R
rockchick
Guest
Has anybody else heard this rumor? This can't possibly be true, can it? Doesn't Brown own the radio station?
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webcastboy
Guest
> Has anybody else heard this rumor? This can't possibly be
> true, can it? Doesn't Brown own the radio station?
>
Technically, no...WBRU is owned by the Brown Broadcasting Service. But that's splitting hairs. IIRC, WBRU has a paid professional Program Director and a bunch of paid pro sales folks. But everyone else (GM included) is a Brown student.
This is somewhat typical for Ivy League-affiliated stations, though:
WHRB Harvard Radio Broadcasting Company, Inc.
WMBR (MIT) Technology Broadcasting Corp.
WYBC (AM&FM) Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.
WPRB Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc.
WVBR (Cornell) Cornell Radio Guild, Inc.
UPenn (WXPN), Columbia (WKCR), Dartmouth (WDCR-AM & WFRD-FM) are exceptions...all are licensed to the Trustees of their parent college.
Interestingly, I think WXPN is the only Ivy station that basically has no students involved with the management and/or operation of the station. Although I think Dartmouth and Yale have a split between their AM and FM licenses in terms of student involvement. The rest all have strong student involvement either as DJ's or management...or both. I know in WMBR's and WHRB's case, the management of the parent organization that holds the license is near-entirely made of alumni of the station, which means they're all alumni of the parent college as well. I would suspect that the rest function similarly.
Why exactly they all did this I don't know, but it could be tied to the fact that many of the Ivies hold commercial radio licenses...not NCE's...so many having a separate organization allowed the station to make a profit?
To answer your question, I haven't heard any such rumors and I rather doubt any of the Ivy leagues would ever put a station up for sale. Not unless they were selling one license in order to purchase a bigger and better license.
In WBRU's case, they've got one of the best signals in the state, never mind just Providence...and although they took a beating in the ratings when WFNX was simulcasting on 103.7, I suspect they're back as the dominant modern rock supplier now that WEEI took over 103.7; allegedly their Sunday urban format also books very well, too. And it's not like Brown will ever be hurting for money, so I can't see why they'd want to sell it.
> true, can it? Doesn't Brown own the radio station?
>
Technically, no...WBRU is owned by the Brown Broadcasting Service. But that's splitting hairs. IIRC, WBRU has a paid professional Program Director and a bunch of paid pro sales folks. But everyone else (GM included) is a Brown student.
This is somewhat typical for Ivy League-affiliated stations, though:
WHRB Harvard Radio Broadcasting Company, Inc.
WMBR (MIT) Technology Broadcasting Corp.
WYBC (AM&FM) Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.
WPRB Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc.
WVBR (Cornell) Cornell Radio Guild, Inc.
UPenn (WXPN), Columbia (WKCR), Dartmouth (WDCR-AM & WFRD-FM) are exceptions...all are licensed to the Trustees of their parent college.
Interestingly, I think WXPN is the only Ivy station that basically has no students involved with the management and/or operation of the station. Although I think Dartmouth and Yale have a split between their AM and FM licenses in terms of student involvement. The rest all have strong student involvement either as DJ's or management...or both. I know in WMBR's and WHRB's case, the management of the parent organization that holds the license is near-entirely made of alumni of the station, which means they're all alumni of the parent college as well. I would suspect that the rest function similarly.
Why exactly they all did this I don't know, but it could be tied to the fact that many of the Ivies hold commercial radio licenses...not NCE's...so many having a separate organization allowed the station to make a profit?
To answer your question, I haven't heard any such rumors and I rather doubt any of the Ivy leagues would ever put a station up for sale. Not unless they were selling one license in order to purchase a bigger and better license.
In WBRU's case, they've got one of the best signals in the state, never mind just Providence...and although they took a beating in the ratings when WFNX was simulcasting on 103.7, I suspect they're back as the dominant modern rock supplier now that WEEI took over 103.7; allegedly their Sunday urban format also books very well, too. And it's not like Brown will ever be hurting for money, so I can't see why they'd want to sell it.
