"The problems today are not the evil actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and inaction of the good people. " ---Martin Luther King, Jr.

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: APPALLING INACTION

Vanderbilt University recently sent out the Fall 2012 edition of Tunnel Vision, a ‘publication for alumni of student media at Vanderbilt University’. Half of the publication is dedicated to the where-are-they now updates of alumni of Vanderbilt student media, such as WRVU. Going back to graduating classes from the early ’50s, proud WRVU alumni give short personal updates. The numerous contributing alumni with WRVU ties are varied and uniformly impressive – medical professionals, engineers, researchers, business leaders, media professionals, etc. It is clear that the WRVU experience either attracted the best of Vanderbilt and/or was a formative influence to future professional success. For instance, this Tunnel Vision edition featured an WRVU alumnus who went on the be a leader in treatment of Parkinsons and another who is a leader of a pediatric specialty hospital, but one such alumnus wrote the following:

"I'm quite saddened by the regrettably poor decision to move WRVU 
off the air."
---class of 1992. 

This alumnus suspects what we here at SaveWRVU know – but many alumni probably do not – the important formative experience of WRVU is all but decimated due to the recent actions of oddly unaccountable Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC). Referring to the Tunnel Vision publication, as the alumni updates progress into the 2000s, the WRVU contributions drop off noticeably. This is around the time when the recently configured, Chris Carroll led, VSC ramped up its campaign to hobble WRVU. Coincidence?

If you haven’t been following, WRVU Friends and Family have been fighting VSC’s proposed sale of WRVU’s on-air license. The strategy appears to be working. The VSC, who are expecting a $3.5 million payday from poaching WRVU’s assets are understandably loading their diapers in rage. The VSC and Media Advisor Chris Carroll, probably the person most responsible for this nonsense, together continue to lash-out at WRVU in infantile ways.

Will Someone Please Check His Diaper?

VSC: VANDERBILT STUDENT COMMUNICATIONS CONTROL

Here is a list of some of the more despicable actions carried out by VSC:
1) Unilaterally dismissing popular and long serving DJs from WRVU. Why? Just cuz..
2) WRVU has no representation on the VSC, but the VSC continually alters the policies and restrictions to those involved with WRVU with little to no input from even the officers of WRVU.
3) The tie between the Nashville community and Vanderbilt students has been completely severed as Chris Carroll has unilaterally blocked community DJ applications.
4) introducing vague threats by mandating that “editorializing on air” (read: censoring student WRVU DJs) as a policy violation that “may result in permanent suspension”.
5) All student DJs must use a 24/7 “in-studio webcam and agree to be broadcast on the webcam video stream”. (read: VSC surveillance) to guarantee a nice and docile ‘compliance’ and to generate a climate so miserable that few would tolerate.
6) and hence WRVU broadcast is often ‘dead air’ (auto-rotation DJ HAL). It is likely no one will be listening, but you do know that the VSC will. always. be. watching.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST VSC ABUSES?

VSC Vulture

Even though Chris Carroll and the VSC have all but broke the back of WRVU by gutting WRVU of autonomy, they continue to turn the screws. Last fall, The VSC, with no explanation, eliminated all non-active students from WRVU participation. Vanderbilt students put together a petition signed by nearly all student DJs, along with personal written statements, and presented it to the VSC in protest. The VSC, after months of feet-dragging, finally considered the petition and finally came up with a decision of provisional restating non-student DJs IF they pay for, AND, pass a back-ground check. !?! Whatever the student’s wishes, The VSC’s message is loud and clear – “non-active students are not welcome”. Why? These DJs have institutional knowledge of how WRVU used to be. Place a wedge between active students and alumni/staff with long running WRVU involvement, and in time, with student attrition, the current status quo, however intolerable, will be accepted as normal. Keep your victims ignorant and compliant.

STEALING FROM PETER TO PAY PAUL THE VSC

The very students who are getting browbeat and marginalized by the petty bullying of the VSC are the ones paying the VSC ‘adult’ salaries. Vanderbilt University claims they have no say in the actions of the VSC, but Vanderbilt students fund the VSC via mandatory student activity fees. So a cabal of unaccountable ‘adults’ get to push around Vanderbilt students with impunity, and, get paid by the victims! P.A.T.H.E.T.I.C. How can a purported top-tier university tolerate this appalling treatment of their students? The Vanderbilt administration and Board of Trust continues to watch dead-eyed as this embarrassing and shameful act unfolds under their noses.

BUT WAIT, IT GETS WORSE…

As you already know, VSC is trying to sell its only real asset, WRVU’s on-air license. But is Vanderbilt indirectly funding WPLN, the tentative purchaser of the WRVU’s on-air license? Vanderbilt affiliates have bought on-air and online ads from WPLN, that is, Vanderbilt affiliated organizations are providing back-door funding for the shameless destruction of Vanderbilt’s own student organization!

