• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Indiana University's WIUX reaches settlement to leave 100.3 MHz.

I am dismayed by I.U., my Alumni, is giving up our student radio station for empty promises. Is this really in the public interest, or is this really in the interest of commercial broadcasters? How could you believe the people who are taking you off the air would find you a full power? You are holding on to your low power by a string and a thread. Even if a full power was available, which it isn't, what in your wildest dreams, would convince you they would reserve it for you. OH NO, they would be going for it for themselves. I am very saddened you have truly sold out to a bunch of B.S & have signed I.U.'s student radio station away. Mark my words in the long run that is the case! I'm ashamed of the incompetence of my alumni. Do your homework & you will come to the realization I.U. has been royally screwed in your own backyard. YOU NEED A BULLDOG ATTORNEY! FIGHT THIS TO THE END! DON'T BELIEVE THE OFFER!
 
I just finished reading the "settlement". It's right on up there with snake oil, Mother Goose and the tooth fairy (Not Dick Orkin's Tooth Fairy).

Steven Newberry should be ashamed of himself. As for there being a full power station available in Bloomington, yeah, right. Newberry and Charles Anderson, Newberry's puppet engineer, and an officer of Commonwealth, know there isn't one available. I thought PUTB was over reacting, until I read the document. It's ridiculous. A settlement predicated "on the come" on a craps table. Everyone one who reads Radio-Info should file a motion for reconsideration with the FCC immediately; Not to mention a petition to deny the licenses of all those involved in this so-called settlement: Commonwealth, Cumulus, Cox, etc.

If you just look at the list of stations in the original rulemaking, it's plain as day that Commonwealth is just fronting for Cumulus. In fact, isn't about time someone called Mr. Newberry and asked him point blank exactly how much is he being paid by Lew Dickey and the little Dickey brothers to undermine a bunch of locally owned FMs along with IU.

If you truly want to save WIUX-LP, then write your congressional representatives, your senators and the Commission ask them to dismiss the original rulemaking and its subsequent grant.

A letter to the president of Indiana University University, with a copy to the well intentioned, but woefully misinformed, Richard McKaig, along with a copy to the IU Daily Student and the Alumni Association, explaining what a confidence job Mr. Newberry has presented, might be worth a stamp or two, as well. If you don't do something right now, you can kiss the only student operated FM at IU a sweet goodbye.
 
BigTimeEngineer said:
I just finished reading the "settlement". It's right on up there with snake oil, Mother Goose and the tooth fairy (Not Dick Orkin's Tooth Fairy).

Steven Newberry should be ashamed of himself. As for there being a full power station available in Bloomington, yeah, right. Newberry and Charles Anderson, Newberry's puppet engineer, and an officer of Commonwealth, know there isn't one available. I thought PUTB was over reacting, until I read the document. It's ridiculous. A settlement predicated "on the come" on a craps table. Everyone one who reads Radio-Info should file a motion for reconsideration with the FCC immediately; Not to mention a petition to deny the licenses of all those involved in this so-called settlement: Commonwealth, Cumulus, Cox, etc.

...
Click to expand...

I guess I don't see what the problem is here. Would not the frequency change to 99.1 preserve WIUX-LP?

As I read it Clause 1 states that the remainder of the agreement is contingent upon the FCC granting WIUX's move from 100.3 to 99.1. (and Clause 4 states that Newberry will pay for WIUX's expenses in implementing the frequency change) So WIUX ends up at least as well off as they already are, with the exception of their audience having to reprogram their presets.

Yes, the chances of the other part of Clause 4 (Newberry finding WIUX a full-power channel) succeeding are next to zero. It's a heck of a long shot that probably wasn't worth the time it took to negotiate. Even if it were to succeed, WIUX's chances of prevailing against the horde of other applicants for any channel they do find would be vanishingly small.

But if it were to succeed, WIUX would end up a lot better off than is currently is. Failure would leave them precisely where they are right now.

Really the whole proceeding leaves WIUX better off. LPFMs are secondary; Newberry could have simply done nothing and the FCC would have eventually ruled as much, granted the reallotment, and ordered WIUX off the air. What the settlement gets Newberry is faster approval (since even though failure of the opposition is inevitable, it would take time to fail) and less hassle. (as it appears WIUX got both of Indiana's Senators involved)
 
I only believe an idiot would believe the scam job that WIUX signed.

Obviously the IU person is well intentioned but here is the problem with the scam.

Newberry is receiving money from Cumulus to downgrade his station. he doesn't get the cash until IU goes away quietly. The conspiracy is Cumulus paying Newberry to get IU to sign. Cumulus name doesn't appear in print.

