Public Radio or Student Radio? That is the question

[skyeye]

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports a public radio station looking for form a statewide public radio network, wants to take over a student station and duplicate the format of two other area public radio stations.
_______________________________________________________________
College Station's Faint Voice Could Soon Be Drowned Out

By Marc Fisher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 5, 2006; Page N07

The last student-run radio station on the Washington dial may soon be overpowered and forced off the air by a Baltimore public station intent on creating Maryland's first statewide radio service.

Listeners may imagine public radio to be a genteel alternative to the cacophony of commercial stations, but the off-air politics of the low end of the FM dial can get downright cutthroat, as the University of Maryland students who run WMUC are finding out.

The College Park station, one of the oldest student-managed outlets in the nation, operates on 88.1. So does WYPR, the Baltimore public station that was formerly owned by Johns Hopkins University and sold in 2002 to a group of its managers for $5 million. The new Baltimore management has sought from the start to transform WYPR into a powerhouse that looks beyond its home town to reach and cover an audience all across Maryland. The station's programming is almost identical to the mix of National Public Radio news and talk heard on Washington's WAMU (88.5 FM) and WETA (90.9), with the addition of evening jazz and a Baltimore-oriented talk show instead of WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi. (more)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/03/AR2006030300388.html

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

While there are NPR member stations in most parts of the country, I could see some more university-owned student-run stations that have good signals being converted to public radio (read: NPR news/information formats), especially in areas where NPR stations don't cover large parts of the area sertved by the signal of the existing student station.

For instance, while WRNI-1290 and WXNI-1230 are the only NPR member stations in Rhode Island (and actually semi-satellites of WBUR-90.9 in Boston), there are parts of the Ocean State that don't get a good signal from either. I could even see the University of Rhode Island converting student-run station WRIU-90.3 (which has a good signal in Providence and points south) to an NPR news/information format sometime in the future.

In some cases, university licensees might be seeing dollar signs. Few student-run stations (unless on a commercial frequency and selling advertising spots, like Harvard University's WHRB-95.3) get more than a token amount of their budget from individual and business donors. Nearly all of their budgets come from the university that owns them.

By contrast, most NPR member stations get lots of income from listener pledges and business undewrwriting (especially NPR news/information formats). Some university-owned NPR member stations might not even have to fund any of the station's activities: these stations would get all their income from a combination of listener pledges, business underwriting, and a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Thus, these schols don't have to give money from their "general fund" to pay for the college radio station since the combination of pledges/underwriting/CPB grants pays for the entire operation.

 

[JohnnyMorganWXJX]

> Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports a public radio
> station looking for form a statewide public radio network,
> wants to take over a student station and duplicate the
> format of two other area public radio stations.

They won't be "taking over" the student station--they'll be (legally) interfering with the co-channel operation, effectively rendering the student station unlistenable. That's the result of the FCC's stupid 10 watt provision dating back almost 30 years--trying to get 10 watt student FMs to stop cluttering the band by forcing them to up to 100 watts to get protection, or if they chose to stay at 10 watts, by not offering any protection, or moving them to the commercial band, also with no protection.

But these two stations, WYPR and WUMC, have co-existed for some time.

And now, WYPR's really showing its distain and arrogance towards the college station (an arrogance normally seen by "big time" commercial broadcasters):

Brandon says his efforts to negotiate an amicable arrangement with WMUC never elicited a response from top university officials. Brandon says he had hoped to find a way to move the college station to another spot on the dial. "We didn't want to be heavy-handed," the WYPR president says. "But it's our obligation to broadcast at full power for our listeners in Columbia and Annapolis. We have made no secret of trying to be more Maryland-centric. Our stated objective is to serve the entire state."

But university counsel Anne Bowden says it's "highly presumptuous" of WYPR to suggest that WMUC move to a different frequency. Station engineers add that there is no available frequency in the highly congested Washington radio spectrum. Brandon agrees that might be true, but says he was willing to help the college station expand its Internet presence or send interns to the Baltimore station.

***

In the one dialogue between the two stations, "we had outside counsel look at the issue and we responded to WYPR saying, 'Thanks but no thanks,' " Bowden says. "I don't think it's the intent of the FCC to eliminate student radio stations."

Brandon says he expects to boost his station's power from 10,000 to 15,000 watts this year and he admits that that move will "probably interfere with their transmissions," making it impossible for the College Park station to stay on the FM air. He says WMUC could continue as an Internet-only station.

So, we see that WYPR is interested in attaining their goal of being a statewide broadcaster regardless of what stands in their way. And in a "let them eat cake" moment, the WYPR GM gives them the crumb--some interns (!) at WYPR or an internet-only station. Because that's a replacement.

The arrogance of large stations, both commercial and non-commercial, towards college radio really bothers me. It's as if, in their eyes, college stations serve no purpose other than to be a playground for college kids. (I've seen it expressed on this board by some posters.) But what these people fail to realize is that:

1. It's not a playground, in many cases. Lots of college stations broadcast rare music, formats not available on commercial radio, long-form programs, and college discussions, many times of the town-gown variety.

2. The stations are licensed by the FCC, and may not be just overrun by larger stations at their whim. If the Commission had a backbone, they'd support all licensed stations, not just the big boys. But we've seen their attitide towards LPFM, so what's going to change?

 

[jal]

Student Run stations and what class D means to them

> Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports a public radio
> station looking for form a statewide public radio network,
> wants to take over a student station and duplicate the
> format of two other area public radio stations.

It happend in suburban Atlanta to one university -- twice (albeit involving commercial stations.)

In 1981 WGHR was licensed to Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta as a class D station on 102.5 FM. In the mid 90's, Radio One applied for a class A license in nearby Mableton at 102.5 FM (now WAMJ). WGHR moved to 100.7 FM, and that was supposed the end of that battle.

At the same time, Suqsuehanna Radio (soon to be Cumulus) applied to move in WHMA-FM 100.5 FM from Anniston, Alabama, to Sandy Springs, GA (another Atlanta suburb) at 100 kw. That application was rejected because of WSSL-FM Greenville, SC. WGHR thought they would be OK, but Susquehanna reapplyed to move WHMA, but this time to College Park, GA at 3 kw. That application was approved, and in 2000 WWWQ signed onto the air. WGHR was forced off of the air. Everyone was upset. WGHR tried to move to 101.1, but dropped everything and just went internet-only (Although they say they will keep trying).

As I look at WGHR's website, they still have Susquehanna on their minds.

Student run stations are an endangered species, thanks to lack of money and FCC red tape. Budgets are nill, and that is why many of these student run stations could not upgrade to class A or class C in the past. Under today's rules, class Ds that do upgrade are subject to what amounts to competitive bidding. You may lose your station if someone else has a better offer.

Unless the FCC does something to help (which they won't), they will be long gone pretty soon.