Date of Defense

12-5-2015

Date of Graduation

12-2015

Department

English

First Advisor

Brian Gogan

Second Advisor

Glen Dillon

Third Advisor

Chris Sligh

Abstract

I have been involved with WIDR FM for 18 months as its employed Music Director and a volunteer DJ. I am one of six part-time paid student directors who oversee the general management of the station. My tenure at WIDR has been especially exciting in that this is the first year of WIDR's affiliation with Student Media Group–a new organization funded by the University that collaborates WIDR FM with the Western Herald and the Young Broadcasters of Tomorrow. It is designed to guide these organizations toward greater interactivity, scholarship, and fiscal solvency. The Student Media Group brings many changes to WIDR FM that are all very new, and I feel fortunate to have become a part of it.

However, in my tenure at WIDR FM I have noticed that the station has no consistent governing documents to guide the student directors or volunteers. There is no current constitution, and all financial records or previous attempts at government are scattered, outdated, or incomplete. I view the station's failure to maintain consistent governing documents as an enormous problem. How can the student directors of WIDR FM maintain any organizational consistency or enforce any policies without objective governing guidelines? I continuously see how my co-workers experience difficulty correcting the behavior of DJs having no written policies to enforce upon them. Inadequate government can not only lead to inconsistent management, but to misguidance, negligence, and even treachery within the organization. WIDR's poor management throughout history has greatly hindered the station's performance. A new governing constitution at WIDR FM will improve the management efforts of the station and will ensure protection and professionalism over time.

I have taken it upon myself to use my Honors Thesis as an opportunity to fill the need for a new constitution; to not only respond to WIDR's handicaps throughout history, but to inform how these new changes brought by the Student Media Group should affect long term goals, future changes, and organizational governance.

My thesis includes three components: an analysis of genre, which will provide a rhetorical framework from which the new constitution will be built; a historical report, which will allow me to establish an understanding of organizational needs based upon the station's past; and the ultimate constitution, which is built to represent and to respond to each of the salient needs at WIDR FM.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

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