If you have been keeping up with the plight of WRVU, you will know that WRVU Friends and Family launched a sophisticated legal appeal to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during VSC’s recent attempt at license transfer to WPLN. WRVU F+F petition brought to the attention of the FCC VSC’s attempt to poach a federally designated ‘community asset’ for cash, is not only dubious, quasi-legal, but certainly, in no way, serves the public interest. WRVU Friends and Family’s end goal is to get WRVU back on-air and out of from under the unaccountable petty meddling of the VSC.

It is critical that YOU STAY WITH US, and yes, we are watching the situation very closely.

SOME BACK STORY…

As expected by us here at SaveWRVU, The VSC has been employing the long-game approach. VSC knows that the sale of WRVU will be made easier if they wait it out using natural attrition of students, via graduation, along with a steady drip of intimidation to make the sale of WRVU seem like a foregone conclusion.

VSC’s initial announcement to sell WRVU was made in 2010. It is now 2013. The deadline for the contract agreement between the VSC and NPR has even long passed with no final deal done. The sale has not been completed largely by the large and persistent support of WRVU supporters. It seems WRVU supporters have a bit of a ‘long game’ of their own. For starters, the good people at WRVU Friends and Family have successfully raised some of the several dubious actions directly to the governing organization of community radio licenses, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), via a series of Petitions to Deny VSC’s intention to poach a public asset for their own cash gain.

Regardless of what you have been led to believe, WRVU license has not been transferred and can still be returned to the students, where it belongs.

WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS:

1) If you have the opportunity to appeal to Vanderbilt Administration or Alumni Relations, relay your disgust. Withhold donating to Vanderbilt pledge drives until they correct this very obvious wrong. Tell Vanderbilt to stop being the dead-eyed, hand-wringing enabler.

2) Contribute to the WRVU Friend and Family Fund. Donate. Get friends and family to donate. Go HERE to donate.

Remember: Nashville Public Radio (WPLN) has a CONTRACT to purchase 91.1 FM but the SALE HAS NOT HAPPENED YET and there is nothing that prevents Vanderbilt University, VSC, or WPLN from walking away from the deal and returning WRVU to 91.1 FM.

It has become clear that we simply cannot accomplish our mission of reviving 91.1 FM without a very real and very strong showing of financial support. Such support will enable us to continue the legal strategy that has the ‘evil-doers’ wetting themselves and shaming them in front of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) into returning 91.1 where it belongs – to the Vanderbilt students and the Nashville community.

Feel confidant that we would not be asking for your money now, nor would we waste our time fund-raising, if we did not believe it would be useful in our campaign to recover 91. 1 FM.

Gifts of any amount are welcome but the sooner we handle this the better. Why not turn that $10 gift into $100? $20 gift into $200? Or $50 into $5,000? Think about all WRVU has done for you and no matter how much you give, I am certain that you will be getting a deal.

PLEASE GIVE NOW.

Visit VivaWRVU.org to Donate.

Remember that generous donors get to pick one of the few remaining limited edition custom posters!! (They make great gifts too!!!)

Please give in whatever way you can and ask your own friends & family to do the same — you could even ask Santa to make a donation on your behalf. It is hard to think of a better gift than ‘RVU*!!!

Join us in this campaign for the recovery of 91.1 Nashville and for the protection of college radio everywhere. It will take a Miracle to get WRVU back on the air, but with snowmen dancing and reindeer flying, it seems like a fantastic time of year to try!

VIVA WRVU!

If you have been following the events around WRVU over the past year or so, you know that the Chris Carroll-led Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC) is in the midst of a bald attempt to gut a Vanderbilt student-run organization, WRVU, by poaching-for-cash WRVU’s on-air license. This ‘reap-and-run’ selling of all of WRVU’s substantial assets, of course, is at the expense of the Vanderbilt students that the VSC is, by their own mission statement, charged to protect. [Apparently, the 'Student' in 'Vanderbilt Student Communications' is there for irony.] The greater Nashville “Music City” Community also stands to be robbed of a revered music institution.

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

WRVU Friends and Family is leading a sophisticated legal appeal directly to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – the organization that administers the allotment of airwaves for public use. These recent petitions to the FCC spell out VSC’s failures in being a responsible steward of the WRVU on-air license. Due to VSC’s dubious handling of the on-air license, the VSC has no business selling it, and certainly has little grounds for justification of how the public can possibly be the benefactor of such a shameless cash-grab.

Here are the legal moves that have occurred in the past several weeks:

WRVU Friends and Family Issue Petition to Deny. See HERE.
VSC Responds with Opposition Reply. See HERE.
WRVU Friends and Family’s Reply to Opposition to Petition to Deny See HERE.
Petition to Deny Assignment of WFCL (formally WRVU) License to Nashville Public Radio..
See HERE.

DONATE! GET A POSTER!

The proposed sale of WRVU to WPLN is not serving anyone well, least of all Vanderbilt students and the Nashville Community. This sale can be stopped. That is why we need you to donate. Can you help bring WRVU back to the students and to Nashville? With your help, we can. If you think student/community radio is important, not just in Nashville, but everywhere, than you want to help save WRVU, if nothing else to send a signal to future vulture’s to say “Not so Fast!”. Please DONATE and get a beautiful hand-printed ‘bring WRVU back to its true glory’ memento as a reminder to your contribution to save WRVU!.

