Dear Editor:

I am writing in response to the November 7, 1991 X- Press editorial regarding the **Island’s Only Alterna- tive Radio Station,’’ CIMN, and the letters to the editor of the following week’s edition that were in disagreement to the editorial. CIMN is, first and foremost, a university radio station, and as such, it has certain responsibilities to the students at the university. However, as a radio station, CIMN is responsible to the CRTC for providing a definite format. Charlottetown presently has five radio sta- tions. Two of these are mainstream music stations

_ which play, to borrow one of their slogans ‘‘ favour- _ites of the 70’s, 80’s, and90’s.’’ Q93 plays country

_ music and CBC is, well, CBC. As a former DJ at _CIMN, I enjoyed the privilege of programming my

_ Own music without any real strict regulations, except _ the one-third Canadian content regulation that was fairly well enforced by the station. In January,1991, _ the management decided to begin enforcing the alter- _ native format that most DJ’s thought they were al-

_ ready providing to the student population. The im-

pression that myself and many other DJ’s were left with was that no music by any top-40 artists was to be played, including unreleased albumcuts. And after two and a half years as a DJ, I quit. I am well aware of the fact that CIMN consistently gets the largest number of volunteers of any UPEI organization, but I am also aware that the station has lost many listeners over the past two years (myself included) because the station no longer provides the wide range of music that it once did. AsI don’t enjoy most top-40 music that is onthe other Charlottetown stations and CIMN is no longer an ‘‘‘titccnative,’’ I find myself listening more and more to my old Tom Petty and Pink Floyd albums. C’mon, CIMN. Please loosen up.

Searching for Listenable Radio

Brent Macdonald

~ November 21, 1991