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Public Radio East on WHYC?
- Thread starter w00t
- Start date
Their current GM (then ops director) approached the school when I was the PD. He said they were extremely protective, but there were also numerous FCC violations they were committing. Maybe he made a deal to give them engineering help.
There was also a discussion of using the signal as some kind of emergency service.
Way to go, PRE. That'll be a nice service for that area, and finally an available signal that wasn't sucked up by WUNC.
There was also a discussion of using the signal as some kind of emergency service.
Way to go, PRE. That'll be a nice service for that area, and finally an available signal that wasn't sucked up by WUNC.
Sounds interesting.
What may have made them change is that they have been on the FCC's Silent FM Station List and are reported to have gone silent on September 5, 2006!
See http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/status/silentFM.html
A station has to be off the air for two months before it appears on this list or, if it is an AM station, on the AM Silent Station List.
Even an allegedly intransigent manager, faced with the responsibility of forfeiting the license of a silent station ipso facto after a year off the air, would reconsider an NPR member station offer. There is precedent whereby high school stations (and college ones) run NPR programming when not doing their own live programming. For example, several stations in eastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, rebroadcast WGBH Boston.
What may have made them change is that they have been on the FCC's Silent FM Station List and are reported to have gone silent on September 5, 2006!
See http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/status/silentFM.html
A station has to be off the air for two months before it appears on this list or, if it is an AM station, on the AM Silent Station List.
Even an allegedly intransigent manager, faced with the responsibility of forfeiting the license of a silent station ipso facto after a year off the air, would reconsider an NPR member station offer. There is precedent whereby high school stations (and college ones) run NPR programming when not doing their own live programming. For example, several stations in eastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, rebroadcast WGBH Boston.
It's Public Radio East. Down East Public Radio was on 90.9 and hasn't existed in years ;-)
They just played the ID again mentioning WHYC. Whenever I finally get down that way I can see if this is a week-long thing or off-peak thing. It would make sense if they were only simulcasting during times they would otherwise shut the transmitter off.
I thought I'd heard the transmitter on with their own programming since September 2006. How are silent stations reported to the FCC?
They just played the ID again mentioning WHYC. Whenever I finally get down that way I can see if this is a week-long thing or off-peak thing. It would make sense if they were only simulcasting during times they would otherwise shut the transmitter off.
I thought I'd heard the transmitter on with their own programming since September 2006. How are silent stations reported to the FCC?
Thanks for the correction. Under FCC regs, the stations themselves must report being off the air after so many hours or days-- I've read the time threshold, but I don't remember. I think it's two days-- but I really don't remember. This includes "Act of God" silences-- toppled towers, etc. But the FCC doesn't post the stations as silent until two months have elapsed. I've also noticed some errors on the lists, too. For example, there is no "Silent TV List" as such, but if you go to the CDBS database and click on "licensed and silent" for television stations, you'll come up with another list but this one has many errors. Several New Orleans TV stations are listed as being off the air since Katrina when in fact, as far as I know, they have been long back on the air.
Here is the CDBS page listing silent stations as of COB Friday:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl
Readers from across the country might want to look at this list and determine how accurate this list is. For example, as far as I know, KNXT Fresno is back on the air-- otherwise the $1.4 million they are paying for a high-power LPTV in Bakersfield would be strange. I should point out that the list above is for ANALOG stations. The licensed and silent DTV list is http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl but there are no stations listed on this page.
One could also check out the AM and FM stations oneself --
Silent AM's as of Friday totaled 56: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl
Silent FM's as of Friday totaled 42: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl
There are errors here, too, I think. For example, WHYC is still listed off the air, and so is KTRM Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, which I believe is in error. I wonder, too, about the other college stations, since so many such stations are notorious regulation infractors, it is possible that they have been on the air a long time and have never bothered to tell the Feds. More than a few had failed to renew their licenses in time and were operating long after these licenses had expired-- and quite a few have gotten $7000 and even $10000 fines as a result.
A few of these AM-FM stations are off because of fire, ice storm, etc., and a few are off for financial reasons (AM particularly); a click on the links sometimes gives the reason but at other times you have to open up the application file itself to determine the reason. In other cases, usually where there are financial problems and the station is being sold, the owner has taken it off the air. In other cases, the owner has applied for a Class increase in facilities and has taken off a low-power Class A until the new facilities are built-- or until he finds a buyer who will do the same. There is a world of fascinating information in some of the applications themselves if one bothers to go through the various link-steps to find out the information.