Nashville, TN – July 5, 2012 – Attorneys Michael Couzens and Alan Korn, acting on behalf of WRVU Friends & Family, have filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny the renewal of license for the Vanderbilt University radio station WRVU Nashville.

The petition by WRVU Friends & Family—a non-profit organization established last year by a group of community listeners, DJs, and Vanderbilt alumni—asserts that Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC) acted ultra vires (in excess of legal authority) in initiating a sale agreement with Nashville Public Radio station WPLN. The petition states:

• VSC’s corporate charter and bylaws prohibit VSC from selling and/or relinquishing control of WRVU.

• The VSC board that voted to sell WRVU violated FCC Rules and Regulations with a series of substantial and abrupt changes to its board’s voting majority membership, of which it repeatedly failed to notify or seek approval from the FCC.

• The terms of the agreements between VSC and WPLN evince an attempt by both parties to circumvent FCC Rules and Regulations prohibiting the sale of airtime.

• Under the Management and Programming Agreement, VSC has relinquished control of the license’s management, programming, operation and financing to WPLN. This constitutes de facto grant of control over the license without Commission approval, a serious violation of the Communications Act.

• The FCC cannot make the necessary determination as to whether renewal of VSC’s license is in the public interest when WPLN is the entity in control of that license and VSC is but a zombie licensee that will provide no public service in the renewal term, but will simply collect its bargained-for cash price.

“[License] Renewal under these circumstances is simply not in the public interest,” says a statement from WRVU Friends and Family. “We are confident that the FCC will give due consideration to the issues we raise and will ultimately reject VSC’s renewal application while the agreements with WPLN are in place.”

Although a classical music feed from a studio at WPLN’s offices has been broadcast on 91.1 FM since June 7, 2011, the sale of WRVU’s license to Nashville Public Radio cannot be completed until Nashville Public Radio raises $3,250,000 from its supporters, and VSC receives authorization from the FCC to transfer control of the noncommercial license to Nashville Public Radio.

In spite of being one of the nation’s top college radio stations (averaging 28,500 unique weekly listeners from July to October 2010) in one of the country’s major music markets, WRVU has joined a notable number of other endangered college radio stations in the U.S. The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times have been covering the plight of college radio:

Chronicle of Higher Education, “What’s Eating College Radio?” Read HERE.

The New York Times, “As Stations Are Sold, Debate About College Radio” Read HERE.

Contact: Jeremy Benjamin, jeremyben@gmail.com; 646.457.2345

###

ATTACHMENTS -

WRVU Petition Filed – July 5 Press Release: HERE.
Issued Petition to Deny – WRVU Friends and Family: HERE .
Declaration RS: HERE .
Declaration JH + Exhibits A to C : HERE .
Declaration AK + Exhibits A to H : HERE

READ ALL ABOUT IT ! -

WRVU in the News:

7/5/2012: The Nashville Scene – “WRVU Friends and Family Files Petition to Deny with FCC”
7/5/2012: Radio Survivor – “WRVU Supporters File Petition to Deny College Radio Station’s License Renewal”
7/5/2012: WSMV-TV Nashville – “Group Renews Fight to Save Vandy Student Radio”
7/6/2012: VU Today – “Vanderbilt in the News”

Today, June 7th, 2012 marks ONE YEAR since Vanderbilt University’s beloved radio station WRVU 91.1 FM Nashville was abruptly silenced by Nashville Public Radio.

58 years of student broadcasting came to a sudden halt 2:45 PM CST when DJ Pete Wilson of Nashville Jumps was shuffled off the air by WPLN Engineer Carl Peterson for what he, and the other WRVU DJs, believed was “routine maintenance” on the transmitter. It would not be long, however, until the students were locked out of the studios and DJ HAL (the automated playlist) took over the airwaves for what would be the few remaining hours of 91 Rock.

At midnight June 8th, 2012, a classical music feed provided by Nashville Public Radio pushed its way onto the airwaves and Music City has not been the same since. In one final strike, a yearlong battle to save this cultural has historical landmark was silenced by a wall of smoke and mirrors while the students were far away from Nashville.

Today is a bittersweet celebration as we lament the current condition of 91.1 FM but celebrate the fact that THE SALE IS FAR from over. In a legal sense, it hasn’t even begun. While a contract to purchase the station has been made & VSC is currently leasing the frequency to Nashville Public Radio, 91.1 FM STILL BELONGS TO VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY.

SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Regardless of what you have been led to believe, no WRVU license transfer can occur without the above being successfully completed.

1. WPLN must raise $3.35 Million Dollars from its members & supporters. (JUST SAY “NO!”)

2. The Vanderbilt Board of Trust must approve of the sale of “Substantially All” the nonprofit assets of Vanderbilt Student Communications.

3. The Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr. must believe this sale and the conduct of the VSC serves the public interest.

4. The FCC must approve Transfer of Control from Vanderbilt to NPR.

We have many reasons to believe these things will not happen. As such, we have retained communications attorney’s Michael Couzens and Alan Korn to represent our case. We are confidant in their abilities as they have already done a fine job fighting for KUSF at the University of San Francisco. This is a national college radio crisis.