> > Has anybody else heard this rumor? This can't possibly be
>
> > true, can it? Doesn't Brown own the radio station?
> >
>
> Technically, no...WBRU is owned by the Brown Broadcasting
> Service. But that's splitting hairs. IIRC, WBRU has a paid
> professional Program Director and a bunch of paid pro sales
> folks. But everyone else (GM included) is a Brown student.
>
> This is somewhat typical for Ivy League-affiliated stations,
> though:
> WHRB Harvard Radio Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WMBR (MIT) Technology Broadcasting Corp.
> WYBC (AM&FM) Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WPRB Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc.
> WVBR (Cornell) Cornell Radio Guild, Inc.
>
> UPenn (WXPN), Columbia (WKCR), Dartmouth (WDCR-AM & WFRD-FM)
> are exceptions...all are licensed to the Trustees of their
> parent college.
>
> Interestingly, I think WXPN is the only Ivy station that
> basically has no students involved with the management
> and/or operation of the station. Although I think Dartmouth
> and Yale have a split between their AM and FM licenses in
> terms of student involvement. The rest all have strong
> student involvement either as DJ's or management...or both.
> I know in WMBR's and WHRB's case, the management of the
> parent organization that holds the license is near-entirely
> made of alumni of the station, which means they're all
> alumni of the parent college as well. I would suspect that
> the rest function similarly.
>
> Why exactly they all did this I don't know, but it could be
> tied to the fact that many of the Ivies hold commercial
> radio licenses...not NCE's...so many having a separate
> organization allowed the station to make a profit?
>
> To answer your question, I haven't heard any such rumors and
> I rather doubt any of the Ivy leagues would ever put a
> station up for sale. Not unless they were selling one
> license in order to purchase a bigger and better license.
>
> In WBRU's case, they've got one of the best signals in the
> state, never mind just Providence...and although they took a
> beating in the ratings when WFNX was simulcasting on 103.7,
> I suspect they're back as the dominant modern rock supplier
> now that WEEI took over 103.7; allegedly their Sunday urban
> format also books very well, too. And it's not like Brown
> will ever be hurting for money, so I can't see why they'd
> want to sell it.
>
I heard about this also. I didn't, and still don't believe it. But you never know. As far as Brown hurting for money, WBRU is not affiliated with Brown (I don't think) so Brown wouldn't lose or gain anything from a sale. I believe the only thing that connects Brown to WBRU is the fact that the students run the place. Wow. They've been around for a long time.
Steve
>
> > true, can it? Doesn't Brown own the radio station?
> >
>
> Technically, no...WBRU is owned by the Brown Broadcasting
> Service. But that's splitting hairs. IIRC, WBRU has a paid
> professional Program Director and a bunch of paid pro sales
> folks. But everyone else (GM included) is a Brown student.
>
> This is somewhat typical for Ivy League-affiliated stations,
> though:
> WHRB Harvard Radio Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WMBR (MIT) Technology Broadcasting Corp.
> WYBC (AM&FM) Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WPRB Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc.
> WVBR (Cornell) Cornell Radio Guild, Inc.
>
> UPenn (WXPN), Columbia (WKCR), Dartmouth (WDCR-AM & WFRD-FM)
> are exceptions...all are licensed to the Trustees of their
> parent college.
>
> Interestingly, I think WXPN is the only Ivy station that
> basically has no students involved with the management
> and/or operation of the station. Although I think Dartmouth
> and Yale have a split between their AM and FM licenses in
> terms of student involvement. The rest all have strong
> student involvement either as DJ's or management...or both.
> I know in WMBR's and WHRB's case, the management of the
> parent organization that holds the license is near-entirely
> made of alumni of the station, which means they're all
> alumni of the parent college as well. I would suspect that
> the rest function similarly.
>
> Why exactly they all did this I don't know, but it could be
> tied to the fact that many of the Ivies hold commercial
> radio licenses...not NCE's...so many having a separate
> organization allowed the station to make a profit?
