Media Alert: Local public radio station KZSC goes corporate!

For Immediate Release:

Local college radio station KZSC Santa Cruz, 88.1fm is going corporate. At the beginning of this month, the self-described "non-commercial" public radio station began airing internal promotions for a contest sponsored by Toyota and Urban Outfitters.

As part of a joint internet "Free Yr Radio" youth marketing campaign (http://www.freeyrradio.com), Urban Outfitters and Toyota are giving away a single Toyota Yaris to contestants who make a donation to KZSC (http://www.kzsc.org) throughout the month of June. While no actual purchase or donation is required to enter the contest, KZSC has been on average making one announcement every few hours promoting the contest and with it the names of Urban Outfitters and Toyota.


So what's wrong with that?

While the majority of the airwaves are controlled by commercial radio stations, public radio (as well as pirate radio) remains one of the few places where the community has a voice. Because public radio stations rely mainly on the support of everyday listeners, as opposed to advertisers, they are simply more democratic and diverse entities.

By using the public airwaves to promote the launching of a wolf-in-sheeps-clothing faux-community corporate internet radio station, the very principle of public radio is compromised. It wouldn't matter if Starbucks was offering free Paul McCartney CDs to people who pledge to KUSP - Commercial speech belongs on commercial radio.

(See the GAP or Chevron's "People Do" campaigns for more examples of corporate "green washing.")


KZSC already airs paid promotional announcements for local businesses, how is this any different?

Like most public radio stations, KZSC has a variety of ways of generating income - these mainly include pledge drives and underwriting. While the former is simply a form of accepting money from individual donors (the public), the latter often comes from local business people who first and foremost, want to support public radio. Such businesses tend to be relatively small, and benefit the local economy. In contrast, Urban Outfitters and Toyota are huge faceless multinational corporations with no interest or loyalties to the community, except to the extent of getting more people to purchase more of their massed-produced products.


The Toyota Yaris is a hybrid car, and hybrid cars are good - isn't KZSC just being eco-friendly by promoting it?

Contrary to what automobile manufacturers would have you believe, the amount of fuel that an automobile uses is only one of many factors that contribute to global warming and the general degradation of the environment. Regardless of what it runs on (this goes for electric cars as well), automobiles require massive publicly subsidized infrastructure such as paved roads, freeways (see the widening of Highway 1), parking lots, gas stations, as well as paved space that could be used for public commons (think gardens, parks, mixed use housing zones). This is to say nothing of the millions of animals that are killed every year by cars OR the din of engines and wheels moving on pavement that most American cities now possess.


Oh come on, next you're going to say Urban Outfitters is as bad as the GAP!

Similar to Hot Topic, Urban Outfitters personifies the commodification and cooptation of rebellion and faux-individuality - The image, the look of being "edgy" or "subversive" supercedes and prevents the actual act of it. (Think of FUBU, only for indie-rock scenesters). The fact of the matter is Urban Outfitters is just another chain store fixed to a niche market that contributes to the homogenization of culture and art.

As for "Free" Yr Radio - this is just one more tentacle of the corporate youth marketing beast - a quick look at their website shows other nefarious affiliations such as My Space (owned by Rupert Murdoch's newscorp).


Okay, okay, what should I do?

By in large, KZSC is a wonderful local radio station that boasts some of the best shows in the Monterey Bay area. They've unfortunately crossed a line with succumbing to the siren-song of corporate sponsorship and we need to let them know we aren't happy about it. Please call or email the following folks and tell them to keep public radio public! Just say no corporate swine.

Register your complaint with:

Program Review Committee 459-4726 prc [at] kzsc.org
Broadcast Advisor Michael Bryant 459-4733 mbryant [at] ucsc.edu

OR

Call the DJ's directly and politely request that they REFUSE to read ANY corporate promotional announcements: 459-4036.

KEEP CORPORATE SWINE OFF OUR AIRWAVES!