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WERS cancels "Nasty Habits"

> ... the metal show... I know the guy, Ryan Abbott, who has
> been doing the show... anyway, WERS already has a lot of R&B
> programming... and who cares about "ratings" on a college
> station?
>
> http://www.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=3547864
>

That's really too bad. I used to listen back when the great Mike Jones hosted it.

Of course we all know the sadness of what happened with a former host of the show.

I think his name was Marino...Don't remember.

Too bad for Emerson. Had I not dug on "Nasty Habits", I'd probably never done a metal show at Framingham State back in the day.
 
John Marino... yep... murder case... Mike Jones started that show and did a great job showcasing underground metal... I can't believe there's no audience anymore...

anyway, as I said... it's college radio... the more specialty shows, the better.

>
> I think his name was Marino...Don't remember.
>
> Too bad for Emerson. Had I not dug on "Nasty Habits", I'd
> probably never done a metal show at Framingham State back in
> the day.
>
 
I think the real reason for the end of "Nasty Habits" has to do with the cultural shift in the musical tastes of college-age young adults: Fewer and fewer of them are likely to listen to heavy metal and hard rock; more and more of them are likely to listen to rap and hip-hop, and other urban music.

WERS may think that there might not be many (if any) Emerson students with the knowledge of and interest in heavy metal to host "Nasty Habits", but there would be a lot more students who have knowledge of and interest in urban contemporary music.
 
they'd think incorrectly... I know a lot of kids who go to Emerson who are into punk, hardcore and metal music...

by the way, I searched the Globe archives and found the story about John Marino... it was in Oct. of '95 and he was charged with beating and stabbing a woman to death in his apartment in East Boston and then dumping the body behind a KFC in Stoneham... since I'm a subscriber, I have free access to the archives but can't provide a direct link and I won't reprint the article but you get the idea... anyway, I couldn't find a followup to see if he was convicted but that's the story.

>
> WERS may think that there might not be many (if any) Emerson
> students with the knowledge of and interest in heavy metal
> to host "Nasty Habits", but there would be a lot more
> students who have knowledge of and interest in urban
> contemporary music.
>
 
> I think the real reason for the end of "Nasty Habits" has to
> do with the cultural shift in the musical tastes of
> college-age young adults: Fewer and fewer of them are likely
> to listen to heavy metal and hard rock; more and more of
> them are likely to listen to rap and hip-hop, and other
> urban music.
>
> WERS may think that there might not be many (if any) Emerson
> students with the knowledge of and interest in heavy metal
> to host "Nasty Habits", but there would be a lot more
> students who have knowledge of and interest in urban
> contemporary music.
>

I'd like to agree, but there are so many kids into the underground metal scene that Mike Hsu of WAAF serves up a nightly dose of the stuff.

That may be why WERS has pulled the plug too. It's not underground anymore.

There are lots of "college aged" listeners who buy the hell out of Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Unearth, Strapping Young Lad...Hell I could go on but there's no point in trying to impress.

The real point is...there's an audience. But the powers that be at Emerson have decided it's not worth being served by WERS.

As far as having knowledge of the music...since when does that matter? :)
 
> here's another possible reason... the station's GM is Jack
> Casey, who used to be with "Magic 106"...

This all has to do with the fact that WERS is not a typical student-run college station. Though the programs are student hosted, the station is run by paid non-student adult professionals, and serves as the "crown jewel" to the public of the schools communications program.

Since one of the main purposes of the communications school is to groom students for professional careers, it serves the schools purpose to strive for good ratings to prove their track record.

Most student college stations are managed and run by student volunteers who are not concerned about ratings, and though some college DJ's and producers may go on to professional radio work, it's not necessarily the purpose of most other student college stations to train and groom their airstaff specifically for that goal as WERS does.

Also, WERS feels very competitve against other non-commercial and college stations. WMBR at MIT airs Classic R&B/Soul programming all Sunday evenings. WERS may be trying to grab those listeners.

WMBR Sunday evenings:

6 - 8 PM: "R&B Jukebox" - Captain Al Franklin (60's/70's/80's R&B/Soul)
8 - 10 PM: "Soul Spectrum" - Josh McDermott (Deep Soul/R&B/Dance 60's-today)
10 PM - 12 Mid: "For Your Pleasure" - Ray Antoine (R&B/Soul ballads 60's-today)

Capt. Al, Josh and Ray will just keep doing their thing regardless of what WERS does. WMBR doesn't care about ratings, and those high-quality shows have their own devoted followings.

(WMBR is a volunteer combination student/community station. Capt. Al is an MIT employee at a job unrelated to the station. Josh is an MIT grad student. Ray is a longtime community member).
 
> This all has to do with the fact that WERS is not a typical
> student-run college station. Though the programs are student
> hosted, the station is run by paid non-student adult
> professionals, and serves as the "crown jewel" to the public
> of the schools communications program.

- -

Just for the record... WERS is not run completely by "paid non-student adult professionals." The general manager and asst. to the GM (or op's manager), in addition to the engineering staff (shared with other audio depts of the college), are the only paid employees of WERS that are not students.

The remainder of the staff; PD/MD, APD, news director, production director, etc., are all students.

It was implied that the non-student staffers run the station; this is not true. Instead, they act as advisors to the students and oversee the student staff's decisions.

Just setting things straight.
 
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