A music... Choice by David Alfe We all listen to the radio at least once a day, one time or another. We all have our sepa- rate tastes and there usually is a station covering at least one if not all of them. On the AM dial, the varying stations include news (KYW), two way talk (WCAU), classical, middle of the road, and - of course, ‘top-forty’. The ma- jority of young people 12-20 years of age are attracted to ‘top-forty’ type stations. The major stations which carry this format are WIBG and WFIL. Basically these stations play the “top 10 to 20’ of the national ‘playlists’ with a few local favor- ites, an occasional request, old- ies, and plenty of commercials. The common complaint among Listeners the ‘constant’ listener (one who listens to three or more hours of radio a day, not necessarily at one time) is that the same songs are played every 20-30 minutes; and after 3-4 hours of the same songs, a fast talking DJ and end- less commercials, you're up a wall. Besides, not all of the music played is that good. Is there another alterna- tive? The answer is yes, and it’s on the FM dial. Here, as on the AM dial, there are different sta- tions for different tastes; jazz, soul, easy listening and under- ground. Underground started in the late 60’s with WMMR fol- lowed by WDAS. These stations pioneered in playing under- ground music, which consisted of Rock, Progressive Jazz, Black “and Folk. Most of the DJ’s were hired from the ‘radicalized’ WXPN (University of Penn) which combined Rock and Black mu- sic with political and community affairs. Later WDAS evolved to an all-Black format leaving WM- MR to fill the ‘White’ counter- part of the underground radio. WMMR, in the early 70’s, ‘began evolving into a more folk type music, and began shunning the rock and jazz it had started out with. Also, it began to play : Yess and less of those groups who had started out on the under- ground stations and had become successful receiving AM airplay. Some examples: The Who, The Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills, Nash & Young, Chicago, etc. © WDAS and WMMR were the only choices to escape the AM racket. This continued until the late summer of 72 when WIFI switched their ‘Solid Gold Stereo’ format for a middle of the road cross between ‘Top Forty’ and underground. The format was to play some of the ‘Top Forty’ but not as regularly, also include album cuts, songs by well known groups and by not so well known roups. an occasional oldie and e ss commericals. In other words, slow down the pace from the rat race of AM stations. This seem- ed to be a good idea because the constant listener, as explained before, now had something he could enjoy, but not for long. In the beginning of 1973, WIFI eliminated the album cuts, play- ed singles, went to a “Top Forty’ “Let’s Boogie” format with high energy rock, limited oldies, did away with the turntables and put everything on tape, thus doing away with the less fre- quently cuts. Again the potentiality of a ‘constant listening’ or at least Let's have a quiet chat about your next car... You'll discover that our prices are as low as our voices They call us the quiet men be- cause we let our deals do the talk- ing. No double talk. No pressure. You'll find it a pleasant, profitable ~ way to buy your next car. That's the way we've been doing business in Media for 20 years— and that’s why so many people are now driving their 8th, 9th or 10th Walsh car. WALSH FORD Baltimore Pike — Media — Opposite the Holiday Inn departments in the East. LO 6-0242 And that’s why our friends keep coming back for dependable Walsh service in one of the most modern, fully equipped service So, the next time you're in the market for a new Ford or a used car you can depend on — come have a quiet chat with our “quiet men.” The money you save will speak louder than words. a ‘diversified popular music’ sta- tion fell into the hands, or in "this case into the mouths of the ‘bubblegum chewers’. But Lo! Late in the sum- mer of 73 (strange isn’t it?) WYSP formerly a ‘Barbershop Music’ station - headed by Frank X. Feller (formerly of WIBG) re- kindled the format pioneered by WIFI but this time added a little more professionalism to it. WYSP plays Jazz, Black, Folk ‘and’ Rock with an occasional popular ‘Top Forty’ thrown in. Hopefully WYSP will gain a large following of the ‘constant listeners’ and become more pop- ular as time passes. The fate of WY SP remains to be seen. If it continues on its present course it should be quite successful, but if it evolves into another WIFI, the effects could be disasterous. Classics Only” The library here contains a record shelf with over two hundred recordings. Granted, much of it is junk. In fact, for the person entirely interested in Rock music, the whole shelf might be considered worthless. But for the classical music listen- er it is Mother Lode. The music ranges from Baroque (Mozart's Salve Regina, Baroque Brass, many works of Bach), to the Romantic Era (Brahms, Beetho- ven, and Wagner among others) to the modern (Bartok, Barber, Nielson and Janacek). Four notable recordings that may es- pecially appeal to he who is just beginning to enjoy the classics are: : Bartok, Concerto for Or- chestra - Bartok does some great things with horns in this piece, (especially if you're the first movement in particular. Ravel, Daphnis et Chloe, Suite 2 - Daphnis et Chloe is con- sidered Ravel’s greatest ballet score. Although this recording does not contain the equally brilliant Suite 1, the second suite is an experience in sound listening with earphones and turn the volume up). Samuel Barber, Knoxville, Summer of 1915 and Hermit Songs - Knoxville Summer is an arrangement for solo vocal and orchestra that is marvellously pure. Be sure to read the words as they are being sung for