Ask most students what they think of WBRS, Brandeis' 30-watt student-run radio station, and the responses aren't pretty: If the informal polling I've conducted in recent weeks is even somewhat accurate, then the common, "Oh, I never listen" is about as generous as the responses come.It's a shame. A number of programs -- Andy Nagy's "Black Jack Davy" celtic and roots-music show, Bob Weiser's folk programs, several blocks devoted to new music and most of the sports programming -- are excellent listens, their hosts both knowledgeable and impassioned by their formats.

The same can't be said for much of the station's programming, which despite its eclecticism -- there is everything from a Yiddish hour to electronica to music from all corners of the world -- finds some of its disc jockeys lacking background in their shows' formats, uninterested in observing them, or both.

Block formatting, the type of radio that describes WBRS's programming, means that a given day is divided into mostly one- or two-hour shows, each centered on a specific genre, style or theme. Currently, a large number of shows are heard year after year regardless of DJs' interest in them.

Alongside complaints that WBRS' block formatting both restricts and repels DJs, a quiet debate has persisted for at least the past several years over whether WBRS ought to become a freeform station.

"Ever year we have the discussion of maybe going free-form, or really updating our programming," Hadar Sayfan '07, the station's general manager, told me last month, "but someone [always brings up] our historical legacy."

Freeform radio means that DJs have limitless control of their shows: If you've ever tuned into WBRS between 2 and 6 a.m., the "All Genre, All Night" blocks, freeform is essentially that style spread over an entire day. With freeform radio, the onus for producing a high-quality show lies solely on the DJ.

But WBRS doesn't need to become a freeform station to improve. Its problem isn't its "all-genre" programming. It's that its commitment to eclecticism far outstretches the diversity in its DJs' expertise. That is to say, there may not be four DJs each term interested in hosting a blues show, yet, semester after semester, there are four blues shows -- that's eight hours of blues! -- a week.

WBRS could improve its quality yet preserve its "all-genre" ethos. But to do so, it must allow each DJ to choose his show's format.

Ethan Feuer '07, who stopped DJing for the station because of other commitments, said that because his shows were limited to predetermined genres that did not always enthuse him, "I kind of stopped caring about the shows that I had."

But Sayfan said that DJs benefit from taking unfamiliar formats. She recalled a summer in which she hosted a country show, and discovered that the genre is much richer than she had thought.

Hosting unusual shows "broadens the DJ's perspective," said Aaron Glick '09, one of the station's music directors.

But not every DJ wants his perspective broadened. Often, playlists logged by the station on www.spinitron.com reveal a DJ -- within a single show -- losing interest in a format: He might, for example, begin playing local music per the show's theme, but by its end only spin songs by national acts. On the other hand, an aficionado of the Boston underground could produce an exciting and knowledgeable program within the same confines. He would excel because he cares-and so should every DJ.

Yet, if freeform and block formatting are diametrically opposed, even a revamped WBRS should lean toward the latter.

Ironically, many freeform stations -- there are very few in the United States, and none in the Boston area -- play a fairly homogenous selection of indie rock, underground hip hop and digestible electronica, despite having slackened their reins. And there is something very special -- and truly desirable -- about a station committed to an all-genre schedule; most weeks, for example, you won't hear Brazilian jazz on Emerson College's well-regarded WERS.

This is especially true in ethnically diverse Waltham, whose residents, Glick estimated, might make up more of WBRS's listenership than Brandeis students.

But diverse programming loses value when the DJs can't do their formats justice, a fact summed up very succinctly by Glick, who believes the station should remain all-genre: "[DJs want] to play what they know, and that makes better radio play when you know the genre and you're playing what you want to play."

Before each semester or academic year, DJs should propose their own shows, with favor granted to those with experience, particular expertise, or interest in an unusual genre. The DJs should then agree to remain within that format, or risk losing their show in subsequent semesters. And shows like "True Blues" and "Watch City Coffeehouse" should lose their permanence. They should only exist when someone wants to and can host a blues or folk show ably.

(Shows are occasionally shelved. The long-running "Alphabet Soup," a children's program that consistently failed to attract DJs, was all but axed this academic year. But that process took years.)

Feuer rightly believes that DJ-proposed blocks would attract more prospective DJs-allowing the station greater quality control. A similar control, as well as an invariable passion, is why the station's sports programming is so successful, he said.

"There's a reason why people love the sports shows. Because the people really care about DJing," Feuer said, adding that sports hosts face additional training beyond what most DJs undergo.

He continued: "Radio's about more than hitting play. It's about doing research, and talking about the song and caring about the program. [The current] format doesn't allow for that in the least."

Editors note: Ethan Feuer '07 is the paid distributor of the Justice, but is not a member of its staff.