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Old Times are Coming Back

For the past year, Benny Smith has been Metro Pulse’s promotions director. He’s been instrumental in making the paper more visible, and he nearly single-handedly threw the paper’s first MetroFest. He’s leaving the paper to become station manager at the University of Tennessee’s WUTK, 90.3 FM. It’s sad to see him go (although he promises to help us out with some special events). The consolation is that Knoxville is going to have one of the best college stations—heck, radio stations, period—with him at the helm. We got his thoughts on the station before he cleaned out his desk.

Eye: What are you plans for the station?

Benny: Wow, not sure I have specifics just yet, but basically to begin with, I want to provide some consistency down there from semester to semester. Whether it is getting in touch with an actual human being on the phone, musical programming, or just doing business with the station, I want to be able to fill that void as quickly as possible, and then move on to tweaking other things. Everything there can stand improvement in many ways: promotions, programming, marketing, on and on. I want to make the station more visible on campus by being at and producing events, live remotes, etc. I want to get the station to the point where businesses want and need to underwrite with us, especially if they want to get to the student population and music lovers. I also want to get the students excited about the station again, about getting turned on to good music they may have never heard, and to get them excited about going out to see live music again.... Basically, my job as I see it is to re-awaken a “sleeping giant” at 90.3 on your FM dial.

Eye: WUTK has taken an approach in the past couple of years that Metro Pulse has been critical of—namely, buying an expensive computer to run the station during the day, decreasing the number of specialty shows. Live DJs have become rare. A lot of local bands can’t even get their CDs on WUTK. What are your thoughts on this?

Benny: The computer is good in that it can keep the music coming even when the students are not there. But we really need what is called a voice tracking system so that DJs can pre-record their breaks if they cannot be there to do them live. The biggest complaint I get about WUTK is that no one is there to say what they just played, and that can be frustrating to the point to where you never want to listen again. I want to change that, but the VT system is not cheap, so I will need to get warm bodies in there first, and try to move on from there. Specialty shows are a staple of college radio, and I look forward to tweaking that a bit, as well. We had some very successful shows when I was there in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and there is no reason that cannot happen again. Local music will be a very, very important part of WUTK just as it was from ’85-’95 or so. We even produced a couple of compilation CDs, which is something I want to explore doing again, as well. And presenting, producing and sponsoring live shows and concerts will be on our agenda, too.

Eye: How much influence will you have on specialty shows?

Benny: I will decide, with input from my program director and music director, what our lineup will be, and when they will be broadcast, and then allow those who host/produce those shows to program them.

Eye: What will the limitations be on it?

Benny: Not quite sure yet. I will be looking at possibly involving volunteers from outside the UT student population, especially since I am there to oversee it. There is talk about bringing back some of the “old school” DJs from New Rock 90 who are still in town to do a show or two, so we will see. We will be looking at adding some nationally syndicated shows, as well as producing some shows with more of a local interest, especially as it pertains to the campus. Chancellor Crabtree was involved with the college station in Colorado by being on a show or two, so maybe that is something we can make happen again. And the students are already doing some sports programming, including a daily call-in show at 7, and Bearden High School football on Friday nights in the fall. That is a great lab experience for them, and provides a service to the community. So in my mind, more of that would be good, but not too much to distract from the music....

I will constantly be seeking out input from the students, and from listeners in the Knoxville community. I will work with the music director and program director to deliver a programming mix that intends to not only entertain all of the UT population but the outside community, as well. And there is a lot of room to do just that. What they are doing now is good, but it can be so much better, and I will work with them to make it as such. On a very general scale, imagine the musical programming being somewhere between what WNCW does and what WUTK is doing now. That was how it was back in the late ’80 and early ’90s. Now with a much better signal and over 10 times the wattage, we can really make some things happen. It will still be music you basically can hear nowhere else in town. I also plan on working to bring artists to play, and to come into the studio and play on the air. We had everyone from The Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Spin Doctors to Joey Ramone to Chuck D to Mike Watt to Toad The Wet Sprocket play and/or interview in our New Rock 90 studios. I want to bring those days back.

Go.

Thursday: Hey joe, c’mon joe, don’t make that sad song any sadder than it already is. Not many cities have something as beautiful and cool as Market Square. And my favorite restaurant in the world, Tomato Head, is there, and today you should eat lunch at it. And tonight there’s a free concert in the square.

Friday: Go hear master oud player (oudist?) Rahim Al-Haj at UT’s Music Hall. Then swing by Barley’s Taproom to hear the amazing Malcolm Holcombe.

Saturday: The first time I really knew Knoxville was special was back in 1998 when I was sitting with friends at the Laurel Theater, sipping New Knoxville Beer (the old stuff) we’d bought down at Sam’s Party Store. The place was packed as we listened to Todd Steed, Scott Miller and R.B. Morris play wonderful music about Knoxville and fire us all up to try to save Fort Sanders from the wrecking ball. Months later, so many houses were razed. We lost that battle. But I moved into the neighborhood, and I still love it. One of the reasons is this old church, where tonight you can hear the Dismembered Tennesseans. Later on, check out another very special place in Knoxville—the Pilot Light—which Moe Tucker says is one of the best music clubs in the country. Tonight punk legend Dead Moon is playing. And before you drive home, head to Nama for a late-night sushi feast.

Sunday: Go hiking in the Smokies. Then swing by the Knoxville Community Food Coop and pick up some delicious organic food. When is the last time you cooked your friends a meal? Invite them over and tell them to bring some wine. And then all of you should plot and scheme about doing something cool, something meaningful, something that might change the world.

Monday: Go enjoy the wonderful lunch buffet at Sitar. Or maybe King Tut’s. Then play hooky from work in the afternoon and catch a matinee at Downtown West.

Tuesday: Take a bike ride or a walk along the riverfront. Then meander through downtown. The best beer in town is at the Downtown Grill & Brewery, and you should stop in and have a pint. Sit on the patio and watch the world go by or write a letter or read. Better yet, figure out a plan. Because life is so very short, and we’re running out of time.

Wednesday: Should this be the end of the story? a kind of sigh? a last ripple of the wave? A trickle of water to some gutter where, burbling, it dies away? Let me touch the table—so—and thus recover my sense of the moment. A sideboard covered with cruets; a basket full of rolls; a plate of bananas—these are comfortable sight. But if there are no stories, what end can there be, or what beginning? Life is not susceptible perhaps to the treatment we give it when we try to tell it. Peace and love. See you down the road.

—Joe Tarr

October 7, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 41 © 2004 Metro Pulse