UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #386
BINDER, KYLE

BINDER, Kyle (1966- )
Undergraduate Student, Broadcast Journalism
At UW: 1986-1989

Interviewed: 1990	
Interviewer: Barry Teicher
Length: 1:32:19

Background; Transfer from Bradley College to UW; Comparison of two schools; Apartment living vs. dormitories; Courses; Interest in broadcast journalism; First broadcasting experience; Writing experience; Desirable types of future employment; Assessment of liberal arts education; Leisure activities; Views on alcohol, drugs, police, sex and suicide; Athletics programs at UW: basketball, football, hockey and women's sports; UW students; Ethnic groups and minorities; Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald; Student government and WSA; Social activities; Religion; Jobs; Chancellor Donna Shalala.

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:10  Kyle Binder is from Grafton, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee; he was born in Port 
Washington. 

00:00:45  Attended Cedarburg and Grafton public schools.

00:01:00  Chose UW-Madison because his dad, two uncles, and his mother's three brothers went
there.

00:01:34  He first went to Bradley College in Peoria, Illinois.  School too small, not what he 
wanted.

00:01:47  Reason he went there was because he was awarded a partial scholarship--a Bradley 
Special Scholarship.  

00:02:27  At Bradley from 1985-86.  Started UW August of 1986.  

00:02:49  Likes and dislikes of Bradley.

00:03:15  Comparison between Bradley and the UW.  

00:04:29  Lived in Witte Hall dormitory at UW. 

00:04:47  Comparison between dorms at Bradley and UW--UW co-ed, Bradley not. 

00:05:30  Food programs at both schools.

00:06:05  Co-ed activities within UW dorms.

00:06:26  Identity of individual floors.

00:08:07  Difference in behavior between sophomores and freshmen:  most frosh were 
overwhelmed and rowdy.  It takes a while to get the famous UW cynicism where nothing seems 
to rattle your cage anymore.

00:09:18  Rivalry between dorms; chant trading.

00:10:27  KB moved back home for summer after his sophomore year; then back to Madison on 
North Carroll Street.

00:11:32  Why an apartment is better than a dorm room.

00:12:07  Classes he took and how they helped him shape a direction for himself.  Broadcasting 
track of journalism program.

00:13:00  Professor Tom Grimes and Perry Erwin (T.A.) were two enthusiastic people who
helped him make his decision.

00:13:21  Class sizes.

00:13:33  His professors seemed to enjoy what they were doing so KB was swayed.

00:14:07  Pressure--KB just did his best and seemed to have a natural talent for it so he did well.

00:14:50  First live broadcast experience--WLHA one watt radio station.

00:15:25  With its size, wealth and stature, the UW should have a major campus radio station to 
give students good experience.  

00:16:30  When KB first knew that he wanted to go into broadcasting.

00:17:42  Other classes: on global issues, on the media's role in third world.  

00:18:39  Broadcasting and journalism are interrelated.

00:19:40  Application to School of Journalism.

00:20:07  Characterization of kind of people that are in journalism:  persistent, nosey, willing to
work hard, able to write well, articulate. 

00:20:54  Writing experiences--at UW wrote for Badger Herald.  As a freshman at Bradley he 
wrote for the Bradley Scout, women's sports and spot news.

00:22:43  Experiences at UW--first story in the Herald was a women's swimming event in the 
spring of sophomore year.

00:24:04  Kinds of jobs KB is looking for: television reporting, sports preferably; looking for 
markets under 100.  

00:26:54  KB assessment of the value of his liberal arts education.  Took a lot of history 
courses--U.S. History 1914-1945 with John Cooper; Military History with William Coffman.  

00:28:26  Leisure time.  Music students listen to everything around here except country.  
Freshmen and sophomores listen to mainly heavy metal and top-40; most students are into 
"alternative music."

00:29:35  Heavy metal--loud guitar dominated rock-n-roll: Guns-n-Roses, Motley Crew, AC/DC.

00:30:25  Alternative music--classics of 70's and early 80's: The Clash, R.E.M., B52's, U2.

00:31:42  His favorite: XTC.

00:32:26  His music fits his personality, creative but with strict guidelines.

00:32:50  Jazz?  "You seem to enjoy jazz as you get older."  

00:33:02  Alcohol very predominant.  More people at UW save drinking for the weekends 
because it's a harder school.

00:35:00  House fellows.  KB's house fellow, Jane Peterson, respected the floor's responsibility 
and saw that they could take care of themselves; there was a mutual respect.

00:39:13  Not much time to sit around after studying at UW.

00:39:48  Drugs: at Bradley he saw little.  At UW lots of marijuana.  Cocaine not common 
student drug (expensive), hallucinogenic mushroom about the hardest drug.  

