KURE responds
January 22, 1999
Letter to the Editor
We would like to respond to the article “IRHA questions KURE funding” in the Jan. 19 edition of the Daily. Although it is not stated directly in the article, a number of people have contacted us on why our funding is being cut by IRHA. We would like to clarify that our funding is not being cut at this time. However, the way in which KURE is funded in the future may be debated. The way the article was presented was somewhat skewed, and we feel, approached unprofessionally.
First, a few facts must be clarified. The GSB provides 40 percent of our funding, while 60 percent of our funding comes from the IRHA.
This is the opposite of what was stated in the article. The part of our budget that IRHA provides covers the daily operations of KURE. These expenses include: office supplies, phone expenses, maintenance, license fees, etc.
If GSB were to provide 100 percent of our budget, other organizations would lose funding because of the amount of money that it would take away from GSB’s other allocations.
These organizations would then have to approach IRHA or other campus organizations for funding or disappear because of the lack of funding.
Another blatant error was in the statement from Mr. Anderson that “KURE doesn’t do anything special for the residence halls.” There are numerous things KURE does for the residence halls.
KURE provides the unique opportunity for students to be a disc jockey at our station. KURE is a completely volunteer radio station, and over 50 percent of our DJs live in the Residence Halls.
The majority of the contestants in the annual Kaleidoquiz trivia contest are dorm floors and groups associated with the IRHA. KURE is also involved in Welcome Week activities, provides DJ services for floor parties, and works with Food Service as much as possible. An example of this is on Jan. 26 from 4 to 6 p.m. when KURE will be providing music on air, and giveaways for the Food Service ’80s night event.
KURE also keeps students informed of activities around campus, not to mention the wide variety of music we provide for the Iowa State community.
These are just a few things that KURE does for IRHA, ISU and the surrounding community.
The professionalism with which the article was written is another concern. When the Daily writer contacted members of KURE, most of the questions related to upcoming events at KURE, such as the 50th anniversary of student radio at ISU and other positive things that are occurring at our station. We hope that an article relating to these questions appears in the future.
The IRHA meeting was only a minor part of the conversations KURE representatives had with the Daily. This led us to believe that the article was about the station in general, not our IRHA funding. The Daily writer was directed by three different members of KURE to speak with Shane Ross, our Marketing Director / Interim Public Relations Director. The writer of the article never contacted Mr. Ross.
Concerning the IRHA meeting, yes, a majority of the discussion did relate to KURE. Only a portion of that discussion related directly to our funding.
During the meeting, the general manager and marketing director was asked several questions about KURE. Of these questions, roughly half were based on the IRHA funding.
To anyone that was not at the meeting, it may have seemed that a majority of the time was spent on the funding questions. In actuality, the funding questions were dispersed throughout the discussion.
As a closing statement, we would like to mention one of the greatest assets KURE has provided Iowa State. KURE has produced a number of student leaders.
Among them: Former GSB President Rob Weise and Vice President Matt McLaren, GSB Finance Director Jeremy Williams, Former IRHA President Jay McLaren and several others. That is not including those who came from our predecessors KUSR, KPGY and KISU.
We hope this will clear up a few misconceptions that have occurred since the article was published. Anyone with questions or comments can contact us at: 1199 Friley Hall, or (515) 294-4332.
Matt Baker
General Manager
Eric McAndrew
Assistant General Manager
Matt Borene
Chief Engineer
Melissa McCall
Treasurer
Gordon Ferguson
Operations Director
Dave Gugliotta
Programming Director
Andrew Seitz
Music Director
Shane Ross
Marketing Director
Doug Bywater
Production Director
Sean Holdridge
News Director
Justin Ihle
Sports Director
Meg Osfar
Online Director
Casey Houston
KQ Director
Lewis Hendrickson
Assistant Treasurer
Stewart Burger
Residence advisor / Director of Food Service
Dave Boone
Technical Advisor / Computer and Network Support Specialist
