This is a public service announcement...

So it's fairly late, I'm completing one last bit of homework and listening to my favorite radio station, KWVA, the UO's campus radio station. Then I received a welcome relief from the mindless task at hand: a public service announcement.

My goal is to blog about every major media format, and I've neglected radio. There' s much more to say on this subject that I won't mention now, but I do have a brief observation. It's about the PSAs on KWVA (88.1, for those of you who haven't yet discovered this little miracle).
The PSAs are great. As one of the only forms of advertisement this station broadcasts, I tolerate them (normally ads get little more than a punch of the mute button from me) and actually find myself listening when they come on. First of all, I'm never really sure if it is one, it's normally just music faded in, then faded out just a bit before a kindly voice starts speaking. I wish I could remember some of the personalities they've had do announcements, but the one I was just listening to was Frank Zappa. What could Frank Zappa possibly have to say in a PSA? Well, this is not a direct quote, but, "Hey, folks. This is Frank Zappa, asking you to unload. Don't do smack or downers."
That's it! There's not even the typical PSA signoff by a speed-talking deep voice from the National Center for Drug Control (or whatever they call it). Another one I seem to hear all the time is some older rock-star guy going "Of all the ways to get off these days, dope is simply not your best option." It makes me smile every time.
I guess these ads have an intentionally nostalgic feel for the radio golden days, but I can't help being impressed at the way that they seem to be simultaneously cool and completely out of touch with youth culture. These guys sound like they're taking it so seriously. But yet they know that they're never going to get through, and they're just being paid to record a PSA, so they don't even make an effort and use words like "smack" and "dope."
After Zappa, the second-best PSA I've ever heard came on. The sweet potato PSA. For every bit as concise and to-the-point Zappa and the other drug-PSA announcers are, the Louisiana Sweet Potato Grower's Association's guy is just as long-winded and round-about. He starts off talking about nutrition in general, which he says is important. Then it's on to beta carotene: also important, and found in "bright orange vegetables." Like carrots, bell peppers, and oh, sweet potatoes too. Have you tried sweet potatoes yet? They're pretty tasty, according to the announcer. Oh, and they have a lot of beta-carotene. Low in fat and nutritious - what's not to love? And so he leaves us with this question to ponder. Actually, I'm wondering why in the world Louisiana's Sweet Potato Grower Association EVER decided to run an ad on this station.
The best thing about KWVA's PSAs is seeing what the DJs think about them. For the most part, they poke fun or make some sort of irreverent comment. Which takes away any shred of dignity the PSAs ever had.
Thank god for student fee funding, if this station ever had any "real" ads, they would get torn apart in an instant by fledgling DJs desperate to prove their hip-ness.
This post doesn't really have a point aside from the above observations.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled study time...