“The Wheels of Justice grind slowly, but exceedingly fine” has become our mantra.

This battle is only beginning & we are so thankful that all of you have kept the faith for so long. In the current edition of the Nashville Scene you will find the latest update on the situation by Music Editor Steve Harush.

Read article HERE

TAKE ACTION TODAY: TELL VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY AND NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO (WPLN) WHY YOU HAVE SUSPENDED YOUR GIFTS TO THEIR ORGANIZATIONS & WHY THEY SHOULD RETURN 91.1 FM TO THE STUDENTS WHO BUILT IT NEARLY 60 YEARS AGO.

Keep up the letter writing. VANDERBILT CHANCELLOR ZEPPOS and VANDERBILT BOARD OF TRUST are RESPONSIBLE for EVERYTHING that happens at VU.

Email: nicholas.s.zeppos@Vanderbilt.Edu

* Nicholas Zeppos, Chancellor
* Vanderbilt University
* 211 Kirkland Hall
* Nashville, TN 37240
* (615) 322-1813

Vanderbilt University Board of Trust

* Office of the Board of Trust
* Vanderbilt University
* 305 Kirkland Hall
* Nashville, TN 37240

The same tactic might be used at WPLN and WPLN President Rob Gordon…

Email: rgordon@wpln.org

* Rob Gordon, President
* Nashville Public Radio/WPLN
* 630 Mainstream Drive
* Nashville, TN 37228
* (615) 322-1813

IN FACT, why don’t we FLOOD these guys with calls??? !!!

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Contribute to the WRVU Friend and Family Fund. Donate. Get friends and family to donate. Go HERE to donate.

*All donations to the WRVU Friends & Family, a 501©3 organization, are 100% tax deductable to the extent allowed by law.

As you are aware, shameless vultures, aka the Chris Carroll led VSC, are in agreement with WPLN, Nashville Public Radio, with the primary purpose of wringing cash assets from the formally student-run and student-operated organization, WRVU. Why? To pay for Chris Carroll and his ‘adult’ staff salary bloat – a pathetic, VSC-led, petty cash-grab at the expense of a student-run asset serving the public. When there is a few bucks to skim, there is no level certain types will stoop to turn a quick buck, even if it is on the backs of students and the public good. The most galling part? The administration of a purported top-tier university such as Vanderbilt is watching dead-eyed as this embarrassing and shameful act has unfolded under their noses and on their own campus. [Psssst! Vanderbilt, void sale of WRVU! ]

Chris Carroll - VSC Vulture

SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Things seem to be quiet as of late. A little too quiet?

VSC and WPLN/WFCL are in a lease agreement only. That is to say, in order for the full license transfer to occur, several hurdles have to be overcome by the VSC and WPLN/WFCL.

1) WPLN/WFCL has to pay the VSC $3.5 million
2) Any license transfer requires an open FCC mandated 30 Day Public Comment period where Vanderbilt students and Nashville Community can comment on the travesty that is the sale of WRVU.

Regardless of what you have been led to believe, no WRVU license transfer can occur without the above being successfully completed.

It has been 9 months since the announced agreement and none of these hurdles have been met. This could mean that WPLN is having a tough time meeting the terms of the agreement, or it could mean that the VSC and WPLN are waiting for the outcry to dissipate.

One thing is certain:
The listening public and Vanderbilt students are taking the hit on this one.
-Vanderbilt student DJ involvement is down and ‘Dead Air’ is up [See below].
-The Vanderbilt/Nashville bond that WRVU provided is severed entirely thanks to Chris Carroll and his VSC.
-Much of WFCL, the classical music format station that is occupying WRVU’s 91.1 signal, is canned. Broadcasts are piped in from other NPR affiliates and NOT generated locally. How is this serving the public?
-Nearly a year into WFCL’s run, the listener-ship numbers have not been particularly impressive, further calling into question: How is this serving the public?
-The empty promises of the VSC remain largely unfulfilled.
-The VSC justifications for such an affront to all sense of common decency remain limp at best.

The proposed sale of WRVU to WPLN is not serving the benefit of anyone, least of all Vanderbilt students and the Nashville Community.

WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS:

1) When this comment period begins, the Nashville community has the opportunity to comment on whether the transfer is good or bad for the affected community. This comment period could start tomorrow, or it could be this spring. Stay with us. We will let you know when it begins.

2) Contribute to the WRVU Friend and Family Fund. Donate. Get friends and family to donate. Go HERE to donate.

Why is this important? Although resistance to the, frankly, idiotic sale of WRVU has been loud and universal, we have no idea how the FCC will weigh their decision of granting the license transfer. License transfers such as this one proposed by the VSC are VERY Rare. Why? Because it is batshit stupid to sell off a priceless asset such as damn-near impossible to obtain asset such as WRVU’s on-air band width.

It is critical that YOU STAY WITH US, and yes, we are watching the situation very closely.