Newberry is tied to Anderson who is Cumulus engineer. Someone at IU just bent over.

After the FCC accepts the agreement Cumulus will ask to seperate IU from this proceeding and move on. This is with no settlement for IU. No settlement that leaves them on the air.

A 6 channel move is not something that the Commission allows. It is not a minor mod but a major mod. It can't happen before the grant of the other stations to move.

IU can only apply for a channel 6 channels away in a window. No one has annoucned a window. Now that everyone knows of the other frequency they can also apply during a window if there is one. IF IF IF.

If you signed an agreement that made you king of the world because Steven Newberry said it was so you might believe this?

Someone tell IU what a first year communications student knows. The agreement they signed is Charmin. As in the toilet paper.

See you later WIUX. Glad you could serve Bloomington until Cumulus sold you down the river.

PS - Newberry won't have to pay for any move because it won't happen. I love used car salesmen.
 
For starters, I am biased & have a dog in this race. I built KORN in 2000 & continue to care for it. That said, my biggest gripe was when WRTV 6 ran a story saying that a commercial station in Edinburgh was forcing the IU student run station to shut down it's 40+ year broadcast program. PURE BS...they failed to point out that the IU station's tenure on 100.3 was less than 1 year at the time & that the lion's share of their history was on AM. The very worst case would be that they return to what served them well--apparently well enough to remain in operation since the 60's. The fact that they have secured another FM frequency is icing on the cake. With LPFM's secondary status to commercial radio, I personally think they came out smelling like a rose.
 
BobOnTheJob:

Yes, the station can trace its roots to the 1960s. But not as full fledged radio station, WQAD, WIN and WIUS were carrier current stations that, ultimately, were merged into the present day WIUS. Moving forward to this century, anyone involved with WIUS and WIUX-LP would disagree with your assessment of the AM stations validity.

The alumni donated significant time and money to construct WIUX and the station lowering power and moving transmitter sites is not "smelling like a rose". Believe me, when you read the settlement, the scent is anything but.

What I am appalled at is the general tone of the document. Exactly what was the purpose of the promise of the frequency search? To a school administration, it sounds like something of substance. It's window dressing, nothing more. As any consulting engineer will tell you, it takes about 30 seconds to run a FM frequency search. But, as Newberry paints the picture, his consulting engineer (again, a Commonwealth partner and employee, which Newberry just happens to fail to mention), will spend his valuable time in assisting IU in finding a frequency.
The settlement agreement is based on what Pot Up The Bird called "empty promises". I'll take it a step further. They're more than empty promises, the false and misleading statements intended to coerce the acceptance of the agreement.

As far as the secondary position that an LP station has. I beg to differ. We have a unique situation here. The University's LP is exactly what LP was created for. Not the just the so-called local service stations that are one step above ham operators, pirates and program director wannabes. If enough pressure is placed on the Commission, then WIUX-LP would be protected. (The possibly of a move to 99.1 does nothing. It's outside of the 3 +/- channel window and there's no filing window, as well. I'm sorry. IU needs a competent attorney and the public's support on this one.) Furthermore, if Newberry, Cumulus, et.al, would so confident that, ultimately, WIUX would be left in the wind and be forced to go silent, then "good cop" Newberry wouldn't have approached IU with the settlement. (They know that a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, as it were.) And, yes, the bad cop in the game, Cumulus, will ask the Commission to separate the WIUX settlement from the principal rulemaking and the Commission will be inclined to do so. Consequently, the WIUX settlement will be left on a Commission's staffer's desk in the "closed proceeding" pile with no action whatsoever.

As I stated earlier, you need to read the entire proceeding. In short, the proceeding is self-serving. That's a far cry from serving the public's interest and necessity. Remember those words? It's a carefully constructed road map to enable two FM stations, in Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee, to be granted marginal power increases.

WIUX-LP happens to be a small impediment that Newberry and Cumulus need to clear up.
 
I must retract what I said above. I.U. didn't sell out. I.U. just gave their L.P. away. You need to contact Jim Bradshaw, F.C.C. engineer, about this travesty. Until L.P.F.M. has primary status, you have no guarantee you will not lose 99.1 as well. Another move on the radio dial chess board, & you are finished forever. You can bet it will happen down the road. It is not a matter of if, but when this will occur! It is true it only takes seconds to find there are no more frequencies left. I can't believe they bluffed you into believing their engineer would do a study for you. Do your own search on recnet.com.

http://www.recnet.com/cdbs/nce.php?latd=39.1622&lond=86.5291&mode=search

It is free & when you do your search you will see a BIG RED SORRY no freqs. available. Allegedly there is more going on UNDER THE TABLE WITH THE COMMERCIAL BROADCASTERS INVOLVED then you could ever fathom. Yes, a bird in the hand is better then pie in the sky. These sharks could have at least let the kids finish the semester. BETTER GET IN THE RING FAST!!!! TIME IS TICKING AWAY. DON'T GET STUCK ON A SIT AND SPIN. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
 
Most stations like KORN Country (WYGB) get paid well when they have to change frequencies.
Lokks like IU just gave up. Not sure they will get a dime?
 
