WUOT Responds
Your recent Ear to the Ground column [Sept. 19] was indeed correct: public radio station WUOT did not offer coverage of the derailment and chemical spill in west Knoxville on Sunday, September 15. But, in your haste to print something derogatory about us, you did not print the whole truth. We did not offer coverage of the disaster because WUOT does not have a news staff!
Our last news director left the station two years ago. Because of fiscal and institutional restrictions, we have not, until just recently, been allowed to fill any news position at WUOT. We did not even have access to the information you criticize us for failing to broadcast.
Fortunately, UT President Dr. John Shumaker enthusiastically supports a strong local news presence on University of Tennessee Public Radio, and we have just hired a news producer who will begin work on November 1. And you were simply wrong about one accusation: our local Morning Edition host, Shawnmarie Bane, did indeed explain the reason she read a list of school closings on Monday morning. Evidently, your source was not listening very carefully.
Your column was especially disturbing because a telephone call to anyone at WUOT would have clarified the situation. But the editors and reporters of Metro Pulse made no attempt to contact us. Is balanced reporting not the mark of a responsible, mature press? Instead, your newspaper opted for a cheap shot.
Daniel T. Berry
Program Director, WUOT
Wrong Side?
For someone not bemoaning his fate, Mike Gibson seems awfully put out that he didn't get to lounge around and read while serving his 36 hours for DUI recently [Cellular Mode, Sept. 19]. Jail is not supposed to be a weekend getaway, and corrections officers are not servants. I don't know Mike, and I'm not saying he's a bad guy, but he needs to remember that thousands of innocent people have been slaughtered on our roadways by folks who got trashed, decided to drive, then ended up on the wrong side of the road, just as he did on the night he was arrested.
Bill Moody
Knoxville
Ludicrous, Isn't It?
On a whim, I decided to check out the Ludacris concert at Thompson Boling Arena on Saturday night. My partner and I thought it might be fun. We listen to Ludacris and Juvenile, so hey, why not...
Anyway, the concert was supposed to begin at 7:30, and although I'm fully aware that headliners never show for at least an hour after the start time (and they had a few openers listed on the ticket), I did not expect to wait over 3 hours for Juvenile to start!
However, I don't think the headliners were to blame for this fiasco.
1. The show started late and began with some local white teenager named Justin, rapping about being a white boy from the K-town or whatever. Apparently, he just won some contest at Cotton Eyed Joe's for rapping. Karaoke anyone? Enough said.
2. We, the sucker audience, had to sit through hours of local-esque bands from places such as the Tri-Cities. Nothing like listening to songs about "da hood," when the "da hood" is an apartment complex in Riverview. Even people in the audience familiar with these bands were sick of the emcee running out there in his orange pants announcing yet ANOTHER song from one of these groups...
3. The concert was sponsored by that new radio station Wild 98.7 (I think that's what they're called). They kept hyping up Juvenile and Ludacris throughout the evening between local acts, making the audience believe that they would begin any minute, only to have another local band come on stage. Those free T-shirts and bumpers stickers weren't cutting it anymore.
4. Between acts, silence and intermittent chaos on stage. It was obvious that no one knew really what was going on. "Let's pump it up one more time for Juvenile and Ludacris!" Oh, wait. Their tour bus probably isn't here yet, so uh, let's have another one from The League. Yeah.
5. Lil John was great. There are some pleasures in life... if brief.
6. Finally, after yet another damn stint of the radio people running around on stage hyping up their station, Juvenile shows up. Great show, but after almost 4 hours, it was hard to get motivated to even stand anymore.
7. Another chaotic pause as the radio people try to figure out how to pump up the audience and get Ludacris on stage. (I couldn't help feeling embarrassed at how empty the place was—not only was the show not well promoted, but I watched a bunch of people leave in disgust over how long the show was taking. Maybe if they brought Justin back... WOO!)
8. Finally Ludacris. It's only midnight, or who knows when. Wish I could remember what songs he did. I was so exhausted after such a crappy set-up, I sat through his set dazed and disgusted.
So anyway, this is a BIG THANKS to Wild 98.7, or whatever your station is, for a disorganized mess of an event. I guess it doesn't matter much who you are because after that, I'm not much motivated to listen to your station, especially having wasted $70 on tickets to see "Justin" and rappers from the "Tri-Cities hood." Oh, yeah. And Juvenile and Ludacris—right.
Tanya Faberson
Knoxville
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