INSULT TO INJURY

Since the new “reboot” semester of WRVU, Chris Carroll can’t help but further turn the screws on those who might make the most of what remains left after the grave onslaught Chris Carroll has exacted on WRVU, a once proud and independent student organization.
1) The tie between the Nashville community and Vanderbilt students has been completely severed as Chris Carroll has unilaterally blocked community DJ applications. Most haven’t bothered reapplying since it is clear they are not welcomed.
2) WRVU is often ‘dead air’ (auto-rotation DJ HAL). [see below for more analysis]
3) Chris Carroll’s led VSC is doling out vague threats by mandating that “editorializing on air” (read: censoring student WRVU DJs) as a policy violation that “may result in permanent suspension”.
4) All student DJs must use a 24/7 “in-studio webcam and agree to be broadcast on the webcam video stream”. (read: Chris Carroll’s surveillance ‘Panoptic Prison’ to further stamp out whatever vestiges of independent thought and spirit are left in the participating students to guarantee a nice and docile ‘compliance’.

Yes, my pretties, Chris Carroll and the VSC are watching...

With the much reduced audience that WRVU has without an on-air license, you know that few are listening, but you are guaranteed that someone is always “watching”. Good times to be a student at Vanderbilt.

Mandatory surveillance? Vague mandates on ‘editorializing’? It is then no shocker that WRVU ‘dead air’ is up over 400% since WRVU has gone online only.

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

The proposed sale of WRVU to WPLN is not serving anyone well, least of all Vanderbilt students and the Nashville Community. This sale can be stopped. That is why we need you to donate. Can you help bring WRVU back to the students and to Nashville? With your help, we can. If you think student/community radio is important, not just in Nashville, but everywhere, than you want to help save WRVU, if nothing else to send a signal to future vulture’s to say “Not so Fast!”. Please press this button.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here are the incredible tallies for ‘dead-air’ (DJ Hal) taken at a random date. These sort of numbers are typical of most other weeks. As of a typical week 10/28/11 at 3pm:
Sun: 1-10a, 11a-1p, 5-6p, 11p-12a (13 hours)
Mon: 12a-6a, 7a-12p, 3-4p, 8-9p, 11p-12a (14 hours)
Tu: 12-8a, 9a-12p, 1-2p, 4-5p, 11p-12a (14 hours)
Weds: 12a-1p, 3-4p, 8-9p, 11p-12a (16 hours)
Thu: 12a-6a, 8a-12p, 3-5p, 11p-12a (13 hours)
Fri: 12a-9a, 10-11a, 12a-2p (12 hours)
Sa: 12a-12p, 1-3p, 6-10p, 11p-12a (19 hours)
101 hours of automation (60% automation in a given week, daily range 50% to 79%)
The 79% is SATURDAY!!!! Unbelievable!

Here’s the most recent schedule I could find for comparison, Spring 2009

http://web.archive.org/web/20090226093935/http://wrvu.org/schedule.html

25 hours of automation in 1 week (14% automation)

Here’s the Spring 2001 schedule:

http://web.archive.org/web/200101240307/http://www.wrvu.org/schedule.html

27 hours off air, 21 of which was between 3-6am (16% off the air).

So there was a 7% decline in potential dead air from 2001-2009.

In the context of the sale of the station, between Spring 2009 and Fall 2011, there has been a 416% increase in dead air. As a point of reference, the notification of the limitation of community DJs was released November 11, 2009, presumably to begin Spring 2010.

But 416% is one hard number tough to argue against.

The proposed sale by the VSC of the WRVU broadcast license to WPLN is just plain wrong from the point of view of any reasonable ethical or moral standard. To the detriment of the student body they are supposed to be serving, they've sold away an asset with a rich legacy and proven educational benefit far beyond the money it would receive in return. They've done somaking a mockery of any semblance of procedure or concern for the stakeholders. The decision was taken unilaterally and the sale was done in secret to avoid interference from those who had the most at stake. To not call this out is to be complicit in the crime. I believe there is a principle of justice at stake here.

Why is the cause to Save WRVU important?

One thing that can be learned form recent country-wide ‘occupy’ movements is a universal agreement to stem the rise in base and indefensible behavior. It is now time to push back!

Our demands are pretty simple and amazingly simple to enact.

SaveWRVU Demands the Following:

1) Cancel License Sale and Return WRVU to the Students.
2) Chris Carroll. Must. Go.

Simple.

1)Cancel License Sale and Return WRVU to the Students.

WRVU was a happily student-operated radio station for 50 years. Only recently, over the past 5 to 10 years, responsibilities and control of WRVU moved into the Troll-infested claws of (also recently hi-jacked) Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC). [Vanderbilt Student Communications is the entity that is charged to over-see all student media groups like the print, tv, and radio. Carroll started his shameful tenure at Vanderbilt by reconfiguring the VSC out of the hands of the students and into a group of like-minded adults and 'at-large' students, who, may have absolutely no experience with the member groups they are charged to protect. See FAQ for more.] Coincidentally (or not) this VSC power grab of WRVU has occurred exclusively during the tenure of Chris Carroll as VSC Media Adviser, which brings us to demand number 2…

Chris Carroll

2) Chris Carroll. Must. Go.

