Everyone eats. Mrs. E’s is a staple for students who live on Daisy Hill. No other place on campus sees such a regular flow of students in and out of it every day. So when the normal ceramic plates and metal silverware go missing and are replaced by plastic utensils and paper plates, students notice. The reasons for the frequent change, as well as the implications, are more complicated than short staffing, however.
Students definitely notice the change. David Kohtz, a Hays, Kan. freshman, said he doesn’t really like the replacements. “I think it’s really cheap,” said Kohtz. “Nothing cuts as well as a real knife.”
“I don’t mind,” said Loren Cressler, a Hoxie, Kan. freshman. “It makes it easier on the workers.”
“We really do not ever like to use paper or plasticware at Mrs. E’s,” said Mark Maranell, the general manager of Mrs. E’s. He said they use it when the dishwashing equipment breaks down or when there are staffing shortages in the dish room. Staffing shortages occur mostly at the beginning of each semester for the first two weeks. “We work as hard as we can to get our schedule filled with adequate staff so that we do not have to serve on paper,” said Maranell in an email interview.
The use of paper and plastic utensils has been around since before Maranell was employed at the university.
Cost is also an issue. “It does easily add around $600 to $800 to the cost of meal period,” said Maranell. He also said that resorting to paper and plastic is a better alternative than simply not having as much on the menu, or not having as much staff in other parts of the dining center.
The trade-off is apparent, however. While the dining center saves money while not having to wash dishes or pay wages when paper and plastic are used, the cost of the disposable utensils cancels that out, so “there really is no savings realized,” said Maranell.
Design, Speedy traffic problems for residential neighborhood
The speed limit sign says 30, but 85 percent of drivers are going five or more miles over the limit. Residents are scared to leave their dogs and kids in the front yard for fear they might get hit by oncoming traffic. Mailboxes have been smashed and replaced dozens of times.
And resident Greg Robinson of Trail Road said that his junker car that he parks on the street has been hit three times since he moved there two and a half years ago. “That’s my personal ‘traffic calming device,’” said Robinson.
The phrase “traffic calming device” refers to any number of additions to a road in an attempt to slow traffic down. This includes anything from speed bumps and “speed cushions” (speed bumps with grooves cut into them for emergency vehicles) to the increasingly popular roundabout. And Trail Road needs something like that, residents argue.
This stretch of Trail Road, between Lawrence Avenue and Kasold Drive, is designated as a “collector” street, which means it’s built more as a main road instead of the residential area it runs through. The wider construction, which allows for parking on the north side, mean that drivers feel more comfortable going higher and higher speeds. Those high speeds spell trouble for the residents.
“It’s a raceway,” said Carol McCaffrey, who also lives on Trail Road. “My cat got hit out there and they didn’t even stop.”
Citizens like Robinson grew so concerned that they brought this issue to the Traffic Safety Commission during their monthly meeting earlier this month. The commission approved the measure, which sent it to the city commission. The city commission voted it down.
“The city turned it down because no one from the neighborhood showed up,” said David Hamby, chair of the Traffic Safety Commission. “I usually base my decisions based on the input of the neighbors.” He also said it’s easy for the city to turn down projects like this if no one from the community shows up to support it.
Even though residents didn’t show up to the city commission meeting, they’ve still noticed the problems. Robert Heacock has had his mailbox knocked over a few times, as well as a little tree in his yard. He says some of the speeding is probably due to students leaving Free State High School, which is nearby. Walter Wondrack, also a Trail Road resident, has had his mailbox destroyed several times as well. “I think [speeding] is an increasing problem in Lawrence,” said Wondrack. “They just drive too fast.”
Not all residents feel the same way about roundabouts or speed bumps, though. Heacock, who lived on the East Coast before moving to Lawrence, said that he’s not adverse to a roundabout. McCaffrey also agreed that something physical had to be put on the road to slow drivers down. “You can put up signs, but that’s not going to slow them,” McCaffrey said. She’s all for roundabouts and speed bumps, just as long as they’re close enough together to not let drivers speed up in between them.
Wondrack feels differently. “That’s a bunch of nonsense, I don’t know what they can do to slow people down, “ said Wondrack. “Roundabouts are nonsense. Speed bumps might work, though.”
Since the city turned down the proposal, residents are back to the beginning. They may even have to start the process of putting in a request to the Traffic Safety Commission all over again. Residents like Greg Robinson are doing what they can to help slow the traffic. Heacock even suggested watching for repeat offenders and handing their license plate numbers in to the city.
“They’ll do something,” Robinson said. “I just hope they’ll do it right.”
When new students come to KU, the first building they come to is the Kansas Union. From that point on, students know the Union as the center of campus activity.
But not all activity takes place in the Kansas Union.
The Burge Union is near the residence halls and athletics department, but not many students realize there’s anything there. The Burge started out with an optimistic business view for the community, but it hasn’t fulfilled that purpose. Union officials are attempting to change that for the future.
“I think its biggest problem is recognition,” said Pat Beard, Director of Building Services. “It’s not on a major thoroughfare.”
