~ Week 9 ~

TOPIC 1: MUSIC'S INFLUENCE 

1. My middle school years were full of me trying to be cool and hip by listening to the latest, greatest rap and hip hop music. Songs full of lyrics including topics such as sex, drugs, crimes, and so on. Although I may not have understood every word, I more enjoyed the beat. As you can imagine, as my mother, she was not very happy with this music genre I was so into to. She would hear me blasting it in my room or picking some radio stations that included this music and immediately force me to turn it off. She wanted me to delete the music completely, although she did not fully understand the concept of YouTube, Pandora, iTunes or any other music website I could easily listen to the music again (she is not very technically savvy). I did not understand then why she was so disappointed in me then, but now, I do. I am now an adult and can listen to whatever I want, but yet the type of music genre I once was into, no longer interests me. I hear younger children listening to that music and am astonished their parents allow them to do that, but then again, I did it once as well. The lyrics are more understandable as an adult, but also much more offensive and demeaning to women as well. I hear the words and think that they all cross the line and most likely raise eyebrows of lots of people everywhere.
2. At the time, I found my mom ridiculous for trying to control what I listened to. I thought it was "cool" to bump that music and sing along to it. My experience then was a constant episode of fighting my mom trying to persuade her to let me listen to it. My experiences now with hearing other young children listen to the music, as I once did, shocks me and makes me wonder what is wrong with our generation as a whole. Although most people will say it's just music, it is still demeaning and offensive in almost every sense.
3. I do enjoy most types of music, but my favorite would have to be Country. My favorite bands and artists I listen to on the daily include Florida Georgie Line, Sam Hunt, LOCASH, Luke Bryan, and Kip Moore. Country music always brings up my mood and I can always find a song to dance to when I am in the mood!

TOPIC 2: CAMPUS RADIO

1. I think this is a perfectly feasible idea because anyone can launch a radio station. If a group of kids were that passionate about music and wanted to put in the efforts to do this, then they should definitely go for it. The only tough thing is finding listeners. It may take a while and it may never happen to become a typical popular station, but others who enjoy the same music would find this station and spread the word. 
2. Two formats and services they should include are keeping the talking to a minimum and allowing people to make suggestions as to what to play. Keeping the talking to a minimum is very important because once the talking starts or the ads play, most people will switch stations to find one playing music at the time. By talking less often and playing more music, the listeners will stay interested. Allowing listeners to make suggestions makes them feel part of the station and causes immense joy when they hear their suggested songs playing on a real station.
3. For funding, I would suggest the students hold a bunch of fun events. One maybe that is a type of dance party that has a cover fee where they play the music they will play on the radio to get people into it and excited for the station. Another one could be holding bake sales or finding a certain company to sell their products in which they get a chunk of the profits. Maybe other ideas such as car washes, dog washes, selling station apparel (t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, beanies, etc.), and anything else one could think of that people may be interested in being a part of.