Making radio waves

Here is a follow-up to yesterday’s news that G-Rock radio, 106.3 FM, is changing from modern rock to pop:

Less than a week after the Jersey Shore station WHTG (G-Rock) 106.3-FM switched from an alternative rock format to contemporary hits, a group calling itself “Bring Back G-Rock,” with a Facebook page, is planning a protest at noon Saturday, outside the station’s studio at 2355 West Bangs Ave. in Neptune.

“Over 400 people have RSVP’ed and will be there,” said group organizer Elyse Jankowski of Middletown. “It will be done in an organized manner, completely peaceful – we don’t want to make anyone nervous or the police and authorities alarmed – however we want to make it known how upset we are.”There are more than 3,500 in the group, Jankowski said.

Um. OK.

I agree with the group’s goal, as I think yesterday’s blog post makes clear. But I have to wonder whether the 400 people planning to march on the station could be using their energy in more important ways. For instance, the state is conducting a homeless persons census and needs volunteers to do the count and distribute food. There is a need for volunteers for stream cleanups, food bank sorters and soup kitchen servers. They could be protesting two wars, helping to organize communities and workers, helping out at their cash-strapped local library.

There are a lot of issues that need addressing. I’m just not sure that fighting to keep a commercial radio station from changing its format should rank very high on the list.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Poetry: A journal of place

Exit 13, edited by Tom Plante, is a neat little journal of place, poems whse souls are connected to the soil and streets of the world — both real and imaginary.

Tom, who read for us in South Brunswick, has a background in geography and a love of travel that is apparent in the poetry.

To get a copy, write EXIT 13, PO Box 423, Fanwood, NJ 07023 or exit13magazine@yahoo.com.

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Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Return of the rule of law

President Barack Obama said during his inaugural address Tuesday that

Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.

Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.

Just hours after the speech, the new president took the first step toward reinvigorating the “charter,” bringing back the rule of law and ending the era of expediency:

(T)he administration of the newly inaugurated president, in one of its first actions, instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at Guantanamo — a clear break with the approach of the Bush administration, whose term ended at noon Tuesday.

It’s expected that Obama will follow up by closing Guantanamo:

In Washington, meanwhile, aides to President Obama were preparing an executive order that would begin the process of shutting down a detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay naval base for captured terrorist suspects. According to the Associated Press, the draft executive order calls for closing the detention center within a year. It was not immediately known when Obama would issue such an order.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.