>
> To answer your question, I haven't heard any such rumors and
> I rather doubt any of the Ivy leagues would ever put a
> station up for sale. Not unless they were selling one
> license in order to purchase a bigger and better license.
>
> In WBRU's case, they've got one of the best signals in the
> state, never mind just Providence...and although they took a
> beating in the ratings when WFNX was simulcasting on 103.7,
> I suspect they're back as the dominant modern rock supplier
> now that WEEI took over 103.7; allegedly their Sunday urban
> format also books very well, too. And it's not like Brown
> will ever be hurting for money, so I can't see why they'd
> want to sell it.
>
I heard about this also. I didn't, and still don't believe it. But you never know. As far as Brown hurting for money, WBRU is not affiliated with Brown (I don't think) so Brown wouldn't lose or gain anything from a sale. I believe the only thing that connects Brown to WBRU is the fact that the students run the place. Wow. They've been around for a long time.
Steve
J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
If WBRU-95.5 does go up for sale, there would be several interested buyers.
One might be Clear Channel, who would probably get rid of rock (and maybe go 24/7 urban) to protect the company's WHJY-94.1.
The owners of WSKO-790/99.7 might be interested, the idea being that the FM portion of the (mostly) simulcast would move from 99.7 to the stronger 95.5 signal.
If Greater Media gets the radio broadcast rights for the Boston Red Sox, and flip the Boston station that gets the Sox to a sports-talk format, they could try to buy 95.5 to simulcast their Boston sports station (including the Red Sox).
There is Spanish-language FM on a "rimshot" signal in the Providence market (100.3, I believe); could someone buy 95.5 to put Spanish on a strong FM signal that penetrates all the way to Boston's southern suburbs??
Believe it or not, I could see WSBE-36 (or another noncommercial group) making a run at WBRU, and converting 95.5 to a noncommercial NPR news/information station.
The only existing NPR member stations in Rhode Island are WRNI-1290 and WXNI-1230, both of which are on AM, have signals that miss parts of Rhode Island (especially at night), and are owned by (and for the most part simulcast) WBUR-90.9 in Boston.
By contrast, WBRU covers all of Rhode Island with a strong signal.
If WBRU goes up for sale, I can see a noncommercial entity among those interested in buying it, especially as it would give Rhode Island a "homegrown" NPR station as opposed to a simulcast of an out-of-state one.
One might be Clear Channel, who would probably get rid of rock (and maybe go 24/7 urban) to protect the company's WHJY-94.1.
The owners of WSKO-790/99.7 might be interested, the idea being that the FM portion of the (mostly) simulcast would move from 99.7 to the stronger 95.5 signal.
If Greater Media gets the radio broadcast rights for the Boston Red Sox, and flip the Boston station that gets the Sox to a sports-talk format, they could try to buy 95.5 to simulcast their Boston sports station (including the Red Sox).
There is Spanish-language FM on a "rimshot" signal in the Providence market (100.3, I believe); could someone buy 95.5 to put Spanish on a strong FM signal that penetrates all the way to Boston's southern suburbs??
Believe it or not, I could see WSBE-36 (or another noncommercial group) making a run at WBRU, and converting 95.5 to a noncommercial NPR news/information station.
The only existing NPR member stations in Rhode Island are WRNI-1290 and WXNI-1230, both of which are on AM, have signals that miss parts of Rhode Island (especially at night), and are owned by (and for the most part simulcast) WBUR-90.9 in Boston.
By contrast, WBRU covers all of Rhode Island with a strong signal.
If WBRU goes up for sale, I can see a noncommercial entity among those interested in buying it, especially as it would give Rhode Island a "homegrown" NPR station as opposed to a simulcast of an out-of-state one.
B
BillHall
Guest
> I heard about this also. I didn't, and still don't believe
> it. But you never know. As far as Brown hurting for money,
> WBRU is not affiliated with Brown (I don't think) so Brown
> wouldn't lose or gain anything from a sale. I believe the
> only thing that connects Brown to WBRU is the fact that the
> students run the place. Wow. They've been around for a long
> time.
