By Karen Aney (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 28, 2012
When I was young, whenever I said, “I’m bored,” my mother would always say, “You’re not bored, you’re just boring.” She stopped saying this, ostensibly because it had a special knack for eliciting fits of rage, but the lesson holds true. If you’re bored—or if you don’t like something—it’s your own fault for not bothering to do anything about it. What follows is the story of two things on campus that I wasn’t happy with, and how easy it was to make them change.
CIVL. It’s our school’s radio station. They broadcast an obscenely wide variety of music and talk radio. Despite that, how many of you have actually listened to them? In the interest of honesty, I can count the number of times I’ve tuned in on one hand, despite the fact it should be right up my alley – I’ve worked at a recording studio before, and as a Cascade employee, I’m more involved than most in campus goings-on.
Given the high calibre of programming that CIVL offers, this is a travesty. Unfortunately, it’s also a reality – CIVL just isn’t played enough around campus; as our University is primarily commuter-based, it isn’t played enough off-campus, either.
Another campus travesty, unfortunately, is the music offered at AfterMath. Yes, AfterMath – or perhaps, what’s quickly becoming known as dubstep central. No, wait—my bad—that should be loud dubstep central. The volume issues originate from a wiring SNAFU, which will be fixed in the summer, but that doesn’t mean it’s more welcoming for diners.
A conversation with manager Brad Ross revealed the factors that led to the current state at AfterMath: when he first took over, the pub played 99.3 The Fox – but since he wasn’t interested in playing a station with so much advertising, he switched to his iPod. The staff got sick of his music, so they switched to satellite radio, with the station to be chosen at the workers’ discretion from a pre-determined list. The result is an inconsistent experience that doesn’t jive well against off-campus establishments.
It’s understandable that employees got sick of their employer’s iPod, but (say it with me now, everyone who’s ever worked retail) they need to get over it. You may love dubstep, or metal, or Australian throat singing, and there isn’t a single genre that won’t offend anyone – but there’s got to be a better choice than the current system. If you work in retail, it’s your job to appeal to customers, not yourself. This may mean, horror of horrors, listening to the same song two or three times on an eight-hour shift.
Pay attention to this, students: not only are you the customers for our lovely campus pub, you’re also the employers. You have say in what goes on at AfterMath, and you also have some say in what goes on over at CIVL. One Cascade-born suggestion? AfterMath should support CIVL—and gain some consistency—by playing it instead of their own varied choice of music.
Aaron Levy of CIVL and Ross of AfterMath were both quick to say that it’s not always feasible. Most shows will offend someone, and some will offend most – “as it should be,” Ross is quick to point out. In the process of interviewing both parties about the possibility of playing CIVL at our beloved pub, this idea is on its way to becoming a reality. Both Levy and Ross agreed that playing CIVL at AfterMath during specific times where the programming is appropriate is not only possible, but a great idea. Levy, who mentioned wishing CIVL could even be piped into the Abbotsford cafeteria, loves the idea. Ross, who’s a big enough supporter of campus goings-on that he names his daily specials after UFV basketball MVPs, is completely behind the plan as well. There isn’t yet a specific date for this to be instigated, but like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, it’s coming.
There are many aspects of campus life at UFV that probably don’t live up to your expectations. CIVL doesn’t get played enough around campus. The music at AfterMath is inconsistent and often just plain bad. In this case, two wrongs make a right. I was bored with wearing earplugs while drinking cheap beer, and with wondering what actually goes on over at CIVL – and because I listened to my mom, that’s now going to change. If you get bored waiting for this change to actually be made, speak up for yourself. It’s our campus; we pay for the pub and the radio station. It might as well be something that appeals to us.