00:41:18  People around Madison don't really consider marijuana illegal because of the great 
popularity of Harvest Fest.  It's just great fun to smoke on Capital Square.

00:41:57  Attitude towards Madison police generally good.  On-campus security received scorn.

00:43:05  Sexual attitudes; AIDS epidemic.  More awareness and practice of safe sex.

00:44:16  Availability of birth control.

00:45:02  Women who enroll in the UW are required to attend a seminar on sexual assault and 
harassment.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:45:35  Suicide issue: not major concern on campus but really shakes people up when it happens.

00:46:37  Dean of Students Ginsburg.

00:47:00  KB had no time to join other clubs on campus because he was too busy getting his 
feet under him.

00:47:38  Athletics.  Basketball Coach Yoder doesn't use the personnel he has.  

00:50:44  Hockey: they win; hard ticket to get.  

00:52:46  Football: they generally lose; coach Morton "greased the skids for the (football 
program's) slide downhill."  Morton didn't adapt to players he had, he tried to force things.

00:55:53  Team morale.

00:58:02  Expectations and attitude of new coach Alvarez--he came in with lots of positive 
energy, the outlook is bright.

00:59:26  Women's sports situation at the UW--underrated aspect of entire athletic program.  
Suzy Favor talented runner.  Soccer team in 1988 went to final four.  Crew team very 
successful.  Basketball team is setting attendance records right now (1990).  

01:02:15  Double standard at football games--students were frisked when going into student
section of bleachers.  However, if student goes in with parents he can just walk right in.  
Students didn't appreciate hypocrisy.

01:03:29  Madison as a diverse community.  

01:03:57  There are problems at the UW with minority recruitment and enrollment.

01:05:00  Not many blacks at UW.  Blacks don't come here and they can't get blacks to come here. 

01:05:16  Predominantly white campus.

01:05:43  Out of state students (generalizations): Illinois--come from wealthy families, 
interested in graduating from some good discipline and getting a high paying job.  New 
York--also from wealthy families, but seem to be more aware of what's going on around them; 
more liberal.  Eastern students more concerned with issues of the day.  Wisconsin students 
more middle of the road, more concerned with getting a job.

01:07:04  Attitude towards Jews.

01:07:52  Good thing about college is that you live with all kinds of people and realize that 
they're just people.

01:08:10  Women's issue about rape.

01:09:20  KB internship--taped Packer games at Channel 15.

01:12:42  Two student newspapers--Daily Cardinal--normal people, not all radical left-wingers, 
try too hard to be ultra-liberal hipsters.

01:13:55  How people at Herald view those at Cardinal--respect and loathing (in terms of
left-wing hysteria).

01:15:20  Cardinal doesn't seem to respect Herald as much as Herald respects Cardinal.

01:15:49  Herald maintains that Cardinal is always running up a huge debt with the UW which 
the UW has now forgiven half of, and the Herald maintains that they themselves are 
self-supporting and self-sufficient. 

01:16:12  How students view papers: something to read during class; sometimes political issues 
cause a heat of debate.  It's where the crossword is.

01:16:50  Student government.  Controversy over Michelle Goodman's trip to North Korea 
using WSA funds.  WSA doesn't realize that it doesn't have power. 

01:18:52  Sister University agreement with Palestinian College has nothing to do with us.

01:20:10  Students should instead be lobbying for lower drinking age.

01:20:37  Bars in Madison.

01:21:33  Terrace.

01:21:57  Lots of walking around campus.

01:22:50  Fraternity dominated places- Kollege Klub, The Flamingo.  The Plaza, anybody goes 
there from skinheads to death chicks.

01:24:11  Irish Pub, small bar, good place to sit and talk.

01:24:24  Regent Street Retreat, upperclassmen bar; just as obnoxious as house parties 
dominated by freshmen.

01:24:42  Student eateries--Pop's Club, Gordon Commons, Nitty Gritty.

01:25:54  Religion--no one to wake him up here so he doesn't go; he doesn't want to be 
depressed with religion at this time in his life.

01:26:51  Those that got up on Sunday mornings to go to church are considered unusual.

01:27:05  Students are under an extreme amount of pressure and if they can't go out and enjoy 
themselves they'd probably burst.

01:28:05  Jobs of KB--Oral History Project, Archives, Red Gym for Recreational Sports 
Department handing out towels.  

01:29:53  Use of word processors--occasionally, mostly he used a typewriter; typical of most 
students to type.

01:30:43  Reaction to Chancellor Donna Shalala--she's doing a good job, but seems to have an 
ulterior motive for things she does.  She should tend to the minority issue.  She came to 
Madison with the attitude of turning the campus around but it didn't need to be turned around.  
Committees are hired to study problems, but things aren't done about them.  

End of Oral History 386