>
> Steve
>
As the previous post (by webcastboy) indicated, WBRU is indirectly owned by Brown University. http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wbru&is_unl=Y&is_lic=Y&is_cp=Y&sr=Y&s=C&sid=
It seems unlikely that they would be selling the station. If I remember correctly, they have previously rejected offers from major groups that wanted to operate the station via marketing agreements (because they had no interest in selling the station). Anyone remember the details? <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by BillHall on 03/24/06 09:47 PM.</FONT></P>
> it. But you never know. As far as Brown hurting for money,
> WBRU is not affiliated with Brown (I don't think) so Brown
> wouldn't lose or gain anything from a sale. I believe the
> only thing that connects Brown to WBRU is the fact that the
> students run the place. Wow. They've been around for a long
> time.
>
> Steve
>
As the previous post (by webcastboy) indicated, WBRU is indirectly owned by Brown University. http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wbru&is_unl=Y&is_lic=Y&is_cp=Y&sr=Y&s=C&sid=
It seems unlikely that they would be selling the station. If I remember correctly, they have previously rejected offers from major groups that wanted to operate the station via marketing agreements (because they had no interest in selling the station). Anyone remember the details? <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by BillHall on 03/24/06 09:47 PM.</FONT></P>
> It seems unlikely that they would be selling the station.
> If I remember correctly, they have previously rejected
> offers from major groups that wanted to operate the station
> via marketing agreements (because they had no interest in
> selling the station). Anyone remember the details?
AMFM (remember them?) was planning to buy the station in 1999. A quick Google search finds that on a bostonradio.org archive message, Broadcasting and Cable falsely reported that the station was to be sold for $2 million. When you look at WCRB's $100 million, the reported price in 1999 doesn't look right at all.
> If I remember correctly, they have previously rejected
> offers from major groups that wanted to operate the station
> via marketing agreements (because they had no interest in
> selling the station). Anyone remember the details?
AMFM (remember them?) was planning to buy the station in 1999. A quick Google search finds that on a bostonradio.org archive message, Broadcasting and Cable falsely reported that the station was to be sold for $2 million. When you look at WCRB's $100 million, the reported price in 1999 doesn't look right at all.
I was on staff at 103.3 WPRB back in my college days some 8 years ago (geez, I'm getting old) and I remember hearing about offers from interested parties all the time. And they were sizable... they had to have been for a full class B FM with a signal reach into markets #1 and #5. Although we were always assured that Princeton would never sell out because it never needed the money (as ridiculous as that sounds), and the university "liked the prestige of owning a commercial radio station". Most if not all of the Ivy League FMs have not sold their stations to this day despite ample opportunity, which leads me to believe that there's some truth to those theories.
I'd hate to see PRB go on the chopping block. Although PRB has taken a severe brow beating over the years for good reason. I really wish they would do something more concrete with the programming and engineering as both are severely bereft. One year, this station went 6 months with 50% modulation on the left channel audio. Either nobody noticed or cared. Or both. That alone is bad.
With regards to WXPN in Philly, my sister was a student at Penn and did some on-air announcing there. So it may be that some shifts are doled out to the students, but I couldn't tell you for sure.
I'd hate to see PRB go on the chopping block. Although PRB has taken a severe brow beating over the years for good reason. I really wish they would do something more concrete with the programming and engineering as both are severely bereft. One year, this station went 6 months with 50% modulation on the left channel audio. Either nobody noticed or cared. Or both. That alone is bad.
With regards to WXPN in Philly, my sister was a student at Penn and did some on-air announcing there. So it may be that some shifts are doled out to the students, but I couldn't tell you for sure.
> Technically, no...WBRU is owned by the Brown Broadcasting
> Service. But that's splitting hairs. IIRC, WBRU has a paid
> professional Program Director and a bunch of paid pro sales
> folks. But everyone else (GM included) is a Brown student.
>
> This is somewhat typical for Ivy League-affiliated stations, though:
> WHRB Harvard Radio Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WMBR (MIT) Technology Broadcasting Corp.
> WYBC (AM&FM) Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WPRB Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc.
