NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
KEOL alumni reflect on value of college radio
By DICK MASON
La Grande Observer
LA GRANDE — Joe
Garner of Ontario admitted
the news hit him hard.
Garner was jolted recently
when he found out KEOL
FM, Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity’s student-run radio
station since 1973, likely will
be shut down in June at the
end of the 2020-21 school
year.
“I was heartbroken. I don’t
like it,” said Garner, who
served as KEOL’s station
manager and program direc-
tor during portions of the time
he worked at the radio station
between 1985 and 1989.
The shutdown appears
imminent after EOU’s
Student Fees Committee
voted to defund KEOL,
which is receiving $33,481
from student incidental fees
this school year to operate.
The committee, composed
of EOU students, voted on
Feb. 5 to take the step primar-
ily due to a budget shortfall
from declining enrollment.
Other reasons the committee
cited were low student partic-
ipation and the belief that
traditional broadcast radio is
a fading industry in today’s
digital age.
Garner disagreed, saying,
“There is still room for radio.”
He said radio is going in a
different direction today but it
Alex Wittwer/La Grande Observer
Eastern Oregon University reflects through the windows of the KEOL radio station room
March 5, 2021. Several alumni have contacted EOU about how to keep the radio station alive
following the announcement that it would be defunded at the end of the 2020-21 school year.
has a future, one he believes
KEOL should be helping
train students for.
“Radio needs good people,
and Eastern can provide
them,” Garner said.
He said $33,481 is a small
price to pay for Eastern to
give students a chance to be
introduced to radio.
“When you go to college
you want to be exposed to
as many things as possible,
to get a well-rounded educa-
tion,” Garner said. “It is
important to get out of your
comfort zone.”
Lack of student partici-
pation was another factor in
the Student Fee Committee’s
decision to defund the station,
which EOU’s student senate
supported on March 5. The
station has about four student
disc jockeys, plus two paid
student staff members. This
is a far cry from the 1980s
and 1990s when KEOL had
enough disc jockeys to fill
almost every three-hour time
slot almost around the clock.
“We had about 100 DJs
and they were on the air day
and night,” said Jack Kemp of
Corvallis, a station manager
at KEOL in the 1990s.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Brilliant sunshine
and milder
Lots of sun; breezy
in the p.m.
Cooler; breezy in
the morning
Increasing
cloudiness
A couple of
showers possible
66° 39°
64° 37°
70° 43°
64° 39°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
52° 29°
50° 31°
62° 37°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
58° 30°
57° 29°
64° 41°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
54/42
58/36
69/37
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
64/44
Lewiston
64/37
71/40
Astoria
53/42
Pullman
Yakima 69/37
60/38
65/39
Portland
Hermiston
64/41
The Dalles 70/43
Salem
Corvallis
60/36
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
63/33
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
63/37
69/34
64/36
Ontario
66/33
Caldwell
Burns
59°
35°
62°
38°
82° (1960) 21° (1975)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
63/36
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
74/41
Trace
Trace
0.11"
1.20"
0.48"
3.22"
WINDS (in mph)
65/32
63/26
Trace
Trace
0.22"
3.34"
4.98"
4.18"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 60/31
63/37
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
66/39
69/40
54°
30°
59°
38°
81° (1952) 24° (1975)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
59/38
Aberdeen
59/39
66/42
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
59/42
Today
Wed.
SW 6-12
W 4-8
WSW 10-20
W 8-16
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
67/29
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:26 a.m.
7:30 p.m.
4:35 a.m.
1:51 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Apr 11
Apr 19
Apr 26
May 3
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 99° in Lake Havasu, Ariz. Low 17° in Daniel, Wyo.
Garner has fond memories
of what KEOL was like about
35 years ago.
“We rocked,” he said.
He said there was an
energy and excitement from
students who had freedom to
play all types of music during
their three-hour shows.
“At any time you could
hear something totally differ-
ent,” Garner said.
Garner himself had three
shows on KEOL, and on each
he played a different genre of
music. He said at the time
La Grande had significantly
fewer radio stations than it
does today, which means
listenership likely was higher.
“We were entertaining the
whole town,” he said.
Leonard Hermens, who
helped run KEOL in the early
and mid-1980s, also said the
station had a distinctive mix.
“It had its own variety and
style, a variety not found on
commercial stations,” said
Hermens, who now lives in
Puyallup, Washington.
KEOL, which has been
on the air since 1973, now
runs out of the Hoke Union
Building, but its earlier loca-
tions included the top floor of
Eastern’s library and an old
cottage-type building just
west of the library.
The station’s locale was
a popular meeting place for
Eastern students from all
parts of the United States and
the world, said Kemp, now
an online education media
producer at the University of
Oregon who earlier was the
media engineer for Oregon
State University’s radio and
television stations for 13
years.
“A radio station can bring
students together like no
other activity group can,” he
said.