Dismissing the Petiton for Reconsideration is not the fruit of good advise. WIUX was an agrieved part in the Doc 06-77 action and had every right to file, every right for the FCC to hear the petiton and every right for the FCC to rule on the request. The fine print in Doc 06-77 avoided any discussion of WIUX. That alone is worth the petition for reconderation.

I agree, the settlement agreement appears to contain nothing of any real value to WIUX. A promise for a full service channel in a city where none are available would one of them.

That promise is a very empty one. Newberry has a "gotcha" on IU with that condition. Maybe Newberry could have promised peace in the middle east in the settlement. At least that would have made for a little entertainment. Their offer to delievery that which is not available is of questionable ethics and for IU to accept the offer with out attempting to verify its value speaks to the in-experience of the IU negotiators.

There are others interested in putting 100.3 on the air in central Indiana and their filing impacts Corn Country and all the others standing in line for their Cumulus handout.

There are other options that WIUX could have taken before accepting any agreement for a change of frequency.

But IU is a school, so let us hope that thier is a valuable learning experience is all of this.

Next time the FCC will hear from IU will be when 99.1 comes under pressure which it eventually will. Since IU did not follow through with their petiton for reconsideration I am willing to bet the their next message to the FCC will not be given much of a weighty reception.

The FCC wants to keep LPFM around. The FCC has said that on many occasions. I am willing to bet that the Clear Channel's, Cumulus' and NAB's of the world would like to keep LPFM around as well so that can continue to screw up commercial radio but still say there is "local" service out there, somewhere.

By the way Newberry is the guy being kept off the air by Versailles 103.1. So moving that to
Hope at 102.9 and 102.9 to 100.3 helps him-alot. Get it? WIUX's petition was keeping a lot of freq changes from occuring.

One lession for IU to learn from all of this is that:value received should be equal to or greater than value given. Hope you got that value in your settlemet. Yah, it is al about contrtacts. I give you "nothing and you give me something" is not a contract-even if is written down someplace. Something about an exchange of value and consideration.
 
Perhaps if the A.P. was notified of the collusion to take WIUX off the air, this would bring out some top notch attorneys to fight for I.U. There are allegedly payoffs going on under the table. This should be made public. I am very passionate about this, & I am sure there are other I.U. alumni members who would fight tooth & nail to rectify this injustice as well. We need a competent, BULLDOG, attorney to fight for I.U. Someone that actually knows broadcast law.
 
The next question is...Why didn't the consultant who applied for this know that this complication ws inevitable? It's been common knowledge for quite some time that Connersville was to vacate 100.3. I personally know of 3 broadcasters who, long before WIUX signed on, had already figured out that 100.3 would fit in the Columbus/Franklin/Martinsville area...and those are just ones I am acquainted with. There probably were more. Either the consultant was out of touch with reality or he knew that this was likely & didn't communicate that fact to IU or IU knew it all along & decided to build anyway. I can't help but wonder which one of those scenarios is the correct one.
 
At the time WIUX applied for 100.3, this was the only LPFM channel in Bloomington. 99.1 became available after some other station moves. Had 99.1 been open in 2000, it would be in use
by the Monroe County Public Library today. That's right, they tried to get a low power FM too.

There actually was one full power frequency WIUX could have applied for. That is 100.3 MHz.
They could have put their hat in the ring and fought KORN Country for its allotment in Bloomington. Bob, you should be glad they did not take that path.

I discovered 99.1 as a new frequency for WIUX within 1 hour after finding that KORN Country was
moving in. That was when the FCC added it to their database in late October, 2006.
FCC officals and engineers found 99.1 by November.

But 99.1 is not a good frequency. The noise level is much higher there. If a pirate station
came on 99.1 in Bloomington, they would make headlines for interference to WZPL and be shut
down. That's right 99.1 isn't even good enough for a pirate!

It was FCC Officials who sugested that IU file a petition for reconsideration. It was their
right as an impacted party.

No IU did not win! They were screwed! They gave up because they were afraid. That is,
afraid that they would be screwed even worse if they didn't give in to those big corporations.

Now, FCC rules need to change. All broadcasters need equal rights. A small station that serves
110,000 people should be treated equal with 1 that would serve 39,000. And, I do think this
change will come.

