Radio show features feminist artists


Monday, March 30, 1998	Radio show features feminist artists By CORY SHINDEL Collegian Staff Writer The rabbit is out of the hat on Pride Week at the University. WPSU-FM (91.5)'s "Purple Rabbit Show" devotes its time to publicizing issues and events concerning lesbian and bisexual feminist women and gay feminist men. To coincide with the beginning of Pride Week, the "Purple Rabbit Show" made lesbian pride the thematic focus of its weekly array of feminist music this past Friday. The show, which has been a supporter of the lesbian community since May 1992, leapt into new hands last month after the departure of Kimberlie Kranich, the show's creator, as well as a producer and director of WPSX-TV.
Sandra Koelle prepares to go on the air last Friday night for the "Purple Rabbit Show" on WPSU-FM (91.5). Koelle has been working at the station for about a year. (Collegian Photo/Dan Saelinger - click for full size image)	The feminist radio show, which plays the music of feminist women and feminist gay and lesbian songwriters, aired its first show since the leadership change on Feb. 14. The show is now hosted by four DJs. The program, which airs at 10 p.m. Fridays on WPSU, is hosted by that group of DJs, known as the Purple Rabbit Collective: Jen Gorosope, Heather Solimini (sophomore-women's studies), Jill Dworzanski (junior-letters, arts and sciences) and Kate Kleba (senior-psychology). Kleba said the group does not plan to alter the main format or content of the show, but hopes to continue the program in the strong tradition it has created since its inception. "A strength of having many hosts is that we all have different tastes in music and are all involved in things on and off campus," Kleba said. "We offer different perspectives on things." Each week, the leadership of the radio show chooses a theme that voices the concerns of women and lesbians through songs that are rarely heard on traditional radio programs.
`Related story: "LGBSA kicks off Pride Week" (March 30, 1998)`	"The goal of the 'Purple Rabbit Show' is to provide a special kind of forum for women's music and we especially try to focus on lesbian issues," Solimini said. "A lot of radio stations are Top 40, and WPSU gives us this hour to give alternative music to our listeners." The show's alternative content has received support from women's groups on campus. The diverse nature of the topics covered by the show has helped to make it an effective means of publicizing student concerns and diversity issues, said Susan Del Ponte, a staff assistant at the Center for Women Students. In addition to the commendation of campus women's groups, the "Purple Rabbit Show" has been praised by members of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community that constitutes the majority of the show's listening population. Duane Gildea (sophomore-human development and family studies), political co-director of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance, complimented the nonpolitical format of the show for attracting the audience of the group's members. "In this area, at this school, I think that it speaks volumes that we have a show like 'Purple Rabbit,' " Gildea said. "It's awesome."