KDWG College Radio Station On The Chopping Block? (Updated on 10/24/2020)

On January 17th, 2001 Dillon was greeted with the first broadcast from a station known as KDWG. It was new and fresh; I know it quickly became my go to radio station at the time. You could tune into it and hear a variety of music that the local radio station never played. Best of all, the DJ’s were students and local community members who would produce their own shows and maybe introduce you to a new band or type of music.

A few concerned people have reached out to SWMT, asking for the public’s help and voice. If you would like to see the station stay a fixture on this campus, as well as the air waves, now is the time to be heard. You can send your questions or concerns to brock.doty@umwestern.edu. The Student Senate will vote on the future funding of the station on 10/26/2020.

(Updated)

It seems we are receiving conflicting viewpoints from this story. We had a few concerned people reach out to us. Wanting the public to know they are looking into defunding the KDWG radio station. After looking over emails we had received from the people it looked as if they had taken a vote by the Student Senate. We were told our article was incorrect, but nothing to back what we had previously reported on. Today we were able to talk with both Brock Doty and Jake Kunze to hear the other side of the story. Please see the updated comments below.

This is what we had been told by the Chair of the KDWG Board:

Sadly, last spring the Student Senate took a vote to defund the station. They did this even though they had not included the status of the station on their agenda, and without inviting the station staff to participate in the discussion about KDWG's future. The motion to defund the station passed by a majority vote. The Dean of Students then convinced the Senate officers to abandon that decision until they could poll the entire student body and hold forum so both sides could be heard. Unfortunately, COVID hit and the campus went to online classes, which pushed the agenda back to now. The Student Senate will again be voting on this issue on October 26, 2020.

Update 10/24/2020

After speaking with Brock Doty ASUMW president and Jake Kunz ASUMW Vice president we have views from both sides of the story. Unfortunately, as we were writing the story we could not get in contact with Brock Doty. Today I was able to talk to him over messenger and this is what he had to say.

Jake Kunze:

"First off, I would like to mention that ASUMW over the past 2 years had invited KDWG to meetings to discuss the future of the radio and its financials. This year, the radio has been involved in the creation and review of the radio survey. The review took place on Monday the 19th where senators asked question and the radio was given time to speak to their side. We have also given the campus community the opportunity to state their opinion on the radio. Many of the responses have been from faculty members who don't pay for the station. The students who have responded to the email stated they don't listen to the radio station or attend their events. This article is factually incorrect. KDWG has been given ample time to over the past 2 years to work with us to find a resolution."

Brock Doty:

"In the spring there was a former member of student senate that did an internship with the vice chancellor of finance. They we’re looking over fees because this year is a fee year. The administration suggested to that student that maybe look at defunding the radio station because nobody on campus utilizes it to its full potential. So we put out a survey last year about student union building improvements and on there was a question about the radio station. We put out a survey just before spring break and then Covid hit so we never got a chance to vote on what we should do with the radio station. So that was our priority this year we sent out a radio station survey to the students because they are the ones that pay for it not the faculty and staff. On there we had asked 6 different questions. One of the questions was do you know the University has a student funded radio station? That question resulted in a 68.5% yes they know about it. Another question was do you listen to the radio station and that was 81.9% said no. We are currently asking for public comment and we will discuss it with the senate at our next meeting. Ultimately it’s up to the students as it is their fees that fund the radio station."