been contacted by the VSC for donations.   Many added that they would be happy to pledge support for WRVU. Wollaeger openly told his crowd that the operational costs for volunteer radio WRVU are approximately $15,000 per year.   He quickly added that a $100,000 transmitter had been purchased for the station last year (the first in many years) and attempted to tell his crowd "The Hustler paid for that". In reality,WRVU is one of 10 student media organizations under the VSC umbrella. THe VSC has an operating budget of $900,000 per annum (Wollager).   Half of this is provided by the Student Activities Fee. Minus some VSC expenses for rent (approx. $5,000 for the studios) and VSC staff salaries (???) WRVU's allotment from of the VSC annual budget should be in the neighborhood of $90,000 per year. With no new studio equipment to mention in recent years, the station comes in way underbudget.  In addition, WRVU is successful annually with its benefit concert which can gross upwards of $14,000 dollars.   Any new studio equipment, transmitters, etc.  purchased by WRVU in recent decades have been completely paid for by the radio station through fundraisers and the allotted portion of the Student Activities Fee. Student volunteers from the Speed School of Engineering have presided over WRVU equipment purchases since the 1950s.   It is therefore redundant to say that WRVU's studios have always been state-of-the-art. Today, WRVU is proudly enjoyed across the world thanks to innovations in streaming technology implemented by the students of Vanderbilt University.  In the statement to the press, however, the VSC implies that WRVU is somehow technologically inferior to other Vanderbilt media organizations, "Student staffs with other VSC traditional media outlets have been among the most innovative and progressive nationally in transitioning to new media models.  VSC’s responsibility to students obliges it to explore how WRVU could be transformed to secure opportunities well into the future." Despite these statements, the VSC is quick to use WRVU's advanced cyber-technologies to support their argument that the powerful FM frequency is no longer a necessity. In generations past, the VSC has celebrated WRVU's technological accomplishments, it is difficult to say why they are punishing them now. When pressed by DJs on how the money from the frequency sale would be used to improve the VSC (especially a VSC without one of its 5 founding members), Wollaeger, like the VSC statement to the press, only had a vague notion of an "endowment to support innovative student media experiences, facilities and operations at Vanderbilt University in perpetuity". Although the VSC press states that "no immediate decision on the possible sale of the WRVU license is expected from the VSC board of directors", Wollaeger let it slip that WRVU may be off the air as soon as "next year". He closed by poking the student DJs with an irritatingly a playful tone at a somber moment, "Hey" he shrugged, better this than "doing The Rice Thing where you just sell the damn station.   Do it over the summer and hope people don't get angry."                     **************************** The VSC is soliciting comments about the frequency sale at their website vandymedia.org. This is, however, a highly dubious avenue for complaint as it has been documented that the VSC registered the domains savewrvu.org, savewrvu.com, and savewrvu.net for their own purposes one week prior to announcing the sale and pointed them there.  Only after pressure from the Nashville Scene did the VSC relinquish control of the sites to the WRVU Executive Staff.   Also, it has been noted that comments concerning the sale of WRVU have been moderated and erased by members of the VSC staff on other vandymedia.org pages.   Now those discussion boards have been disabled. Because of these things, there is REAL concern that comments made on the VSC website will be lost in depths of cyberspace. When WRVU students began turning to the Administration for help, infiltrators with known connections to the Vandy media organizations that may benefit from the "endowment" began appearing on the SAVE WRVU facebook page urging that students not to write the Chancellor, "Please contact VSC - which is an independent entity - directly". In other words, our letters to the Administration might actually be working! In his meeting with WRVU staff a few days after sale of the frequency was announced, Dr. Wollaeger stated that the VSC Board had been discussing the sale of WRVU's licence behind closed doors "all last year".   "Now it's your turn to join the discussion," he told the enraged WRVU staff. Listen to the Podcast here                     **************************** Students and fans of WRVU are best advised to contact Vanderbilt Administration, Alumni Associations, and Student Government Associations and urge them to act on this very important issue that effects all of Vanderbilt life.