News and Music Discovery
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WKMS welcomes community members to self-voice self-authored compositions that express opinion, introspection or humor on topics of interest and importance to our audience. If you have an opinion, interest or review you'd like to share with WKMS listeners, please see the guidelines below. The views expressed in commentaries are the opinion of the commentator and don't necessarily reflect the views of WKMS.The station will review every script before it is recorded with respect to:Libel or slander.Content that is more promotional than provocative.Accuracy.Personal attacks and ad hominem attacks.Political or religious content that promotes rather than informs.Appropriate usage, language and form for civil discourse.The station will assist authors with:Making appropriate edits.Bringing the communication to proper time length, generally about 600 words or 3 to 4 minutes of spoken word.Recording the communication in the WKMS studio (unless other arrangements that yield equally acceptable audio are agreed to).Editing the communication and placing it in the WKMS schedule.WKMS will require authors to provide the station a final script that will be filed in the news department and will be placed on the station's web site.WKMS will need authors to provide a suggested introduction for each communication as well as a standard announcer outro script that includes author name, general place of residence, and whatever other personal information might lend authority or authenticity to the communication.WKMS will schedule produced communications and inform the author of time(s). Generally these are aired three times each, but the rotation is solely at the discretion of the station.WKMS will refuse to air communications that violate rules of the Federal Communications Commission for non-commercial, educational stations. Further, WKMS will refuse to air communications that would, for any reason, undermine its goodwill with the audience it serves.If you find these terms agreeable, please email msu.wkmsnews@murraystate.edu to schedule a time in a studio to record.

The Holiday You Missed

By Robert Valentine

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-769625.mp3

Murray, KY – I'll bet you missed it.

There it was: one of the most important observances in American history, and you overlooked the whole thing making potato salad for the Labor Day picnic.

I celebrated August 26th I'm proud to say, and no matter who you are, you should have been setting off fireworks or otherwise disturbing the peace of the neighborhood.

Why? Well, it might be because it's the birthday of Lee De Forest, without whose vacuum tube we would have had neither television nor WKMS.

It might be because on that day in 1883, the tiny island of Krakatoa began to blow up, which put the place on the map only to have it blown off the same map a few days later.

But, most importantly, in 1920, in a fitting start to the decade that would forever after be known as roaring, the great state of Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, thereby giving the women of America the right to vote. That's why we should celebrate.

And, of course, there's my birthday, too.

Ever since 1920, August 26 has been known as Women's Suffrage Day. Suffrage, as you know, refers to the right to vote. It is so called because those who have this right have to suffer through four years of regret, having elected the Idiot of the Year but not being able to realize it until said Idiot is firmly in office and then doe something remarkably stupid. They also have to suffer through four years of hearing all the people who voted for the other candidate reminding them that I didn't vote for the Idiot, I'll tell you that much!

For a long time, women were spared that suffering. Only men voted, so all the things that went wrong were blamed on the men. That was fine with most women, who even then, were pretty busy running the world by using men like herd dogs and draft horses without the men even being aware of what was going on. Women were put on a pedestal, and that gave them a much better view of things so they could run whole towns, states and nations while raising the children, maintaining the household, and holing the society together.

However, a certain group of ladies began to feel sorry for the fact that men were forced to take all the blame for poor political decisions. Women with names like Emmaline Pankhurst and Susan B. Anthony began a campaign to allow women to be just as silly as the men. The name they chose was Suffragettes, in honor of the suffering they were about to endure.

To prove they could be as silly as men, they would parade up and down the streets with signs, wearing the silliest hats they could find. This gave everyone a good laugh, but it made the point: in a silly world, women could be just as goofy as the entire U.S. Congress - if they really tried.

The Suffragettes also chained themselves to public buildings to prove that they were just as capable of losing their keys as men. Just to placate these noisy women, some men proposed an amendment to the Constitution.

So, in 1920, women were allowed to share the blame, and did so by giving us such outstanding political giants as Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, proving, as we suspected all along, that they couldn't possibly do worse than the men.

Sometimes, during the convention season, I think about putting in for reverse suffrage; take the vote away from men and let women have the whole thing. After all, I don't see how they could do any worse, and we wouldn't have to interrupt pre-season football for convention coverage.

Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it like a politician to a campaign promise. That's right I deny everything, depending on what your definition of deny is. Someone put that money in my briefcase while I was looking for my briefs. I never said that; the media is twisting my words. I never inhaled. I thought she was a census taker. This is a plot against me, and I won't stand for it.

I gotta sit down. For WKMS and women everywhere, I'm Robert Valentine.

Matt Markgraf joined the WKMS team as a student in January 2007. He's served in a variety of roles over the years: as News Director March 2016-September 2019 and previously as the New Media & Promotions Coordinator beginning in 2011. Prior to that, he was a graduate and undergraduate assistant. He is currently the host of the international music show Imported on Sunday nights at 10 p.m.
Related Content