Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Feeling the Heat

If you tuned into New Rock 90.3 FM earlier this week, you heard something very non-new rockish: A cheesy, synthetic '80s rock tune, with a chorus of "Can you feel the heat."

Aside from a couple of nighttime specialty shows, it was the only song WUTK—UT's college radio station—played from Sunday evening until early Wednesday.

Performed by former Plasmatics guitar player Jean Beauvoir, from the 1986 Sylvester Stallone movie Cobra (which coincidentally, began Stallone's downward spiral as a star), the song was meant to trumpet the station's new name, The Torch. It's a common gimmick employed by commercial stations when making a format change—and is in keeping with WUTK's attempts to model itself after its commercial counterparts.

"The Jean Beauvoir song will go off the air soon, I promise," says Chad Harriss, WUTK's operations manager. "The students wanted to do this gimmicky little thing for a couple of days. They're having a little fun with it."

Come Wednesday, the much ballyhooed computer program Maestro will also be running. Maestro works as a sophisticated shuffler, playing songs, commercials and promos at varying regularities. Except for the specialty shows aired from 6 p.m. to midnight each weekday, Maestro (as programmed by the program director) will decide which songs are played and when, not the student DJs.

Maestro, along with production equipment upgrades, cost the station $30,000. UT's broadcasting department paid for it, Harriss says. It was a rare windfall for the station, which sometimes doesn't get any money, he says.

The new logo, The Torch, was chosen for its neutrality. "Students down here did some in-class surveys. We went with The Torch because it was the most neutral," Harriss says. "It wasn't the most popular name [of those considered]...But because we were playing things other than rock, New Rock wasn't the best moniker."

An email sent by WUTK's program director Patrick Blankenship to current DJs says, "The reason behind [the change] is that for some time it has been very hard for the station to sell underwriting and to gain listeners with the current New Rock image."

But Harriss says that underwriting wasn't the main reason. "Underwriting wasn't a huge concern in making the change," he says. "We do think we should allow students to get experience doing that. And when we get underwriting, the Maestro allows us to plug [commercial spots] into a computer, and we'll know we're fulfilling our obligations."

The new logo doesn't mean a big change in the music you'll hear on WUTK, he says. "The actual music isn't going to be that different at all," he says. "It's a pretty good mix of college music." (You can view the station's Top 30 list at its website, http://sunsite.utk.edu/newrock/)

"I hope people tune in and check us out," he adds.

The station is now accepting applications from students for specialty shows. Decisions are usually made during the second week of classes. For more information, call the radio station at 974-2229.

Local CD Review

Louise Mosrie
Separated Like Stars

For her sophomore effort, Louise Mosrie brings us Separated Like Stars, a collection of 13 tunes that pretty much sticks to the same stylistic terrain of her first outing. Ms. Mosrie is steeped in the tradition of '70s femme singer/songwriters like Carole King, Maria Muldaur and Melissa Manchester, which is actually a breath of fresh air compared to the "revolutionary" Tank Grrl rhetoric spewed out by Ani DiFranco et al these days.

The album is lushly recorded, sounding like a big budget production. Mosrie is supported by longtime scenesters Terry Hill (!) and Travis Wyrick, who both toned down their guitar histrionics to match the laid-back groove of the album.

As with her last CD, her high standards are applied to every facet of this recording, down to the cover art—which is probably the best of any locally produced I've seen. You can hear her for yourself this Saturday when she opens for kindred spirit Jonatha Brooke at Blue Cats.

Go.

Thursday: First, Edwin McCain on Market Square. Then, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Blue Cats.

Friday: Plenty to choose from: Emmylou Harris at the Tennessee, BR549 at the Bijou, Helldorados at 319, and funky funky Gran Torino at Blue Cats. Really, the only way you can go wrong is to stay home.

Saturday: Fetish Night followed by DJ Science at 319.

Sunday: As always, Robinella & CC String Band at Barley's.

Monday: Women Out Loud featuring Donna Lee Van Cott, Mindy Smith and Janie Short at Tomato Head. Benefit for the Animal Welfare League.

Tuesday: Matchbox 20 ("Baby, it's 3 a.m." something something), Train ("Did you make it to the Milky Way" something something), and Seven Mary Three ("Cumbersome," something something) at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Wednesday: Pine Mountain Railroad at Barley's (and on WDVX).

—Emma "something, something" Poptart