Here is the CDBS page listing silent stations as of COB Friday:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl
Readers from across the country might want to look at this list and determine how accurate this list is. For example, as far as I know, KNXT Fresno is back on the air-- otherwise the $1.4 million they are paying for a high-power LPTV in Bakersfield would be strange. I should point out that the list above is for ANALOG stations. The licensed and silent DTV list is http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl but there are no stations listed on this page.
One could also check out the AM and FM stations oneself --
Silent AM's as of Friday totaled 56: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl
Silent FM's as of Friday totaled 42: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_list.pl
There are errors here, too, I think. For example, WHYC is still listed off the air, and so is KTRM Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, which I believe is in error. I wonder, too, about the other college stations, since so many such stations are notorious regulation infractors, it is possible that they have been on the air a long time and have never bothered to tell the Feds. More than a few had failed to renew their licenses in time and were operating long after these licenses had expired-- and quite a few have gotten $7000 and even $10000 fines as a result.
A few of these AM-FM stations are off because of fire, ice storm, etc., and a few are off for financial reasons (AM particularly); a click on the links sometimes gives the reason but at other times you have to open up the application file itself to determine the reason. In other cases, usually where there are financial problems and the station is being sold, the owner has taken it off the air. In other cases, the owner has applied for a Class increase in facilities and has taken off a low-power Class A until the new facilities are built-- or until he finds a buyer who will do the same. There is a world of fascinating information in some of the applications themselves if one bothers to go through the various link-steps to find out the information.
I went through Swan Quarter yesterday and when I turned it on around 4:30, WHYC had All Things Considered on.
I couldn't tell how they're feeding the transmitter. The sound was real quiet and dull, with a loud hiss in the background, and about 2-3 seconds behind 89.3. That's the only PRE station that's audible down there, and you'd think they would just take an off-air feed. When I drove past the school, it looked like the transmitter door was wide open, so somebody could have been there doing some work.
I couldn't tell how they're feeding the transmitter. The sound was real quiet and dull, with a loud hiss in the background, and about 2-3 seconds behind 89.3. That's the only PRE station that's audible down there, and you'd think they would just take an off-air feed. When I drove past the school, it looked like the transmitter door was wide open, so somebody could have been there doing some work.
PRE uses (or at least when I was there) frame relay to get the WZNB signal to WKNS and WBJD. 88.1 in Greenville gets its signal OTA from WKNS. At one point Wheatstone was working on some new system that would be much less expensive. They may be using that now. PRE is pretty much the proving ground for new Wheatstone gear, hence the Wheatstone plaque on the door of the main control room.
If they're simulcasting the news format on WHYC, it would have to be frame relay or a shortwave hop, since their New Bern news station is only 300 watts.
If they're simulcasting the news format on WHYC, it would have to be frame relay or a shortwave hop, since their New Bern news station is only 300 watts.
These are all from a web page I put up a couple of years ago.
First: this is what it looked like when I started here:<br />
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2f.JPG"
Straight out of 1983
This is the studio that replaced that studio three years ago:
http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2i.JPG"
This is the master control for one station and a network of 4 other stations. They join and seperate throughout the day, with the help of the computer on the left. The pic is obscured looking into our talk studio due to folks in the pic. You can't tell from the pic that this studio is HUGE compared to our last.
This is the master control for the networked 4 stations:
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2d.JPG"
This is their news network, that also airs triple A music 7-Midnight.
I wrote a grant to pay for about half of all the new equipment. Since adding the news network, they've won several of these:
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2g.JPG"
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/3f.JPG"
The two blue plaques are for Outstanding News Operation, 2003, 2004, for the state of North Carolina. And this is in a state that has some heavy hitters in radio journalism. I used to work at two of the others who have won this award, WBT, and WFAE, both in Charlotte.
Now for the real geeky stuff:
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2a.JPG"
The stuff on the right stores the audio, the stuff on the left sends the news signal to the outlying stations. A frame relay system sends it to WKNS, a T1 line sends it to WBJD.