Eastern’s Student Fee
Committee received requests
for $1.4 million in funding in
2021-22, but could allot only
$1.2 million because of the
projected decline in inciden-
tal fee revenue. This meant
virtually all of the 20 orga-
nizations requesting money
from the committee had their
funding cut.
Kemp said despite the
defunding, KEOL, which
also is available via the inter-
net, still has a future, either as
an online student-run station
or as a community station.
He said KEOL could
continue operating online
for significantly less money
while adding vibrancy to the
campus. It would have to do
more than just play music, he
said, and add local news and
information about upcoming
activities on campus.
“It would have to be a
scene, one that is event-cen-
tered,” Kemp said.
Tim Seydel, Eastern’s
vice president for university
advancement, said since the
reporting on KEOL defund-
ing, many alumni have
contacted EOU. Seydel said
they have asked how they
can help keep student radio
alive at the university. He said
a meeting of these individu-
als will be conducted to see
what might be done. Seydel
said many possibilities will be
explored, including commu-
nity radio, podcasts and lives-
treaming.
The EOU’s Board of
Trustees at its May 20 meet-
ing considers approving the
incidental fee budget.
An unusual season concludes for
Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
NORTH POWDER —
With skiers and snowboard-
ers carving turns in fresh
powder, feathery white
clouds glittering in their
wake, it was almost possible
to forget there’s a pandemic
going on.
But though symbols of the
viral scourge were evident
this season at Anthony
Lakes Mountain Resort, the
ski area bucked trends that
affected other types of busi-
nesses by welcoming more
visitors than the previous
year, rather than fewer, said
Anthony Lakes Marketing
Director Chelsea Judy.
She didn’t have specific
numbers.
“We went into it with-
out any expectations, but I
would say it was definitely
a successful season,” Judy
said on Wednesday, March
31. “People were grateful
to be able to ski through a
pandemic.”
The ski area in the
Elkhorn Mountains, about
19 miles west of North
Powde r, c onclude d a
most unusual season on
Sunday, April 4.
Among the more notable
differences this winter is that
the ski area’s lodge, except
restrooms, was closed.
Visitors were still able
to buy burgers and other
food and beverages, and the
“ski-thru” window proved
popular, Judy said.
Food and beverages were
also available on weekends
from Creston’s Yurt at the
top of the chairlift.
Kcia Fletcher of Baker
City, who skied about once a
week this season at Anthony
Lakes with her husband,
Neil, and their sons, Ethan,
Dawson and Oliver, said the
ski area did “a great job”
with outdoor seating.
Another
change
prompted by the pandemic
is that skiers and boarders
weren’t required to ride in
trios on the chairlift.
Although relatives and
friends could ride together
if they chose, Judy said most
often there were two people
per chair, and in some cases
only one as a skier or boarder
chose to ride alone.
This inevitably led to
longer lines, and longer
waits, at the bottom of the
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
mountain than are typical for
Anthony Lakes, Judy said.
Still and all, she esti-
mated the average wait was
from 7-10 minutes, with
around 15 minutes on busier
days.
Fletcher said the lines
were noticeable — but
largely because waiting to
get on the chairlift has previ-
ously been a rarity.
“We’ve been really
spoiled at Anthony Lakes,”
she said. “It wasn’t that bad.”
Fletcher said lines were
longer on weekends and on
Thursdays following a heavy
snowfall, when conditions
were optimal.
Judy said the resort staff
also followed a “zero-toler-
ance” policy requiring all
visitors to wear face masks.
She said “nearly every-
one” complied with the
requirement, and that many
appreciated the resort’s
effort to reduce the risk of
spreading COVID-19.
In any case, face cover-
ings are often a welcome
accessory at 8,000 feet
during winter.
“So many people do ski
with a face covering as it is,”
Judy said.
IN BRIEF
State agency opens
investigation into deadly
accident near Westfall
WESTFALL — The Oregon Occupational
Safety and Health agency is investigating the
deaths of two men near Westfall in March.
Aaron Corvin, a spokesman for the state
agency, confirmed the investigation was ongo-
ing but could not give any further details.
“We don’t discuss the details or status of
ongoing investigations,” he said.
The state inquiry centers on the deaths of
Greg Quant, 57, of Burns, and Roger Wheeler,
47, of Westfall, on March 12.
According to the Malheur County Sheriff
Brian Wolfe, the two were at work on a creek
with a John Deere 25D excavator about 2 miles
west of Westfall when the accident occurred.
“Quant was the operator of the machine
and had been out of the machine and he was
either getting in or getting out when somehow
it engaged into gear and as a result both men
were struck by the machine and killed,” said
Wolfe.
Wolfe said Wheeler was the ranch manager
for the old Becker ranch near Westfall, while
Quant worked for ACW Inc., a Hines construc-
tion firm.
Wolfe said the incident was a “freak acci-
dent.” Both men, said Wolfe, died at the scene.
Corvin said death investigations can “take
three to four months to complete.”
— Malheur Enterprise
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
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