> WVBR (Cornell) Cornell Radio Guild, Inc.
I don't know about the others, but having been involved with WMBR since 1982, I know that there are no paid personnel at WMBR whatsoever, either at the station (including management), or on the Technology Broadcasting Corp., which is a completely non-profit all-volunteer group which holds the station license consisting of station alumni, some current (and/or recent) station management, and officials from MIT's Student Activities department.
I don't think there are any paid personnel at WHRB and/or Harvard Radio Broadcasting Inc. either, though I'm not entirely sure nowadays.
> I know in WMBR's and WHRB's case, the management of the
> parent organization that holds the license is near-entirely
> made of alumni of the station, which means they're all
> alumni of the parent college as well. I would suspect that
> the rest function similarly.
Actually, because WMBR is open to some community as well as student involvement on their station, there are also a few station alumni among the approximately one dozen members of the Technology Broadcasting Corp. who aren't MIT alumni. They had entered the station many years ago as community members.
WHRB, however, was not open to community members for many decades, only students, so I'd imagine that their board is all college alumni. With the exception of a couple of long-running weekend specialty shows, outside community people are only invited to fill airtime during school vacations so that the station doesn't risk losing it's license due to being off the air during the summer and other break periods.
> Why exactly they all did this I don't know, but it could be
> tied to the fact that many of the Ivies hold commercial
> radio licenses...not NCE's...so many having a separate
> organization allowed the station to make a profit?
I think that in WMBR's case, the station had to form it's own trustee board to hold the license, deal with legal issues, and interface with MIT's Student Activities department because, if they hadn't, MIT itself never would have bothered to deal with any of it and the station wouldn't have survived. There is no commercial license there, and no one is making any profit.
Because WMBR was originally built as a student electronics project and it was not originally a conscious decision of MIT itself to put the radio station on the air, WMBR was always more or less on it's own as far as it's own maintenance, development, and survival goes.
Unlike some similar colleges, MIT has never viewed WMBR as a vehicle to make money for the institute, or to be competitive in Boston market radio programming in any way. In fact, for stretches of many years, the Institute seemed barely aware of it's existence.
It does get an annual stipend from MIT Student Activities like any other on-campus student-created club or organization, and because of that, MIT does insist that the General Manager must be an MIT student and that the percentage of students to outside community people on the staff must remain over 50%, however that stipend only covers less than 1/4 of annual station operating and maintenance costs. The rest is made with one annual on-air fundraising week every fall.
> Service. But that's splitting hairs. IIRC, WBRU has a paid
> professional Program Director and a bunch of paid pro sales
> folks. But everyone else (GM included) is a Brown student.
>
> This is somewhat typical for Ivy League-affiliated stations, though:
> WHRB Harvard Radio Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WMBR (MIT) Technology Broadcasting Corp.
> WYBC (AM&FM) Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.
> WPRB Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc.
> WVBR (Cornell) Cornell Radio Guild, Inc.
I don't know about the others, but having been involved with WMBR since 1982, I know that there are no paid personnel at WMBR whatsoever, either at the station (including management), or on the Technology Broadcasting Corp., which is a completely non-profit all-volunteer group which holds the station license consisting of station alumni, some current (and/or recent) station management, and officials from MIT's Student Activities department.
I don't think there are any paid personnel at WHRB and/or Harvard Radio Broadcasting Inc. either, though I'm not entirely sure nowadays.
> I know in WMBR's and WHRB's case, the management of the
> parent organization that holds the license is near-entirely
> made of alumni of the station, which means they're all
> alumni of the parent college as well. I would suspect that
> the rest function similarly.
Actually, because WMBR is open to some community as well as student involvement on their station, there are also a few station alumni among the approximately one dozen members of the Technology Broadcasting Corp. who aren't MIT alumni. They had entered the station many years ago as community members.
WHRB, however, was not open to community members for many decades, only students, so I'd imagine that their board is all college alumni. With the exception of a couple of long-running weekend specialty shows, outside community people are only invited to fill airtime during school vacations so that the station doesn't risk losing it's license due to being off the air during the summer and other break periods.