the text by James McAgee is equal to the music. Hermit Songs, com- posed by Barber and set to the writings of medieval monks is very neat. Latin American Fiesta, works by Chavez, Copeland, Vil- la Lobos, and others - This re- cording is really fun to listen to, especially the second, side. Cha- vez’s Sinfonia India really shines out and it is for certain that if you turn up the volume of your stereo all the way, by the end of * the piece youll feel like Chi- quita Banana. : Although not found in the library, a truly powerful and rich work is Gustav Holst’s The Planets recorded by Zubin Meh- ta and the Los Angeles Phil- harmonic on London Records. Mars, Bringer of War throbs and Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity is a majestic piece of music that is really first class. By the way, in his “Listen- er’s Choice” column, that roach Alfie left out WFLN, the classi- cal music station. Although a little on the rich side (sponsored by Bryn Mawr merchants and their spawn, the format is very GOT SOMETHING TO SELL? PUT IT IN OUR CLASSIFIEDS AND GET RESULTS. WOMEN AND THE MEDIA by Mary Ann Senior “Women and the Media’, an experimental course of interest to both men and women stu- dents, is being offered at Delaware County for the first time this fall. Lynn Haskin, the in- structor of Journalism 198, hopes primarily to bring to the students an awareness-of the relation- ship between women and the media in several of its facets. Among these will be an examination of the inequities encountered by women seeking careers in this field, as well the fairness of treat- ment of women and their activities as they are reported to the public. The image of both men and women projected by the media, particularly sidered. these images the advertising industry, and the influence of - “on our way. of life will also be con- Since there is not a great deal of material devoted specifically to the subject, the class will have to delve into a variety of sources for their information. Several books which have become known as feminist works are among the required reading, since their authors have touched upon the problems of “Women and the Media”, and ’ considered them an important part of their in- vestigations into the condition of women and the women’s movement. These readings will be supplemented by statistical information and student observations. The experimental should allow the students sufficient flexibility to explore the problems and their possible solu- tions, if they wish to pursue them. Each person will do a project in any of the areas of commu- nication: advertising, radio, television, film, news- papers, comics, magazines, and even music, to nature of the course illustrate a concept of particular concern to that individual. As Ms. Haskin expressed it, “The type of awareness that | hope to generate is some- thing good for most people to have. Even, for example, the future engineer may be made more sensitive to the effects of the media.” .accepted. good and well balanced. WFLN has both AM and FM broad- casts, 96 on the FM dial. in A SOUND ADVICE This is a new and hopeful- ly regular feature in the Lion’s Eye. It is written by two fresh- men: Jerry Pasquarella, and my- self, Tony Fanelli. This brain- child of ours first started in our junior year at high school, and it was adequately successful. The article is an endeavor on our part to give the PSU student a capsulized view of the coming musical events in the Philadel- phia area. : Acknowledging the fact that there are more than 1,200 students attending this center of learning, we realize that there will be quite a variety of musi- cal tastes. Therefore, the article will contain two sections. The first section, devoted to rock, is written by Jerry. The second is written by Tony and con- ~ cernsitself with folk and country music. We will collaborate on jazz, blues, etc. In future issues, space allowing, we hope to begin arecord review. We want SOUND ADVICE to be a helpful, one- stop guide in <choosing your musical entertainment. All com- ments and help will be gratefully \ Coftee House by Mary Rose Robinson Tough Beans Coffee House had its premiere performance for the 1973-74 school season on September'7, 1973. ‘Vance Mixell, a student at our campus, started the show with a medley of songs by Elton John plus other instrumental ar- rangements. Mike Favinger kept the beat going with his own personal musical compositions which dealt with his own per- sonal experiences. The Coffee House also presented Dewey for a repeat performance. Many of the students who were here last year remember Dewey for the humor that he added to his folk music. Don Brunetti, an excel- lent artist from the Powelton Musicians Co-op, finished the evening with folk ballads. One song titled “Vodeo” was for his partner, who was to have sung also. However, his partner’s wife was in labor and his partner had to leave before he could perform. Congratula- tions on the new addition to the family. The S.G.A. was pleased with attendance considering the scanty advertising. We hope all that came enjoyed the perform- ers. I’m sure that those of you that stayed to listen to our star performer Don Brunetti, felt that - he got his money’s worth. As one student expressing his reaction to the Coffee House said, “Success cannot be measur- ed merely by attendance.” The S.G.A. will be presenting more Coffee Houses for the students’ enjoyment, and we hope that all will come. Anyone able to offer help, to put these productions on, contact Mary Rose Robin- son in the S.G.A. office. On October 27, Keystone will have its annual all U Day weekend, which is basically a weekend at University Park with many events included. If inter- ested, contact ‘Keystone.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers