Claire's Organizational Rhetoric

photo from https://www.facebook.com/wmlu913/

One of the main situations WMLU 91.3 faces is budgeting. The student-run organization has fees that cover the station, airwaves, events, and DJ equipment. In order to get their brand out there, the must go through Longwood University and the Student Government Organization (SGA) for financial assistance. Organization members pay a $20 membership fee at the beginning of the year, but that only covers PR gear like T-shirts and permission to use the station and broadcast your own radio show. WMLU 91.3 is responsible for putting on performances like Bandfest for the spring weekend. In preparation, committee members meet up to decide what kind of bands the students at Longwood would enjoy seeing perform. The list then goes to a booking agent who reports the cost of each performer and reliability (if they’ll be able to fit Bandfest into their tour schedule). However, WMLU struggles to come up with the finances to get a headliner that would draw a huge crowd. They are not the only organization on campus, of course, so Longwood University and the SGA have to be careful about how they distribute the money. In addition, since the station can’t always draw in a huge crowd for Bandfest, it is seen as an unpopular even among students, therefore it is given less financial attention. In addition to Bandfest in the spring, WMLU 91.3 puts on a Fall event to promote the station. This event is normally not as grand as Bbandfest (mainly because of the budget) and is more low key and chill.

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WMLU targets a more enabling audience. Enabling audiences “are composed of those people who allow the organization to operate,” (Hoffman, Rhetoric, 65) which is quite common in colleges and universities. When the station is asked to DJ events on campus, Longwood requires the lyrics and message in each song to be clean. This concept alone is a rhetorical strategy used by the university in order to make the campus seem friendly and professional. You never know who could be walking around campus that day and you would want to make a good impression. By respecting this rule, WMLU 91.3 is given more credibility and respect by the university. This allows WMLU to be high on the list of organizations the school needs to put more effort into in order to promote the Longwood and persuade students to come. In addition, the Communication Studies department is one of the largest fields on campus, and that is because the technology is up-to-date and it gives students a hands-on experience for future occupations. If the station were to abuse the high-end DJ equipment or violate the rules regarding clean song lyrics, then the university would have the right to take away those privileges and not help finance the organization.

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Increasing the budget would help the organization solve their problems in a big way. This organization promotes their brand solely by entertainment. The station’s main use of rhetoric depends on their high-tech equipment and high-quality musical performances. In order to expand the organization, they require more money from the university to put on high-quality performances the student body demands. Without an increased budget, WMLU 91.3 is stuck in this rut of few members performing multiple tasks at once or even having to decline opportunities because of lack of financial support and members. If given the finances to properly execute the organization, more Longwood students can be made aware of communication studies opportunities and can be better prepared to be citizen leaders after they graduate. In addition, members of WMLU 91.3 care about the quality of their events. They want to put on the best fall event or Bandfest possible for Longwood students and the community to enjoy. With little money for these events, it could come across to Longwood students that WMLU 91.3 doesn’t care about what they want or the quality of music they want to be played. With many rules and restrictions, it can be very frustrating for members of the station to please their audience and boost their credibility.

photo from https://www.facebook.com/wmlu913/

Budgeting is a huge rhetorical situation that is common in many organizations regardless of size. It can be known that the more money an organization has, the more they can promote their message and increase the quality of their advertisement method. Keeping with the theme of radio organizations, stations like BBC Radio 1, has a large budget system, which allows them to promote high-quality content and a large quantity of it. However, smaller, local radio stations, have a harder time expanding their airwaves and consistently gaining viewers, because they can’t afford to always have celebrity guest stars in the station promoting their newest album. In addition, they would not have the finances for enough advertisement to make their station known to a wider audience.