Ever hear of WCWT near Dayton, Ohio? They were on 91.9 ontill a full power kicked them to
101.5. Now another station is moving in on that and they have no where to go. This may be
what's in store for IU if the rules do not change.

Yes, I'm the guy who filled out the WIUX license application and helped them design the FM
site. So, I do know.

I have had my success in broadcasting. So I could have just sat back and said I've got mine so
I don't care. But, darn it! Someone has to fight for the little guy who is being shut out of American
broadcasting.
 
The population of Bloomington is 69,000 (including students), not 110,000.
Do you own a LP FM Dutchman?
 
I really must jump in on this one.
In order to get a broadcast license for a Class A or higher, you must either shell out a lot of money to purchase an existing property or buy a frequency in the FCC auctions (for the most part).
To obtain a LPFM or Translator license you don't have to jump through nearly as many hoops, and the financial risk isn't even in the same ballpark.
Now you want to grant the same rights to a Class D, or LPFM or Translator?
My example will include a couple of regulars to this group.
Jennifer Hensley's WJCF and Mitzy Quinn's WHUM (wink wink, we know who really owns and operates).
Hensley's station is a Class A and Quinn's is a Class D. I would guess that Hensley (even though he's a 501C non profit corp.) spent 10 times more money getting WJCF licensed and on the air than Quinn. Does anyone here really believe WHUM should receive the same protection as WJCF?
Translators are popping up all over Indiana. Reising's Good Shepard has signed on a couple over the last few months. Should those guys get any protection?
WXIU's coverage will be fine on 99.1, and it won't bother WZPL one iota. I don't understand the passion still being exhibited on this thread. Everybody wins and you won't let it go.
 
1. We are talking about WIUX in Bloomington, not WXIU. I don’t know where WXIU is.. Looks like Maru didn’t want to count the 40,000 students WIUX is licensed to serve. Maybe he didn’t know there is a major university in Bloomington called IU.

2. The broadcast stations who spend the most on construction are the ones who deserve the most rights is a new one to me. Major corporations might spend one million dollars or more to build a new station. Guys like Quinn and Hensley are engineers. They might build a station with used equipment they fix up. I suspect Quinn or Hensley could build a full power Class A for under ten thousand if they had to.

3. WIUX, Hensley, and Quinn don’t deserve equal protection under the law. But the big corporations
do, cause they got more cash. How about the rest of the small stations left, that I can count on one hand.
Will you name them too? Do they not have any rights to protection either?

4. I could puke!
 
The story in Bloomington is that Bruce Quinn was in a real hurry to get WIUX built, on the air,
and licensed before a commercial broadcaster took it away. He was well aware of the Connersville
stations move to Cincinnati and the new channel opening in central Indiana.
Quinn knew that if the station was on the air, the FCC would work with it to survive.
Otherwise, WIUX would die before it was born.

Not so dumb after all! Maybe, I'll give my wife a radio station too. Well, someday!
They saved WIUX! Good work! Go IU!
 
Dawg and Bob,

When shooting from the "lip", be carefull that there aren't any "facts" standing in the way.

IU applied for WIUX in 2000 and had the cp granted in March 2005. Anyone with a first graders knowledge concerning 100.3 will know that WIFE Connersville's intentions were post that date.

Bob and Dawg are most likely unable to connect these two facts so I guess, since I have a second grade education, I can tell them that all of the loose talk about 100.3 is a lot of BS.

The consultant for the WIUX CP was someone at the FCC. Check with Mr. Bradshaw about whom in his department looks over these things. (Bob, Bradshaw is the guy in charge of the engineering department at the FCC. They review your work-get it?) So fault the FCC that in 2000 there was a mistake made in determining that 100.3 would become unavailable by the sale of the Connersville station.

Dawg, the CP was issued before 100.3 sold off in Connersville. Was WIUX suppose to just wait for the corporate radio types to jump in with their version of "greed" and forgo their CP so that a guys in Nashville and Louisville can add more stations into their "underserved" markets?

That would be attributing a level of goodwill that the Columbus broadcasters did not demonstrate toward WIUX. Read the settlement agreement. The operators of 103.2/102.9 and 102.9/100.3 are not there. The guy who is trying to put a station in Louisville is. How does that make the Columbus/Hope/Edinburg guys a look?

When WIUX went on the air in January 2006, WIFE was still on the air and the final deal for that frequency wasn't done (you know, a "done deal").

Facts+facts=facts. Bob and Daug, when inserting foot into mouth-use a shoe that fits.

If the student who put WIUX on the air saw all of the stupid comments about the station they would be pissed off enough to have not settled.

PS- check the census info on Bloomington. If your going to use facts, be sure to use all of them.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom