The WIUX strory goes national, yesterday heard about it on NPR. Here's the story in todays
Indy Star.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A student-run radio station at Indiana University might lose its FM frequency due to a move by a nearby country music station.
WIUX has been broadcasting from the Bloomington campus for 40 years and has been on the FM band at 100.3 since Jan. 30.
But because WIUX has only a low-power license, Federal Communications Commission rules allow WGYB, licensed to Edinburgh, to take over the frequency, said WIUX Station Manager Zach Pollakoff.
"The rules governing Low Power FM are either nonexistent or still in the making because it's a fairly new type of license," Pollakoff said.
WYGB Station Manager Mike King said the station was simply trying to expand its broadcast signal and said he did not know the expansion would force WIUX off FM. He said the station, which is also known as "Korn Country," secured the frequency because it would soon be boosting its signal.
"What we are doing is we have secured this 100.3 frequency, and we are moving one of our existing stations to that frequency because we can get more wattage," King said.
Pollakoff said he was not sure if the station could return to AM radio. The AM signal reached a much smaller audience, he said.
The station had been trying to gain access to a more powerful frequency since 1971, said IU Dean of Students Richard McKaig.
"It'd be a shame to pull the rug out from under them now," he said.
WIUX's move in January to FM was sponsored largely by donations from alumni, Pollakoff said.
He asked students and alumni to petition the FCC to keep the station on FM.
"We're in the process of putting up a form online that would be a chance for our DJs, our listeners, students and really anybody to send an e-mail to the FCC," he said
