I work a full time 40 hour a week day job. I have a side job which is being the station manager of a 180 watt radio station owned by a small college.

Last week I was called into a meeting at the college where I was informed that effective immediately the staff of live on air volunteers we have at the station would be no more. I was not given a heads up about beforehand about it nor were we given much of a reason as to why the decision was made.

Our volunteer staff is small so the station has to depend on automation to fill the gaps between live shows. We have a pretty cool, deep and eclectic format in the automated hours but the people coming in and sitting behind the mic brought local flavor and fun to the station. It made us sound less canned. It made us sound lively. Those dj’s had listeners too. They had fans and a following.

I was absolutely heartbroken when having to give the news to them. Each and every volunteer had a passion and love for music, the community and being on the air.

A fellow named John was one of the volunteer staff. He wrote this editorial for our city’s newspaper. It ran this morning. In it, he captures a lot of the spirit of the station and touches on a lot of what it meant not only to those on the air but to also the listeners.

What are you listening to tonight?