The Burge Unionwas built in the late 70s, after students and University officials expressed interest in a union closer to the residence halls. It was named the Satellite Union at first, but was renamed Burge after Frank Burge when he retired. Frank Burge was the Director of the Kansas Union from 1952 until when he retired in 1983.
When it was built during the building trend of the 60s and 70s, the Burge was expected to be right in the middle of campus growth. It turns out, as Beard said, they missed it “by about a block.”
Satellite unions are relatively common all over the country, although MU is the only other school in the Big 12 with a second union. Director of Unions David Mucci, worked in the Big 10 before he came to KU. He said that Ohio State had a satellite union, but was recently turned over to the theater department. Mucci also mentioned the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (which actually has three) as schools with satellite unions.
According to the Association of College Union International’s website, a college union “is the community center of the college, serving students, faculty, staff, alumni, and guests.” The plan for the Burge was to be a community center for that side of campus.
Originally, the third floor of the Burge was all open lounge space, and the basement was a dining facility. It was built to serve the large concentration of students on Daisy Hill, as well as the athletic, law, engineering, and fine arts schools nearby.
The Burge hasn’t exactly lived up to its expectations.
Since the late 60s, satellite unions have been on the decline. Residence halls are becoming more self-contained, according to Mucci. “[Students are saying] I have a great lounge, I have a great view, I have a great dining service, I don’t want to lose my parking spot, and I don’t want to walk down the damn hill!” Mucci said.
Mucci and Beard, as well other University officials, want to change Burge’s lack of recognition. Beard said they’ve tried everything from advertising to even moving the signs closer to the street. They have to keep trying new things to get out of the rut they are in now and into the future.
Currently, the Burge is used by Athletics for studying and Training Table meals held in the Crimson Café. Meeting rooms provide a little bit of income, but not much, Mucci said. Career and Employment Services, Trademark and Licensing, and Legal Services are located in Burge, and are expanding. And until recently, art and design students were also able to buy the supplies they needed in the bookstore.
The art and design supplies were moved to the Art and Design building on central campus, and the space occupied by those supplies is now empty. That means that a large part of the Burge is now open for the future.
One possibility for that empty space is a “Collaborative Learning Center”[pdf] (CLC) like the Computer Center at Cox Hall at Emory University in Georgia. A collaborative learning center is like a souped-up computer lab where students can use state-of-the-art equipment in a collaborative environment. The closest comparison at KU is the group study area in the Budig Computer Lab. The new lab would have everything from touch screen plasma monitors, easily moveable furniture, small classrooms, media editing computers, and even down to a simple whiteboard.
Mucci doesn’t know if a CLC is a definite go for the Burge, but he said they are working with KU Information Technology and will know for sure by the beginning of April or May. Mucci also said that a CLC proposed to the corporation board in February got high student response.
Beard mentioned some other possible developments at the Burge, including a Pulse coffee shop and top-of-the-line internet speeds.
Although revenue is generated by the Unions, “we don’t see ourselves as a business,” Mucci said. “That would be the one unifying idea, that whatever your business model, it’s all supposed to support that idea of community centers on campus.”
________
Sources:
David Mucci, Director of Unions
Pat Beard, Director of Building Services
2006 KU Annual Financial Report
Association of College Union International Website/Bulletin
Kuhistory.com
Nation Association of College Auxiliary Services Magazine
Emory University Computer Center website
The word “muzak” implies some rather unpleasant imagery. Maybe it’s of an elevator going to the third floor of Dillard’s with your grandmother. Maybe it’s of walking through a boring mall hallway, wondering why on earth the mall is empty at three in the afternoon. But it probably doesn’t bring up images of McDonald’s, Home Depot, and the Gap.
But that’s Muzak too. Muzak is actually a company with long history based in North Carolina that supplies music services via satellite and broadband to many well-known businesses like Arby’s, Home Depot, the Marriot, and even places like Avis Car Rental. And with the advent of huge companies like XM providing satellite radio, Muzak has been changing business to get rid of the elevator music image since 1997. Beginnings
Muzak’s beginnings go all the way back to the 1920’s. Major General George O. Squier, who graduated from West Point in 1887, actually made more of a difference as an inventor than a General. In 1922, Squier piped music via power lines into “typing pools,” a group of people typing up various things for someone. He found that the instrumental music helped the typists keep up a good steady pace. He then sold the patent rights to a huge utility company called the North American Company.
Skyscrapers came with the 1930s. And along with skyscrapers came the devices that muzak.com calls “seemingly designed to terrify their occupants.” Music was played to calm passengers, and so began elevator music.
In 1934, the name “Muzak” was finally introduced as they opened up a home subscription service. But soon after that, free commercial radio started to take over in popularity, so Muzak got out of the private sector and started to concentrate on businesses. They started with mostly hotels and restaurants in New York City.
1936 saw new music programs being introduced, including “theme” programs, where music by a certain composer or played by a certain orchestra was played all together. Think of it as the first involuntary playlist.
