David McRaney  |  Journalist

WUSM experiments with lineup

Maybe it was all the turkey swimming in their bellies, or maybe it was all the chattering relatives with their noisy children; either way, the staff of WUSM gave in to madness over Thanksgiving break.

On Nov. 25, from noon to midnight, the station decided to abandon their normally scheduled Friday programming for what they dubbed the "Post Thanksgiving Waistband Recovery Program."

Normally the station runs three to four hour blocks of jazz, blues and classical music, but on Friday the station experimented with shuffling their entire library of music and playing songs back to back which normally would never been heard together.

"We received no hate calls," said WUSM General Manager Mik Davis. "Most people thought it was kind of neat to have an orchestra blend into the White Stripes."

Davis added the response has been so positive WUSM may begin what he called "freeform programming" every week, possibly on Fridays.

The mission of WUSM, according to Davis, has always been to provide the things other radio stations do not. As a result, the station's broadcast schedule includes world music, new age, alternative and eclectic rock, local bands and a variety of in-depth news programs.

This kind of programming has allowed WUSM to accumulate a large, diverse library of music perfect for freeform radio.

The idea to experiment with shuffling their library coincides with the surge in large personal music libraries made possible through mp3s and mashups of popular music available for download on the internet, said Davis.

According to a recent study conducted by Independent Data Corporation, a marketing research firm, the mp3 portable market over the next five years will blossom into a $58 billion industry.

Jupiter Research projects there will be 18.2 million mp3 players sold in the U.S. by the end of 2005, and 29.7 million by the end of 2006.

Because of trends like these Davis believes freeform programming could work for his audience because WUSM listeners are more voracious today and open to a wider variety of songs.

"When I was a kid I used to love the show 'WKRP in Cincinnati,'" said Davis. "So I grew up thinking that was how radio worked. Someone like Dr. Johnny Fever would play whatever he wanted, and when he got off the air, Venus Flytrap would come on and play what he wanted."

In reality, according to Davis, freeform radio saw its heyday in the '60s and '70s, mostly on the West Coast. Since then, most stations adhere to a strict programming format repeating the same songs many times a day. Only about 15 freeform stations remain operating in America.

"The most you will ever hear a song repeated at WUSM is 7 or 9 times in a week," he said.

"I think it's a cool idea," said Hattiesburg resident Burt Edwards. "I've always loved that they play local bands on the air."

Edwards went on to say people in Hattiesburg have always thought of WUSM as an unconventional radio station which he found appealing. Although there are portions of the daily programming which do not interest him, he enjoys classical, rock, blues and some of the strange world music he comes across on the station.

"I like to switch the channel everyone in a while to see what they're playing," he added. "You never know what you'll hear."

Davis stressed WUSM listens carefully to what listeners like and dislike, so if the station does choose to add freeform broadcasting to their schedule, the change will not be sudden.

"We don't just pull off one program and plug in another without at least three or four weeks notice," he said.

WUSM can be found on local radio dials at 88.5 FM and program listings can be found on the web at www.usm.edu/wusm.

Originally published in The Student Printz on December 1, 2005