Editor's note: The following opinion was posted by a staff member, Richard Clayton, on an internal mailing list, as part of a general discussion about defending WREK's programming.
... the topic of "mainstreaming" WREK came up. What are the chances they'll wanna see more "mainstream" stuff coming out of us? I guess it's not good to start thinking about the worst this early, but what if the powers that be want us to play more Star 94 stuff because they think that's what the students at Tech would like?
If you let that discussion go off in that particular direction for that long, you've blown it. This discussion inevitably comes up when I'm dealing with dummy ops [DJ trainees], and my answer is always the same: you will soon be part of an organization with an explicitly educational charter that is itself part of an educational institution. When you go on the air, one of your main objectives should be to give your listeners new or interesting things to hear. It may well be the students would prefer to listen to star-94, but under no possible definition of the word could that be considered educational.

With dummy ops, it's usually not star-94 but The Who or Led Zeppelin, and I always ask them: Of what possible educational value is it to play Stairway to Heaven or Squeeze Box? Are they obscure, unknown songs from some long forgotten corner of the band's history? Do you actually think you're showing people anything new when you play these songs? Are these songs repleat with layers and layers of hidden, deep meanings, just waiting for a perceptive explicator to unlock their mysteries and release the amazing, unexpected worlds hidden within? Is it really true that of nothing of comparable interest has happened in the thirty or so years since those songs were released? (Gosh, and I wonder why none of my dummy ops ever go on to become on-air staff.)

This is not to imply that it would never be possible to play Led Zep on WREK (and I believe it is at this point that I deviate from the WREK philosophy). For example, I suggest to my Led Zep lovin' dummy ops that they put together a Sunday Special illustrating how, before they got their musical inspiration by adapting the works of deranged English occultists, Led Zep got their musical inspiration by ripping-off the works of destitute American blues musicians. Such a show would, I think, be interesting, entertaining, and educational.

Richard Clayton, July 1999

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Edited by Chris Campbell, Jan. 2000