Urban Unrest

21 April 2005 | Community | Ernesto Aguilar

The hall computer is now designated as a Programmer Computer. There is also a Programmer Printer set up there. Those of you doing shows who need a machine to complete your last-minute printing and preparation are encouraged to use it. It’s marked to have priority for programmers and you are welcome to use it (and nudge those who may not have as urgent a need) for your work. Thanks to Anelle, Mr. Urbach and others for this great suggestion.

On a related topic, you, as a programmer working on shows, are within your rights to ask people who are not working on station-related business (i.e. surfing the web, printing personal materials, etc.) what they’re doing and, if you need a workstation, to vacate machines they’re clearly using for personal reasons. Of late, I have received a number of complaints from programmers about individuals “camping out” on computers for what appear to be purely non-programming activities. In some cases, complaintants have pointed out, the individuals aren’t doing programming and seem to only be at KPFT to use the Internet or hang out.

Though I don’t want to discourage people’s love for the building, you, as programmers, have my support in being vigilant about use of our resources. Every sheet of paper we use to print materials; the computers and the time/effort it takes to repair and upgrade them; and the bandwidth people use at KPFT represents listener dollars. Listeners trust us to use their money in the wisest, most effective way we can, and use of those resources for anything other than what listeners intended should be brought to me. By pointing this out, I stress the programmer who needs to check email for show stuff or even upload their program to their website is NOT the problem. I know our programmers are doing a wonderful job.

Signage is posted around computer areas to explain issues. If you have concerns about things you’ve seen, please let me know.

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