Chris Carroll, Media Adviser of the VSC, along with fellow Toad, Mark Wollaeger, is largely responsible for all that has gone wrong with WRVU. Chris Carroll has morphed the VSC into his own image, a vampire squid that has wrapped around the face of WRVU relentlessly jamming his engorged funnel into WRVU to extract its cash and soul, leaving nothing but a hollow lifeless shell. Even more maddeningly, this pathetic cash-grab is only to fund Carroll’s and other ‘adult’ (i.e. unnecessary) adviser salaries. The salary outlay before Chris Carroll became Media Adviser of VSC? $40k. The current salary outlay of VSC under Carroll’s stewardship? $450k + !?! WRVU is being sold off to pay for VSC’s unnecessary salary bloat. Plain. And. Simple.

Now, we at SaveWRVU would readily admit that if the poaching of WRVU’s cash assets to feed VSC recent salary bloat somehow provided some benefit to the other student media groups, perhaps we might back-off our calls to right this egregious wrong, but the best that the VSC can come up with is … wait for it…. HDTV for VTV. HDTV? You are kidding, right?

Undoubtedly, the self-styled media maven that is Chris Carroll is lording over the other media groups including the umbrella online vehicle that is InsideVandy. The snooze-fest layout and vanilla site-design screams Carroll meddling, particularly, when the comment section to WRVU related OpEd pieces seem to filter out responses critical of the sale, yet, seem wide open to spam attacks. InsideVandy and the rest of the VSC media groups are being creatively stifled to keep student intellectual and creative input to a minimum. This theory bares out since there have been an eye-brow raising uptick in resignations, across numerous member media groups, since Carroll started as Media Adviser. Before Carroll’s involvement, student resignations were unheard of. Under Carroll’s watch, resignations are rampant. Maybe this is how Vanderbilt wants its student media to be: Safe. Vanilla. Boring. If so, Chris Carroll is your man, but these are the opposite traits you would advocate coming from a top tier University. One thing is certain. Whatever good (and there is some: HERE and HERE ) does come out of VSC member media groups, it is done in spite of, not because of, the input of Chris Carroll. Hence, Carrol. Must. Go.

Despite the wreckage Carroll’s decade-long campaign has wrought, his zeal to crush WRVU continues to this day. As noted earlier, Chris Carroll is currently unilaterally setting up new petty rules and overtly denying DJ spots to former popular DJs of long running shows because these former WRVU DJs did not act sufficiently submissive during the Carroll led campaign to sell-out WRVU.

Vanderbilt University has a lot to answer for itself for letting Chris Carroll behave with unchecked impunity.

For starters, Carroll’s behavior is working counter to the University’s own interests. Any fool knows you don’t sell an asset you can’t replace. Chris Carroll is not your ordinary fool. Vanderbilt University should be the first to know that WRVU is a valuable University asset founded and operated by Vanderbilt Students. It is not Chris Carroll’s asset to sell.

Questions we want Vanderbilt University to ask itself:

How does secretly selling off valuable assets promote education?

Doesn’t the circumvention of regular procedure by a staff member betray the trust placed in that person by the students and the University?

Doesn’t the backhanded and secretive nature of the transaction confirmation that Chris Carroll believes, in any case, that no consensus for the sale of the license would have been found in an open process?

What authority does Chris Carroll have to unilaterally sell of such a valuable educational asset?

Isn’t Chris Carroll’s behavior a breach of trust which is grounds for immediate dismissal?

Is Vanderbilt University an institution for higher learning or a stomping ground for petty tyrants?

Why does the VSC need seven paid staff members, which account for the lion’s share of the budget?

Shouldn’t control of the VSC reside with the students with representation from all of the involved organizations?

I’m sure you can think of others. Call every day. Don’t stop.

What Can You Do Now?

For starters, what we need more than anything right now is the patience, the support, and the confidence of Music City, U.S.A. This battle for 91.1 FM will be long and intense but, we believe, VERY worthwhile.

GET VOCAL WRVU!!! Let WPLN and Vanderbilt University know that this frequency sale is a terrible idea that has spun out of control. DEMAND that they retract the agreement.

Keep up the letter writing. VANDERBILT CHANCELLOR ZEPPOS and VANDERBILT
BOARD OF TRUST are RESPONSIBLE for EVERYTHING that happens at VU.

Email: nicholas.s.zeppos@Vanderbilt.Edu

* Office of the Chancellor
* Vanderbilt University
* 211 Kirkland Hall
* Nashville, TN 37240

Vanderbilt University Board of Trust

* Office of the Board of Trust
* Vanderbilt University
* 305 Kirkland Hall
* Nashville, TN 37240

The same tactic might be used at WPLN and WPLN President Rob Gordon…

Email: rgordon@wpln.org

* Rob Gordon, President
* Nashville Public Radio/WPLN
* 630 Mainstream Drive
* Nashville, TN 37228

If you are Vanderbilt Alumni, Donate a ‘Goose Egg’!