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2b.JPG"
Frame relay on top, T1 on bottom, silence sensor and tuner in the middle.<br />
And the last project.
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2c.JPG"
This is the all digital studio. Carpet and window built in in 1983 out what appears to be raw timber. Speaker mounts are obviously not used, as one speaker sits on top of another broken speaker.
When I wrote the grant for the new studios, I didn't think about two things; microphones and chairs. Our GM found a great deal on Heil microphones, and one of our salespeople traded spots for four beautiful hi-seat chairs, as seen in the third pic on the left.
First: this is what it looked like when I started here:<br />
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2f.JPG"
Straight out of 1983
This is the studio that replaced that studio three years ago:
http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2i.JPG"
This is the master control for one station and a network of 4 other stations. They join and seperate throughout the day, with the help of the computer on the left. The pic is obscured looking into our talk studio due to folks in the pic. You can't tell from the pic that this studio is HUGE compared to our last.
This is the master control for the networked 4 stations:
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2d.JPG"
This is their news network, that also airs triple A music 7-Midnight.
I wrote a grant to pay for about half of all the new equipment. Since adding the news network, they've won several of these:
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2g.JPG"
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/3f.JPG"
The two blue plaques are for Outstanding News Operation, 2003, 2004, for the state of North Carolina. And this is in a state that has some heavy hitters in radio journalism. I used to work at two of the others who have won this award, WBT, and WFAE, both in Charlotte.
Now for the real geeky stuff:
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2a.JPG"
The stuff on the right stores the audio, the stuff on the left sends the news signal to the outlying stations. A frame relay system sends it to WKNS, a T1 line sends it to WBJD.
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2b.JPG"
Frame relay on top, T1 on bottom, silence sensor and tuner in the middle.<br />
And the last project.
"http://home.comcast.net/~27kimble/2c.JPG"
This is the all digital studio. Carpet and window built in in 1983 out what appears to be raw timber. Speaker mounts are obviously not used, as one speaker sits on top of another broken speaker.
When I wrote the grant for the new studios, I didn't think about two things; microphones and chairs. Our GM found a great deal on Heil microphones, and one of our salespeople traded spots for four beautiful hi-seat chairs, as seen in the third pic on the left.
Z
ZAX Double J
Guest
Cool pics! I noticed iMediaTouch, great system. Who did the engineering? Some of it looks as the hadiwork of Matt Lightner. He does a great job. H did our studios here. I also like the big Wheatstone console.
Howard Jones is the CE, but the studios had a lot of people involved in it. The iMedia Touch was installed by Van Clough, who mostly handles Beasley stations. He was involved in a lot the studio contruction. Wheatstone folks would frequenlty be on site since they're just down the road. Ron Paley, the designer of Imedia Touch visited a few times, his son works in New Bern.
As far as the design of the studios themselves, we had a ton of Wheatstone stuff sitting in the lobby of the CCC library, trying to figure out how we were going to fit it in our shoebox studios, when at the last minute, the president said we could have a huge new space that was to be created in a re-design of the building. The basic layout was done by campus maintenance and radio staff scribling on a piece of paper.
The only downside is the equipment room which is way too full and hot. I spent many hours behind the racks beating my head against sound cards trying not to unhook the entire works.
As far as the design of the studios themselves, we had a ton of Wheatstone stuff sitting in the lobby of the CCC library, trying to figure out how we were going to fit it in our shoebox studios, when at the last minute, the president said we could have a huge new space that was to be created in a re-design of the building. The basic layout was done by campus maintenance and radio staff scribling on a piece of paper.
The only downside is the equipment room which is way too full and hot. I spent many hours behind the racks beating my head against sound cards trying not to unhook the entire works.
Z
ZAX Double J
Guest
I know Van he's a great guy too! He set up our Lia satellite hookup and he's helping me get on OMT's tech support team for iMediaTouch. We use the Audioarts consoles (R-90) and they're built like tanks. I plan on getting one of their consoles for my home studio upgrade sometime maybe this year. I heard that on spending time in a hot rack room.
Mr. Harvey Mason was the long-time engineer for WHYC. Mr. Mason is (I believe) in his late 80's - early 90's and is still very mentally sharp. His wife had a series of medical problems and Mr. Mason moved to Greensboro to be with her as she is being cared for.
