(humming) Stir it up...

My column of two weeks ago about WVGS 91.9 fm, GSU's campus radio station, seems to have ruffled some feathers.

If you haven't read the column, click on the link above. It's okay, we'll wait for you to come back here.

A small war of words started, centered around Facebook.com, of all places. Never one to shrink from a challenge, I've been clarifying my thoughts for folks.

Check here. Or here. Maybe here, too. I also heard that the kids on their morning show were talking smack about me. It'd be great if they'd write honest-to-God letters to the editor (or even straight-up e-mails) that we could publish, but I guess this latest generation doesn't do that kind of thing.

I got a Facebook message from a former WVGS staffer. With her permission, here's her message and my response:

From:	Cortney Johns
To:	Jake Hallman
Subject:	WVGS
Message:	seriously do you have to hate wvgs so much? Im not even there anymore and it drives me crazy that you care so much to write as much negative stuff as you possibly can about it. Just to let you know, ive had a bad taste in my mouth about you the first time i met you at the hostage thing and you acted all nice to my face then wrote such horrible things about what i was doing there inthe next paper. That wasnt cool. Advice to you, give it up, GSU is not going to have a station like the 1970's anymore. This is what the professors want and thats what goes. Open your own station and play what YOU want to hear please so we dont have to hear you bitchin anymore! Oh, even it is negative your still giving us publicity so thanks for that. thanks, Cortney X Buzz employee :) and this is only my opinion not anyone elses.

And my response:

02.12.07 11:36am

Jake:

Sorry about the hostage thing. Over the past year I've learned that when I need to be a bastard, I need to just come out and be a bastard, not sugar-coat it. To be honest, though, you always did strike me as one of the talented WVGS people. Hope you're doing something in the field now. My writing style tends to be more sledgehammer than scalpel. I love WVGS — really, I do. That place made more college memories for me than damn near anywhere else except for Foy, where I had all my classes. That's why I can't stand to see it become 99X-lite. In my latest Connect piece, I tried to present some steps to help the station. I don't want to see it disappear, but I firmly believe it can be much more than it is right now. And becoming something more is doubly important right now — when I came up through the DJ ranks and was station manager, we didn't have to compete with iPods and satellite radio. Seems like a million years ago, but it wasn't even a decade. WVGS is going to have to offer the listener something new, some compelling reason to tune in. That reason should be that WVGS will introduce them to new music they'll like, good stuff that they won't ever hear on other stations, or won't hear on other stations for months. Everybody wants to be part of the in-the-know crowd and feel like they're ahead of the curve, and WVGS can leverage itself to use that particular quirk of human psychology. But, as you said, this is what the professors want. That's why I and several others vehemently opposed the changeover of the station to the comm arts department. It feels like WVGS lost its soul in that transition. Thanks for writing. Seriously. In fact, the above is probably what the column should have been. If it's all right with you, I'd like to post your message, my respose, and whatever your response may be on the Connect blog at connectstatesboro.blogspot.com. If it's not cool for me to use your message (and believe me, I'd understand), I'll just post the guts of my response, edited a bit for the world at large. Again, thanks for writing. If you've spoken with anyone else who thinks I should die in a fire, let them know that we'll gladly print any "letters to the editor" they send, and I'd be happy to open up a dialogue with them.

Let me know your thoughts. As soon as I find out what the morning DJs were saying about me, I plan to make an unannounced visit to one of their shows.