TEMPLE STUDENTS PROTEST CHANGES AT WRTI
TRAFFIC NEAR TEMPLE WAS BLOCKED FOR A WHILE.
THE STUDENTS WERE ANGRY ABOUT THE STATION'S JAZZ CUTBACK.

Section: CITY & REGION

Page: B02

By Peter Dobrin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Temple University students angry about format changes at the school's radio station demonstrated yesterday in front of the campus' library, then marched to Broad Street where they blocked traffic for two short spells.

Chanting ``Save Jazz-FM'' and waving banners, about two dozen students spoke out against a decision by university administrators to drop jazz half the day to take on classical music at WRTI-FM (90.1).

``We need to keep Temple University administrators from dictating what they think is best for us,'' yelled Greg Jewett, a Temple graduate student who works at the station, to a crowd of about 100 gathered in front of Paley Library. ``It's Jazz-FM - not Temple University Radio.''

``If we take away what members [subscribers to the station] are paying for, we are lying to them,'' said Joy Woods, another student who has worked at the station.

The protesters, handing out petitions and holding banners with the names of shows that have been dropped from the station's lineup, said they sought to have 24-hour jazz restored to the station.

Temple University president Peter J. Liacouras declined to comment. But Temple administrators said yesterday that the station is a ``work in progress,'' and that the school plans to keep WRTI's current format in place for a year as a trial to test underwriting and audience response.

Jewett said the format switch - which occurred after WFLN-FM (95.7) renounced classical music to take on pop - had resulted in several students losing on-air slots. The students work at the station for experience, credit, and a small stipend.

Reggie Bryant, the former host of WRTI's Catharsis, the controversial talk show canceled with the Sept. 15 format change, showed up at the demonstration to give protesters some advice.

``The station has got to close down,'' he said. ``Lose the keys to the station. Don't let $70,000-a-year announcers come into your station and do your job. Withdraw your dollars. For the next fund-raiser, don't let the phones stay open long enough to raise a nickel.''

Bryant called the changes an ``egregious wrong to a culture and a community.''

WRTI program director Chuck Miller acknowledged that on-air opportunities for the students have been cut back, and said that although he is working to restore some of those spots, the number will not return to what it was before the station went half-jazz, half-classical.

About 10 volunteers also were displaced, he said.

Miller says he was getting 80 to 90 calls a day from listeners after the format change took effect. That's down to 20 to 30 a day now. ``People are feeling pain and loss on both sides of the issue,'' he said.

The WRTI change has spawned a new group - Coalition to Return the All-Jazz Format on WRTI - that will hold a public meeting on the matter from 3 to 5 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Clef Club, at Broad and Fitzwater Streets.

A protest concert is planned for 11 a.m. Wednesday on Broad Street between Norris and Diamond. Hundreds of musicians will participate, planners say, including Bootsie Barnes, Larry McKenna, Tyrone Brown, Eddie Green, Miss Justine and Evelyn Simms.

Protesters say audiences at jazz concerts in the city have dropped since WRTI halved its jazz programming - and thus its promotion of jazz events.