Make a $0.00 donation to Vanderbilt and tell them why. Go to
www.PledgeNothing.com
to catalog your ‘goose egg’ pledge until Vanderbilt rights this egregious wrong.

…And boycott WPLN and WFCL until the frequency is returned to the students of Vanderbilt University!

VIVA WRVU!

Remember, 91.1 FM frequency sale HAS NOT HAPPENED YET and it is still possible to SAVE WRVU!

The wheels of injustice caused by a Carroll-led VSC are beginning to grind and reverse. Pressure is mounting on several fronts.

There are MANY positive developments to report:

1) !VIVA WRVU! HAS LAUNCHED!:

VivaWRVU is the banner for which WRVU Friends and Family, the organization leading the charge to stop the frequency sale, will use to bring back WRVU from the ashes. Be sure to visit VivaWRVU.org to donate and get involved!

What we need more than anything right now is the patience, the support, and the confidence of Music City, U.S.A. This battle for 91.1 FM will be long and intense but, we believe, VERY worthwhile.

VIVA WRVU!

2) GOOSE EGGS!:

The Vanderbilt Administration continue to get the message via alumni donors. Recent alumni fund drives are coming up with a pile of ‘goose-eggs’ for donations. Alumni donation participation is critical for Vanderbilt maintaining its recent uptick in college polls like US News and World Report. The past and current antics of Chris Carroll and the VSC continue to embarrass Vanderbilt University and will hurt the university where it hurts most, in the rankings. One such disgusted alumnus has set up a brilliant means to post your disapproval with Vanderbilt University for allowing the VSC proposed WRVU frequency sale. Go to
www.PledgeNothing.Org
to catalog your ‘goose egg’ pledge until Vanderbilt rights this egregious wrong. Here is one anecdotal example SaveWRVU has heard: ‘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.”.’

It goes without saying the above ‘goose egg’ pledge goes double for WPLN!

3) VSC SPIN CAMPAIGN NOT WORKING!:

Nashville Public Radio has not yet met the obligations agreed to execute the sale (namely, paying for it) and the Federal Communication Commission has not announced a public comment period nor have they approved the sale. Simply put, if WPLN can not come up with the money, the deal is off. See number 2 above!

The VSC and Vanderbilt controlled media outlets are icing out the fact that the proposed sale of 91.1 is proposed only, and are printing that the sale is already consummated. WRVU Friends and Family representatives have recently written InsideVandy, Vanderbilt Magazine, Dot Commodore, and Vanderbilt Hustler asking them to hold up the tenants of good journalism and report that the sale is proposed only and that a large and growing organization is out there actively preventing the sale. At best, these letters have received a cursory response. At worst, they have been outright rejected.

Despite these misleading articles and their refusal to print letters that highlight the facts, the truth is still getting out. There are indeed students, alumni, and members of the Vanderbilt Community who refuse to accept the patent falsehood that the frequency is gone.

This is NOT over and everyone deserves to know.

While there are times we may disagree with the choices made by the InsideVandy / Hustler editors, there are many times we commend them for the willingness to take a stand on important issues. One such example can be found HERE .

Loyal Fans and Listeners of WRVU, the battle for 91.1 FM continues . . .

JOIN WRVU FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

Chris Carroll. Please. Go. Away.

CENSORSHIP BY PRIOR RESTRAINT

As noted earlier, Carroll and the Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC) – wholly deprived of representatives of WRVU – continues to have an overbearing role over what is now, in name only, a student run organization. Carroll has made it a career at Vanderbilt to wrest control of basic responsibilities out of student hands and, now, continues unabated, with a new string shameful deeds as the neutered new WRVU starts its ‘reboot’ semester. The latest Carroll dictate is making sure that DJs, who rightly aired grievances with the recent deplorable actions of the VSC and its dishonest handling of the proposed sale of WRVU over the past year, be subjected to an unprecedented VSC ‘screening’ process. Troll-in-chief, Chris Carroll, unsurprisingly, is rejecting applications of DJs who have not proved sufficiently submissive through the recent Carroll-led attempts at poaching of WRVU to pay for Carroll and VSC ‘adult’ salary bloat.

A letter the editor from one such victim, a 10+ year WRVU DJ of a long-running highly popular show and current Vanderbilt Staff Member wrote the following:

VSC REVOKES VU STAFF MEMBER'S DJ PRIVILEGES
[...]

[...] 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.')


I said that when I decided to do a show again, I determined to 
do what I could to improve WRVU in its new form. Why would I sign up if 
I wanted to sabotage WRVU? I promised not to 'editorialize' while working, 
and suggested that at the first questionable syllable they could can me. 
I pointed out that no WRVU staffer had expressed resentment of my 
comments — we’d been on the same side. None of this made a difference. I 
think Carroll just doesn’t want me to have any chance to state my 
opinions publicly. This seems a clear example of censorship by 
prior restraint.


It was also clear that Carroll was retaliating against me 
for opposing VSC.  He claimed that giving me a show would be like 
inviting someone to your house for dinner after he had insulted you. 
[...]