> Why exactly they all did this I don't know, but it could be
> tied to the fact that many of the Ivies hold commercial
> radio licenses...not NCE's...so many having a separate
> organization allowed the station to make a profit?
I think that in WMBR's case, the station had to form it's own trustee board to hold the license, deal with legal issues, and interface with MIT's Student Activities department because, if they hadn't, MIT itself never would have bothered to deal with any of it and the station wouldn't have survived. There is no commercial license there, and no one is making any profit.
Because WMBR was originally built as a student electronics project and it was not originally a conscious decision of MIT itself to put the radio station on the air, WMBR was always more or less on it's own as far as it's own maintenance, development, and survival goes.
Unlike some similar colleges, MIT has never viewed WMBR as a vehicle to make money for the institute, or to be competitive in Boston market radio programming in any way. In fact, for stretches of many years, the Institute seemed barely aware of it's existence.
It does get an annual stipend from MIT Student Activities like any other on-campus student-created club or organization, and because of that, MIT does insist that the General Manager must be an MIT student and that the percentage of students to outside community people on the staff must remain over 50%, however that stipend only covers less than 1/4 of annual station operating and maintenance costs. The rest is made with one annual on-air fundraising week every fall.
A
argytunes
Guest
> > If WBRU goes up for sale, I can see a noncommercial entity
> among those interested in buying it, especially as it would
> give Rhode Island a "homegrown" NPR station as opposed to a
> simulcast of an out-of-state one.
You haven't noticed any new "radio station for sale" listings on ebay today, have you Joe?
argytunes
> among those interested in buying it, especially as it would
> give Rhode Island a "homegrown" NPR station as opposed to a
> simulcast of an out-of-state one.
You haven't noticed any new "radio station for sale" listings on ebay today, have you Joe?
argytunes
It's a great idea to have a homegrown NPR affiliate in Rhode Island. I believe that the University of Rhode Island was approached about this several years ago about having 90.3 WRIU becoming an NPR member station, but obviously it never happened. Ideal scenario, there would be an FM simulcast of NPR, 90.3 to the south, 91.3 to the north. This is obviously what Boston University wanted to do with 1290AM North Providence and 1230AM Westerly. If a company were to try a 90.3/91.3 combo, it would probably be easy to buy the license from 91.5 WCVY and shut it down, since they're barely ever on in the first place, and boost 91.3's signal. Keep in mind that this is all very hypothetical and there is no talk of this possibly being in the works, only in my mind it is.
The long and the short of it, Rhode Island sucks for public broadcasting. I'm sure more people watch WGBH/Boston than WSBE/Providence as WSBE is way behind in getting the station up to date in the techical aspect and they don't run any programming after 11:30pm. They also don't carry popular PBS shows like the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and others. Public broadcasting in Rhode Island needs a complete overhaul in general, as I feel that public broadcast stations will be the last ones left to truly serve the community.
And to stay on topic, I think that 95.5 WBRU is going to stay exactly the way it is. The stories of companies potentially buying the station have come and gone, and the station has remained the way it is.
Jacko<P ID="signature">______________
I live for my dream,
And a pocket full of gold.
</P>
The long and the short of it, Rhode Island sucks for public broadcasting. I'm sure more people watch WGBH/Boston than WSBE/Providence as WSBE is way behind in getting the station up to date in the techical aspect and they don't run any programming after 11:30pm. They also don't carry popular PBS shows like the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and others. Public broadcasting in Rhode Island needs a complete overhaul in general, as I feel that public broadcast stations will be the last ones left to truly serve the community.
And to stay on topic, I think that 95.5 WBRU is going to stay exactly the way it is. The stories of companies potentially buying the station have come and gone, and the station has remained the way it is.
Jacko<P ID="signature">______________
I live for my dream,
And a pocket full of gold.
</P>
W
webcastboy
Guest
Re: WCVY, WRIU and WDOM (was WBRU for sale?)