WHYC had several issues with lightning damage to both the studio and transmitter equipment that had caused the station to be "silent" off and on for a couple of years. The transmitter building and the studio were connected via several cables that ran underground in conduit several hundred feet. Because of the different ground potentials between the transmitter and studio, it was impossible to keep the lightning out. They would repair equipment, re-install it and then receive damage during the next electrical storm. With damage at both the studio and the transmitter and without an engineer in place, WHYC was struggling.
Howard Jones and myself had made visits to the station in the past and assisted Mr. Mason with repairing some of the problems at both the studio and transmitter. With the absence of Mr. Mason, the people in charge of the station were finding it difficult to keep the station on the air. PRE has partnered with WHYC and provided them with some gently used studio equipment and the engineering assistance to get back on the air. The arrangement allows WHYC to rebroadcast PRE whenever they desire and also allows them to schedule local broadcasts at any time. They are working on a plan to broadcast locally during the day starting in mid to late January.
WHYC had several issues with lightning damage to both the studio and transmitter equipment that had caused the station to be "silent" off and on for a couple of years. The transmitter building and the studio were connected via several cables that ran underground in conduit several hundred feet. Because of the different ground potentials between the transmitter and studio, it was impossible to keep the lightning out. They would repair equipment, re-install it and then receive damage during the next electrical storm. With damage at both the studio and the transmitter and without an engineer in place, WHYC was struggling.
Howard Jones and myself had made visits to the station in the past and assisted Mr. Mason with repairing some of the problems at both the studio and transmitter. With the absence of Mr. Mason, the people in charge of the station were finding it difficult to keep the station on the air. PRE has partnered with WHYC and provided them with some gently used studio equipment and the engineering assistance to get back on the air. The arrangement allows WHYC to rebroadcast PRE whenever they desire and also allows them to schedule local broadcasts at any time. They are working on a plan to broadcast locally during the day starting in mid to late January.
NewsNow said:That's extremely charitable! There are people who would take that station over in a hearbeat. UNC would take it just to start it on fire.
Great job Howard and CW! In fact the little I've read sounds like you've made some smart moves.
Thank you for the kind words.
Howard did most of the work. He basically built a "Studio-in-a-Rack" for WHYC in his shop with equipment that was decommissioned during our studio upgrade (Tascam DATs , cassette deck and assorted other equipment) and added the Gates console that was in storage. It isn't exactly State of the Art, but it is a good working studio. He even negotiated with one of the major manufacturers to replace a piece of equipment that had been damaged by lightning for free. They purchased a new solid-state transmitter about a year ago and then lightning took out the Exciter shortly after it was installed. This was repaired and we installed it when we got the station back on the air. They are currently using an IP based STL via a spread spectrum hop to hopefully prevent any further lightning damage. Howard spent some time with this and designed a really neat (and relatively inexpensive) STL and it is digital as well.
We have also provided them with some training on Audacity and there is a computer in the studio for recording and playback. I have offered to send someone down from the News Department to give them some pointers on how to write for radio. They are excited to be back on the air and are working to get local information broadcasts started. It should be a good learning tool for the students at the Mattamuskeet School. It's great when you can develop a win-win situation that is not strictly bottom-line driven.
Howard did most of the work. He basically built a "Studio-in-a-Rack" for WHYC in his shop with equipment that was decommissioned during our studio upgrade (Tascam DATs , cassette deck and assorted other equipment) and added the Gates console that was in storage. It isn't exactly State of the Art, but it is a good working studio. He even negotiated with one of the major manufacturers to replace a piece of equipment that had been damaged by lightning for free. They purchased a new solid-state transmitter about a year ago and then lightning took out the Exciter shortly after it was installed. This was repaired and we installed it when we got the station back on the air. They are currently using an IP based STL via a spread spectrum hop to hopefully prevent any further lightning damage. Howard spent some time with this and designed a really neat (and relatively inexpensive) STL and it is digital as well.
We have also provided them with some training on Audacity and there is a computer in the studio for recording and playback. I have offered to send someone down from the News Department to give them some pointers on how to write for radio. They are excited to be back on the air and are working to get local information broadcasts started. It should be a good learning tool for the students at the Mattamuskeet School. It's great when you can develop a win-win situation that is not strictly bottom-line driven.
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