Carroll said that he would rather run automation, which 
currently fills much of the schedule, than give a show to someone 
whom he sees as a potential troublemaker. This was not the will 
of the station staff. General Manager Robert Ackley enthusiastically 
invited my continued participation and that of the two other rejectees 
(for whom I do not speak here, by the way). [...]

I believe Student Media Adviser Carroll is imposing his 
will on the station for reasons of censorship and retaliation 
(against me in this case). I feel I’ve been wronged, but I 
write also because I think Carroll is behaving unethically to 
disempower opposition to the license sale — which by the way 
is not yet complete — and establish greater control over WRVU. 
Once again VSC makes clear that the interests of WRVU and 
its student staff are not a priority.

Does this mean students shouldn’t support WRVU? Of course not.  
It’s more important now than ever. WRVU is still a golden 
opportunity for students and a part of Nashville culture, whether 
on the airwaves or not. Keep your eye out for ways to show your 
support, and become a DJ yourself — it’s your right as a student, 
and fun as hell.  This is a crucial moment and you can be a 
part of it.

Read full letter HERE. Related article in InsideVandy can be read HERE .

Note that this letter to the editor is posted on InsideVandy also under Carroll’s purview and unsurprisingly, readers have found it difficult to get their responses to show in the comments section. Hmmmmmmmm.

Better yet, it is advised to check out the excellent coverage provided by the Nashville Scene. They have a comments section that actually works! See Nashville Scene article HERE .

The real shocker is that this Troll overlord is operating unfettered, at the obvious expense of the students, with full complicity with the Vanderbilt administration, who ostensibly should be functioning on behalf of the students and keeping a check on these ‘adult’ trolls gone wild.

ARE THERE BIGGER FORCES AT PLAY?!?

A great in-depth report on the PRC, strip-miner of college radio, can be found HERE in the invaluable blog Keeping the Public in Public Radio. In the article, WRVU’s case is highlighted as being the latest in a string of ‘serial killings’.

A must read: Public Radio Capital: Money From the Sky

Carroll and Wollaeger

We at SaveWRVU received notice of the following entry placed on the WFCL Wikipedia page:

'From 1971 to June 7, 2011, the 91.1 FM frequency was occupied by 
Vanderbilt University’s WRVU, a college radio station. The University’s 
student communications division made the decision to sell the station 
because of poor student participation and interest in WRVU. Nashville 
Public Radio, which had long been exploring the possibility of making 
WPLN-FM a full-time news and talk outlet, decided to purchase WRVU in 
order to air the station’s classical music library, offering area 
listeners a choice of formats.'

We all know that the two greasy toads largely responsible for the attempted dismantling of WRVU, Chris Carroll and Mark Wollaeger, are masters of playing fast and loose with the truth. This sort of wiki-nonsense has Carroll and Wollaeger written all over it and could be yet another example of the two toads attempting to whitewash the truth. The fact is, student interest in WRVU, at the time Wollaeger and Carroll decided to poach it for cash, had never been higher, with large student interest and an unprecedented large class of new trainees. Wollaeger was privy to these facts of high student interest at his announcement of the VSC’s decision to pursue offers to buy WRVU’s on-air license.

THE VSC TOAD SQUAD STRIKES

This will not come as a shocker to anyone, but the new-and-diluted WRVU has gone through the DJ selection process, which, and this will come to a real shocker to those who are used to the “transparency” of the VSC, that some former WRVU DJs most vocal about trying to protect WRVU from the ignominious sale, didn’t have their applications accepted and were unceremoniously iced out of the the mail listserve and the station. Explanations given by the VSC? None. Once again, the VSC strains to break the back of what once was (but will soon will be again!) venerable student (not adult toad) run organization. These VSC toads continue to bring shame and embarrassment to the ideals and educational mission of Vanderbilt University.

ARE THERE BIGGER FORCES AT PLAY?!?

A theory that is gaining traction is that there is an entity prowling out there that is systematically lopping off college radio stations for cash. Recent closures of numerous college radio stations like KUSF, KTRU, WDUQ, and others all bear the all-to similar fingerprints of a trained serial killer. That killer now has a name: Public Radio Capital (PRC). Members of PRC seem to mysteriously crop up in and around the decisions of nearly all college radio closures that have occurred over the past few years. Guess what? It appears that one of these PRC toads is involved in the closure of WRVU. William King of the PRC is a board member of WPLN, the buyer in agreement with the VSC to purchase WRVU’s on-air signal. The PRC seem to operate in much the same manner as a bottom feeding West Virgina coal strip mining company – The PRC take public beloved resources/institutions like college radio and concoct lucrative back-door deals, either as buyer, or, as facilitator, and secretively poach these public institutions for cash in such a way that the unsuspecting public is robbed and left with PRC desolation before anyone realizes what has happened. The PRC strip-mine public institutions like WRVU for cash.

A great in-depth report on the PRC, strip-miner of college radio, can be found HERE in the invaluable blog Keeping the Public in Public Radio. In the article, WRVU’s case is highlighted as being the latest in a string of ‘serial killings’.

A must read: Public Radio Capital: Money From the Sky