In 1937, Muzak got a big break. S. Wyatt and J.N. Langdon, British industrial psychologists, found in a study that music actually increased efficiency in the workplace.
Warner Brothers then bought Muzak in 1938 and spread the programming to Detroit, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington D.C.
World War II brought tremendous growth for Muzak with the factory production spike. After the war, a program was launched to fully take advantage of the beneficial effects of music in the workplace called “Stimulus Progression.” Fifteen minutes of music was played, followed by 15 minutes of silence. The music would start out soft and slow, and by the end of the 15 minutes, would be upbeat and fast. The idea was to not distract the workers, but to energize them and then give them a chance to really concentrate.
The oldest remaining subscriber to Muzak also opened in 1946, in Kansas City.
Muzak entered the future in 1954 when they switched from manually-played vinyl records to automated tapes in their central studios. They also started using FM subcarriers, FM signals that required a special receiver to play, to broadcast their programming. Local station KLZR/KLWN was one of those subcarriers. At the time, Muzak was the largest user of phone line networks in the world.
Muzak moved even farther into the future in 1980 after a period of buying and selling the company when they moved all programming to satellite.
Until 1987, Muzak was dedicated to background music alone. The company believed that vocals and unaltered pop songs would distract workers too much. But in 1987 they merged with what was basically the “foreground” version of Muzak; Seattle-based Yesco.
In the past few years, Muzak has continued to develop new technology for retailers, advertisers, drive-thrus, and even on-hold music. They continue to sell equipment along with their music and on-hold services as well. How It Works
Once a business subscribes to the music service, Muzak sets up a satellite dish and receiver for the company. These set up operations are run out of regional offices like the one in Lenexa. The business than has a choice of 80 or so channels, each designed and organized by beats-per-minute and even style or mood. The programs are also designed to be listened to all day long with very limited repetition of songs, a feature added specially for employees who don’t want to hear “Billie Jean” six times during their night shift. Muzak’s services fun from 35 to 65 dollars per month, depending on the selected service. New Image
But since its launch in 2001, XM Satellite Radio has also been a contender for the music supply business. Both Muzak and XM provide satellite music services, but XM is aimed more at the private sector, with cars and stereos available with XM hookups.
Muzak is aiming primarily at businesses, and in recent years, has been using new advertising techniques to try to rid itself of the cheesy Beatles-orchestral-remake elevator music label. A flashy website, overly simple modern logo, and hip-looking brochures try to elevate the ancient company to a level it can compete with newcomers to the business like XM. They’re also making sure their
services differ from XM’s in very distinct ways. Muzak is 100 percent commercial-free, a ploy that XM recently abandoned. Muzak also has no DJs or human voices during its programming, a feature that might interest a store going for a mellow background. Regional Manager John Osborne reminded why Muzak is still around. “We’re a 70-year-old company,” he said. “Believe or not, we’re more on the map than you might realize. We’re the largest commercial music supplier.” He said that around 400,000 businesses subscribe to Muzak services around the country, with about 3,000 of those being in the Eastern Kansas area.
Joe Flannery explains the importance of background music.
Not Just For Elevators
Seth, a manager at the Lawrence Applebee’s who did not give his last name, said that Applebee’s has been using Muzak as their music provider ever since Applebee’s started. “It has a variety of channels to choose from to help keep a family atmosphere,” said Seth.
Michael Moore, the General Manager of the Marriott Springhill Suites in Lawrence, said that they are getting Muzak services installed in August. “It’s part of ‘repositioning’ the brand,” he said. Springhill Suites just one of many Marriott “brands” out there, and is relatively new. Before, the background music consisted of a TV being left on a news channel in the breakfast room and Christmas music being played on a business center computer over the holidays. He’s looking forward to the change.
Not all companies go with Muzak, though. Joe Flannery, the president of Weavers on Massachusetts Street, went with the local company Sound Products because of the kind of music he wanted for his customers and staff. “Well, I like the variety we can select from. We checked out Muzak, and we got sound products because it had more of the background music we wanted,” Flannery said. He didn’t go with XM, however, because it wasn’t available 10 years ago.
Some places that have used Muzak aren’t even businesses. According to Muzak’s website, the astronauts on the Apollo lunar missions listened to Muzak during the trip. President Dwight Eisenhower even had Muzak installed in the White House.
As the audio/visual entertainment world continues to grow rapidly, Muzak is keeping on top. “We started out as the elevator music company,” said Osborne, “and now we’re so much more than that.”
Sources:
http://www.muzak.com
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-08-05-muzak-cover_x.htm
Joe Flannery, President of Weavers, 785-843-6360
Seth, Manager at Applebee’s, 785-832-8338
Michael Moore, General Manager of Springhill Suites, Marriott, 785-841-2700
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/04/10/060410fa_fact?currentPage=2
John Osborne, Regional Manager for Colorado, Kansas area, 303-996-6515
Here's a short video about why Background Music is important.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Multimedia Reporting (Kuhr-Volek) in the Caleb Sommerville category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
