Student DJs go silent - WWLR

[Ozman]

this sucks...

On April 30th, WWLR stopped broadcasting shows with student DJS for the remainder of the school year.

"We believe that it is in the best interest of the club to close the station for the rest of the semester due to the recent events and members involved,"

(now I am without a radio show til further notice and it hurts especially when you promised to do a show and you say you never miss one.fri 5/4...)

more can be found at
http://lyndonstate.edu/critic/article_pages/2007/5_may/silent_djs.html

thoughts?

 

[nhradiochild]

What recent events would those be, Jamie?

 

[Ozman]

since it was fellow dj's who I work with, I don't want to comment much except what I know, an incident occured at our college which had at least had one of our WWLR directors involved.
I wish I could tell you guys more but I don't feel like getting sued by one of them lol would you?
there was an article on channel 2 & 5 out of burlington as well as the burlington free press about it around last wednesday.
hope that helps
~OZ

 

[Banjomax]

since it was fellow dj's who I work with, I don't want to comment much except what I know, an incident occured at our college which had at least had one of our WWLR directors involved.
I wish I could tell you guys more but I don't feel like getting sued by one of them lol would you?
there was an article on channel 2 & 5 out of burlington as well as the burlington free press about it around last wednesday.
hope that helps
~OZ

I assume (usually a Bad Idea) that it relates to the incident outlined in the article linked to below:
(all three link to the identical story, originally credited to the Burlington Free Press via the Associated Press...it's the only news item I found relating to LSC in the past 10 days or so)

WCAX-TV
WPTZ-TV
boston.com

Trust me, hospitalization for excessive alcohol consumption is no fun. Been there, done that. Best of luck to all of those involved... and more so to those NOT involved, but nonetheless negatively affected by this.

 

[nhradiochild]

I see. Well going with what I know, sounds like yet another stupid college trick gone south. I just wonder how many hazing incidents it will take for students to just plain think it's a bad idea. ??? :'(

In that light, I believe that the station itself did not advocate this ill-conceived event, just a member in it. Unless there's something that I haven't been introduced to, I would say that the station should be able to resume a normal broadcast schedule upon proper training of the replacement director. Of course, if that sort of thing would take longer than (or about as long as) time allows before the students hit summer vaca, then it wouldn't be worth throwing an airstaff back on I wouldn't think.

In any event, hope things pan out for you Jamie. And don't worry about the integrity thing, it's only important if you miss a show that you had CONTROL over.

 

[azumanga]

Of course, when a station closes (even briefly), I wonder how long will it be until the Christian "vultures" start circling? If the station has no contingincy plan to stay on the air, sans students, would they run the risk of being forced to give up their frequency?

 

[nhradiochild]

??? I'm thinking I'd rather not take that quote from the article at face value. The lead paragraph states they would discontinue running programming with student DJs. I'm thinking the subsequent quote is probably a "stupid student" thing to say. I.E.: Those intimidated by media even as simple as a campus newspaper, get flustered and sort of say the wrong thing.

Outside of that, some (dare I say many?) college stations have a special license to broadcast only when the student populace is available to run the station. Others run digital jukebox on the off-season. Only Dartmouth that I know of actually hire out DJ's to keep the content running without a change in programming style... well, for their FM anyway.

I don't think Lyndon State College is in any danger of losing their license to anyone, much less the "Christian vultures"??

That's sort of a weird way of putting it... are there really Christians out there just sampling frequencies in remote locations waiting for someone to screw up so they can snag the frequency? Or is it that the frequency comes up on the block fair and square?

 

[newsbot]

From listening to the stream the station seems to be on the air in 'digital jukebox' mode. Jamie, can you confirm?

 

[w9wi]

Of course, when a station closes (even briefly), I wonder how long will it be until the Christian "vultures" start circling? If the station has no contingincy plan to stay on the air, sans students, would they run the risk of being forced to give up their frequency?

As I understand it (but keep in mind, I'm an engineer, not a lawyer)...

If the station remains off for more than ten days, it must notify the FCC. If it remains off the air for more than a year, it will lose its license and the frequency goes up for grabs. (if WWLR were to end up at risk of remaining off for that long, I would strongly suggest one talk with the administration & try to get them to arrange for *some* kind of programming until they can iron out the student situation. Relay Vermont Public Radio, put in a computer and run automated music, something like that.)

I think the reference is to some situations in the Midwest where a religious group has been filing for share-time licenses on the frequencies of a number of college stations. If a non-commercial station operates for less than 12 hours a day, another applicant can apply to share the channel. They must try to negotiate a voluntary agreement with the existing station first, but if they can't reach an agreement they can force the issue at the next renewal. (if WWLR is a long way from having to renew their license then they have nothing to worry about here)

The religious group in question doesn't appear to have done their homework. Several of the stations they filed against were able to prove to the FCC's satisfaction that they were in fact operating 24/7 and thus not subject to involuntary sharing. So far the FCC has rejected *all* of these recent applications, though the competing applicant doesn't seem to be taking "no" for an answer & seems to be taking all available appeals.

 

[Ozman]

our station is Running DJ "Dell" so yes digital jukebox mode. you can listen to what it soundlike via
lyndonstate.edu/wwlr

I don't know any more because I am not a director, but from what I understand we might not have any college DJ's again until most likely the fall. as far as I know, upward bound program will use it in late june and July anytime during mid day, which is highschool kids that run through the school with the upward bound program. as for edge sports which is high school sports coverage I do not know but their schedule is linked below
http://www.neksports.net/home/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=6

hope this helps and I hope that I will be able to return the the airwaves
~OZ

From listening to the stream the station seems to be on the air in 'digital jukebox' mode. Jamie, can you confirm?