Senior Joncier Rienecker thinks student voices have quieted down too much since last year’s Erase the Hate Rally, and she wants to get people talking again.

Rienecker is the the host of the college’s 92 WICB-FM radio station’s new diversity radio show, “Bridging the Gaps.”

“Diversity is very essential towards existence, and you can’t not believe in diversity and live in this world,” Rienecker said.

Rienecker came up with the idea for the show after she participated in the Erase the Hate Rally last spring. The rally was held in response to a series of racial incidents, including racist graffiti found on the outside and inside of the Towers Concourse and the theft of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Flag. But Rienecker said she wanted to make more of an impact through the radio.

“The most influential organization I was involved with was WICB,” she said. “I thought it would be a great idea to get your opinions and views heard via the airways.”

In an effort to help educate and provide students with a public forum to speak their minds, the new show addresses diversity and civil rights, Rienecker said. The show airs from 10 to 11 p.m. on Sundays and is part of the station’s weekend “City Rhythms” segment, which plays rap, hip hop and R&B music.

Racial issues that came out of Hurricane Katrina sparked the debate of the first aired show on Oct. 2. On the show, Rienecker discussed the comment rap artist Kanye West made after the hurricane disaster. West said, “President Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Rienecker’s guests included Larry Shinagawa, associate professor and director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity, and his colleague, assistant professor Sean Eversley- Bradwell. Shinagawa said he liked how the show was timely and addressed issues that directly affect people’s lives.

“I thought the show was great and exactly the kind of voice that is necessary on the Ithaca College campus,” Shinagawa said.

Rienecker said the show’s main goal is to arouse the campus and get students talking about diversity issues and other controversial topics.

“It’s very important to continue talking about these issues so we can get to the point where they are no longer issues,” she said. Christopher Wheatley, manager of radio operations, said when Rienecker pitched her idea to him, he liked it immediately.

“I think it’s very positive because this is a very courageous idea to pick up,” Wheatley said. “When people propose music shows, I’m less enthusiastic, but shows with serious content, I am much more receptive to, and this program fit that.”

Rienecker said she plans to keep her own opinions out of the show but is looking for students who are willing to voice their thoughts. “I try to keep the show unbiased and bring people that have radical views and people with conservative views together to have discourse,” she said.

Previous guest speakers included April Richardson, founder of the Neo-Underground Railroad Conductor chapter on campus, and sophomore Darren Simonson, a local hip hop artist involved in Brothers for Brothers and the African-Latino Society.

Rienecker said she is looking for more heated debates. Future topics include negative ethnic slang and the meaning and origin of these terms.

“We are still trying to get to that fire, but we are getting real close to finding it,” Rienecker said.

She said the second show involved a debate on whether the violence, drugs and sexual lyrics prominent in hip hop are considered art and if they represent African-American culture. The show was the first installment of a four-part series centering on the past, present and future of hip hop.

Freshman Patricia Rodriguez, one of the students who helps put the show together, said the show can help reduce tension on campus.

“This show, entitled ‘Bridging the Gaps,’ is like bridging the gaps among people so incidents like last year won’t ever happen again,” Rodriguez said.

While the show is on the air, students can ask questions by sending an instant message to bridgingthegaps01. Students can send feedback on the show to bridgingthegaps01@yahoo.com.