Why work at a college radio station? Former KCOU general manager Mike summarized it well, I think, in 1992:
"I think that the satisfaction you get from seeing a band that's nothing become big over a period of years, a period of months, is just incredibly satisfying, and knowing that you played some role in that...Knowing that Streetside (Records) in Columbia was the first store in America to report Nirvana at number one. Why did they report Nirvana at number one? Well, because we'd been hyping them all Fall. All our DJs went up there and bought their record...KCOU had a small, small part in breaking Nirvana and much larger part in breaking a band like Uncle Tupelo...We get no ratings, nobody listens to us, (and) we don't make any money. So, we take our satisfaction from the bands that we help."
