4 Commentary
Student
Poll: Pop
or soda?
What do you
call your
carbonated
beverage?
“It’s soda.
I just call it
soda.”
Joshua Springer
“It’s pop.
I’ve never
used the
word
‘soda.’”
Sarah Abbott
“I call it
soda. ‘Pop’
sounds
weird to
me.”
Mike Patelzick
“I call
every
thing coke
because I’m
from the
South.”
Clackamas P
Wednesday. Nov. 2, 2005
Of textbooks and profit
Gabe Stone
The Clackamas Print
On the shifting sea of life,
our education is that depend
able vessel that carries us
through the storm. And on
our way to a degree, we can
view textbooks as the boat
anchor.
Book pricing causes righ
teous indignation on cam
puses, and it could be argued
that it is widely viewed as a
racket.
We all remember Oregon
Congressman David Wu, right?
He’s that Democrat represent
ing the First Congressional
District. Many of us remem
ber him mentioning something
about wanting to remedy the
depressing situation.
Last year, he introduced a
House bill that directed the
General Accounting Office to
investigate whether textbook
prices were justifiable under
current conditions.
Wu announced the find
ings back in August. They
are insightful and worth a
read. Textbook prices have
grown an average of six
percent per year. College
tuition and fees have^risen at
an average of seven percent
per year.
Understandably, the price
of books eats up a greater
percentage of tuition and
fees at the two-year than at
the four-year level (about 72
percent).
According to the report,
the primary factor contribut
ing to textbook price increas
es is “the increased invest
ment publishers have made
in new products to enhance
instruction and learning.”
More specifically, indus
try executives cite the grow-
ing role publishers are
being asked to play in
providing materials to
overworked part-time
instructors.
Usually
these materials are not
available separately. In
addition, it mentions
- frequent textbook revi-
sions as a factor as well,
along with the increasing
prevalence of custom text
books for institutions.
Demand for used books
far outpaces supply, driv
ing up prices in that mar
ket. However, increas
ing consolidation in the
publishing and wholesale
markets has worsened
the problem. Publishers
deny this, saying com
petition is still fierce.
They also assert that
extra supplements are
required because they
must diversify in order
to compete. Although
the quality of the materi
als is not in question, ask
a student if they’d like
to save 50 bucks or get a
CD with 3-D models of the
human spleen.
Publishers also contend
that instructors are driving
revision cycles, and although
the GAO agrees with that
statement, it certainly is not
uniform across disciplines.
One publisher even said that
their revision cycles were
directly tied to sales pat
terns!
It is certainly a complex
business, with many paths a
book takes as it goes from
publisher to student, and
from new to used. After
reading the report, one gets
a sense that publishers are
either disconnected from
reality, or are quite simply
businessmen.
C
Photo illustration by Gabe Stone Clackamas Print
Charlie FM: interesting, but not in a good w
Nathan Young
“It’s pop.
‘Soda’ is
too sophis
ticated for
me.”
Anna Hoesly
“I call it
sugar. If
I had to
choose, Fd
call it soda.”
Nicole Goodson
“I’ve grown
up calling it
pop.”
Max Allen
This week's poll
compiled by
Kimberly Maier
Cl Ciaramella
The Clackamas Print
“Random is good,” intones
the voice of Charlie FM, one
of the newest radio stations
in Portland. Well, I’m here to
say random is not good.
I remember the day I was
driving to school and I turned
the radio to 97.1 expecting to
hear the soothing sounds of
KISN, only to find
myself asking:
“Who is Charlie,
and why is he play
ing David Bowie
on the oldies sta
tion?”
I, like many peo
ple that day, soon
learned the truth.
Charlie was in town,
and he was planning
on staying.
The idea behind
this new station is
fairly revolutionary, to
tell the truth. Normal
radio stations only
have playlists a few
hundred songs deep,
which means you’re
guaranteed to hear the
same songs everyday.
Charlie’s playlist, on
the other hand, contains
thousands of songs.
It’s an experiment (or
more precisely a gamble) in
ra4io. As of late, the biggest
concern in radio-land is how
to compete with the rise of
the iPod, and Charlie FM is
one of the first attempts at
combating the dreaded “iPod
Shuffle.” This means a non-
genre-specific station that
plays more music than you
can shake a stick at. Sounds
good, right?
Well, like any first-time
experiment, Charlie gets
almost as many things wrong
as it gets right. One of the
first things you’ll notice when
you tune in to the station is
the lack of DJs.
I’ve always been a strong
proponent of “less talk, more
rock,” but, for me, it takes
something vital away from
radio when you know there’s
no actual person spinning
the songs. It just sounds pro
foundly “canned.”
It’s a shame, because
Internet Graphic
Charlie
F M ’ s
variety
of music
could
really be
helped by some con
DJs. It’s true that it’s fl
station in town that w
James Taylor, Metalli
Tears for Fears back-fl
but, you know, there’
ably a good reason a
the only one.
Even Charlie’s touts
list isn’t all it’s crac
to be. The station cli
“play everything," but
not really accurate.
you consider1
thing” to be t
Billboard pop
the past 25 yea
If I want rad
actual DJs wh
truly eclectic
(not random; th
difference), I cat
to NPR’s fantast
gramming or th
community radio
90.7 KBOO, botho
expect more out o
listeners than drooli
sive reception. Perha
of all, there is not at
Tears for Fears to bet
For my closing p
guess I could blathe
how Charlie FM is j
Clear Channel station,
er tentacle of the grea
monster, corporate bla
blah, but that arguine
overdone that I will]
will simply say that
Channel sucks, so by a
tion Charlie sucks as fl