Speaking Of WZBC: On Vacay?

[Laurence Glavin]

All this discussion about WZBC got me to check out the station, and unlike WMBR or WUML, apparently they're taking a little time off. Not the whole day, mind you...but a few hours in the morning and overnight. Thus I'm able to hear the WAMC-FM station ID, which includes all their repeaters and translators. A few more, and the format will be all-station ID all the time. I guess BC can't get enough summer school volunteers to operate the station. If that attitude were to pertain to students during the fall-winter-spring semesters because kids care less about radio than heretofore, why have it on in the first place?

 

[mgpt6]

Station is on from 7am-1am. many of student staff is away during the summer,hence harder for back up coverage in the summer than fall/spring when students are on campus.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

All this discussion about WZBC got me to check out the station, and unlike WMBR or WUML, apparently they're taking a little time off. Not the whole day, mind you...but a few hours in the morning and overnight. Thus I'm able to hear the WAMC-FM station ID, which includes all their repeaters and translators. A few more, and the format will be all-station ID all the time. I guess BC can't get enough summer school volunteers to operate the station. If that attitude were to pertain to students during the fall-winter-spring semesters because kids care less about radio than heretofore, why have it on in the first place?

It's typical of student-run, primarily student-hosted volunteer college stations to have some "dead" shifts during the summertime, and sometimes during other school vacations. WZBC does have enough staff to maintain full-time on-air operation during the school year (except for the overnight graveyard hours, when they normally sign off).

WMBR is only saved during the summertime because they have more non-student community volunteers than WZBC does, who are always eager to do more radio and fill-in during the daytimes and evenings. Still, WMBR is not on as late on some weeknights in the after midnight graveyard hours or very early morning hours during the summer as they are during the school year.

WMFO at Tufts has been off the air a lot at seemingly any time of day this summer. You hear the existing summer DJ's sign the station on just to do their shows, then sign off when they're done, at all times of day or night this summer.

WBRS at Brandeis seems to be staying on the air most (but not all) of the time, with their mix of students staying in the area and community volunteers.

These stations are student-run, not directly run by the colleges themselves as far as day-to-day operations are concerned. (WZBC has occasionally had a paid professional adviser, but I don't know the current status of that). BC is not going to step in and solicit summer school students for the station. It would be up to the students who are at the station in the springtime, and/or the ones remaining there in the summer, to solicit the summer school to make their students aware of the station, if they were going to do so.

 

[aaronread]

WBRS at Brandeis seems to be staying on the air most (but not all) of the time, with their mix of students staying in the area and community volunteers.

WBRS has, or at least had, an automation system to stay on the air 24/7...but admittedly they are usually pretty good about staying live a lot of the time. During summertimes, one of the conditions of getting free summer housing (which usually 2 - 4 student executive board members do) is that you've got to take at least 8 hours per week of airshifts. Anyways, the automation was just a lot of ripped CD's (not frequently updated, but it was a lot of them) and handy freeware visual basic plugin for Winamp 2.9x called "Winamp Radio Scheduler". It's very basic, but does quite a bit for freeware.

FWIW, if anyone put a concerted effort into rounding up a dozen volunteers to, starting in the summer, go pick up airshifts and volunteer in management positions...within a year or two, three at the most, that group would have de facto control over WMFO entirely.

These stations are student-run, not directly run by the colleges themselves as far as day-to-day operations are concerned. (WZBC has occasionally had a paid professional adviser, but I don't know the current status of that).

I haven't talked to her in a couple years, but I assume that Judy is still there. She is a full time employee of BC, and half her job is running WZBC and the other half is teaching communications courses. She came to BC from Bunker Hill Community College, also teaching radio, and I think Regis College before that. Anyways, as Judy would no doubt remind me, she might be the professional manager, but she very much leaves the day-to-day operation of the station up to the student managers. They are doing a lot - if not most - of the work.

However, I think most people at BC don't even realize WZBC exists. That's probably for the best...I doubt WZBC could get away with half the things they do on-air if people really knew about them. ;D

 

[fybush]

WBRS at Brandeis seems to be staying on the air most (but not all) of the time, with their mix of students staying in the area and community volunteers.

WBRS has, or at least had, an automation system to stay on the air 24/7...but admittedly they are usually pretty good about staying live a lot of the time. During summertimes, one of the conditions of getting free summer housing (which usually 2 - 4 student executive board members do) is that you've got to take at least 8 hours per week of airshifts. Anyways, the automation was just a lot of ripped CD's (not frequently updated, but it was a lot of them) and handy freeware visual basic plugin for Winamp 2.9x called "Winamp Radio Scheduler". It's very basic, but does quite a bit for freeware.

Back in my day, sonny...

Seriously, though, back in my WBRS days almost 20 years ago, the station prided itself in staying on the air 24/7, in an era when automation of any kind was entirely unattainable for a little college station. So those who stayed over the summer pulled all-nighters, though they often consisted of tracking entire album sides, and sometimes included several hours of needle scratching at the end after the LP ended and the jock had dozed off.

One summer (1991, it must have been), I had the idea that if a few of the stations in similar staffing binds - us, WMFO, maybe WMLN or WZBC or even WHRB - joined forces, we could create "Boston Summer Radio," simulcast (at least in off-hours), and share the staffing burden. I still think it would have been a cool idea; there didn't seem to be much interest anywhere in pursuing it, alas. It would have been all off-air pickups, of course - no streaming audio or ISDN or any of that newfangled stuff back then!

 

[aaronread]

One summer (1991, it must have been), I had the idea that if a few of the stations in similar staffing binds - us, WMFO, maybe WMLN or WZBC or even WHRB - joined forces, we could create "Boston Summer Radio," simulcast (at least in off-hours), and share the staffing burden. I still think it would have been a cool idea; there didn't seem to be much interest anywhere in pursuing it, alas. It would have been all off-air pickups, of course - no streaming audio or ISDN or any of that newfangled stuff back then!

Ah yes, the Idea That Made Far Too Much Sense for College RadioTM I tried something similar whilst volunteering as Ops Director at WMFO back in 2000...set up a radio at WMFO tuned to 100.1 and wired to a fader on the board. The idea was that WBRS (which at the time was FAR better about being on the air more hours than WMFO was) would just always Legal ID both stations (for promotional purposes) and WMFO would put WBRS on its airwaves whenever there was no live DJ.

The idea never got off the ground; WBRS was more-or-less interested but WMFO proved to be virulently against it...feeling that if they couldn't have total control over their own airwaves that nobody was going to. That self-destructive and elitist attitude is incredibly pervasive throughout the entire college radio scene in Boston. After all, I remember one GM at WBRS who, as a student, used to say he was convinced WBRS listeners would rather hear dead air than automation. ???