> It's a great idea to have a homegrown NPR affiliate in Rhode
> Island. I believe that the University of Rhode Island was
> approached about this several years ago about having 90.3
> WRIU becoming an NPR member station, but obviously it never
> happened. Ideal scenario, there would be an FM simulcast of
> NPR, 90.3 to the south, 91.3 to the north. This is
> obviously what Boston University wanted to do with 1290AM
> North Providence and 1230AM Westerly. If a company were to
> try a 90.3/91.3 combo, it would probably be easy to buy the
> license from 91.5 WCVY and shut it down, since they're
> barely ever on in the first place, and boost 91.3's signal.
> Keep in mind that this is all very hypothetical and there is
> no talk of this possibly being in the works, only in my mind
> it is.
>
91.3? You mean WDOM's license in Providence? Nah, Providence College isn't about to let it go (they've had a real resurgence of student interest in the station in recent years, admittedly after a long period of neglect). Besides, it wouldn't be necessary; I can easily hear WRIU 90.3 all over the entire state, including downtown Providence. Hell, I hear it all the way to the I-95/495 interchange near Foxboro.
WBUR/WRNI did attempt, and obtained, a CP for a translator on 91.3 down in Wakefield/Peacedale, or maybe Newport, IIRC...but they applied for a waiver so the translator could repeat 1290AM and the FCC denied it; translators can only repeat FM stations. So they let the CP lapse rather than pay money to get it running only to have WBUR 90.9 on it instead of WRNI. That was back when WRNI was running a much different program schedule (from WBUR) than it does today.
WCVY 91.5 has already entered an official FCC-approved share-time with a religious outfit who's constructing a similar-sized signal on 91.5 in East Greenwich (closer to Providence). The calls are WRJI, but it's still at CP stage, though...not on the air yet, AFAIK. This just happened in December of 2005...guess the pressure of license renewal finally made Coventry High Schools crack; they've had MANY offers of share-time over the years, from more than just religious outfits, too.
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wrji&is_unl=Y&is_lic=Y&is_cp=Y&sr=Y&s=C&sid=
> It's a great idea to have a homegrown NPR affiliate in Rhode
> Island. I believe that the University of Rhode Island was
> approached about this several years ago about having 90.3
> WRIU becoming an NPR member station, but obviously it never
> happened. Ideal scenario, there would be an FM simulcast of
> NPR, 90.3 to the south, 91.3 to the north. This is
> obviously what Boston University wanted to do with 1290AM
> North Providence and 1230AM Westerly. If a company were to
> try a 90.3/91.3 combo, it would probably be easy to buy the
> license from 91.5 WCVY and shut it down, since they're
> barely ever on in the first place, and boost 91.3's signal.
> Keep in mind that this is all very hypothetical and there is
> no talk of this possibly being in the works, only in my mind
> it is.
>
91.3? You mean WDOM's license in Providence? Nah, Providence College isn't about to let it go (they've had a real resurgence of student interest in the station in recent years, admittedly after a long period of neglect). Besides, it wouldn't be necessary; I can easily hear WRIU 90.3 all over the entire state, including downtown Providence. Hell, I hear it all the way to the I-95/495 interchange near Foxboro.
WBUR/WRNI did attempt, and obtained, a CP for a translator on 91.3 down in Wakefield/Peacedale, or maybe Newport, IIRC...but they applied for a waiver so the translator could repeat 1290AM and the FCC denied it; translators can only repeat FM stations. So they let the CP lapse rather than pay money to get it running only to have WBUR 90.9 on it instead of WRNI. That was back when WRNI was running a much different program schedule (from WBUR) than it does today.
WCVY 91.5 has already entered an official FCC-approved share-time with a religious outfit who's constructing a similar-sized signal on 91.5 in East Greenwich (closer to Providence). The calls are WRJI, but it's still at CP stage, though...not on the air yet, AFAIK. This just happened in December of 2005...guess the pressure of license renewal finally made Coventry High Schools crack; they've had MANY offers of share-time over the years, from more than just religious outfits, too.
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=wrji&is_unl=Y&is_lic=Y&is_cp=Y&sr=Y&s=C&sid=
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