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LCSC
Radio Becomes Reality
By Lauren Wright, The Pathfinder
Tune your radio to 88.9 soon
because the L-C radio club has made its dream a reality this past year,
organizing and arranging for L-C students to operate their own college radio
station. The radio club, first started in 1999, has been moderately active
this year and has influenced the 2001-2002 student government to help with
the implementation of a radio station on campus.
But the battle to implement this station was a long one. The process
involved working with administration, finding funds, and working with
professionals in the field of broadcasting. The administration was concerned
with the legal aspects of the station, holding an FCC (Federal Communication
Commission) license and the other costs that were involved in operating a
radio station.
Chris Norden, an English professor at L-C, is and has been the advisor of
the radio club for the past three years. According to the club’s vice
president, Aaron DeLane, Norden is a strong supporter of non-profit
educational radio stations and believes that it would be beneficial for L-C.
DeLane stated that Bernice Harris, division chair of Humanities, believes
that a radio station would be nice for students interested in broadcasting.
Harris knows that funding is a problem, however.
President Dene Thomas is also in favor of the radio station, stating that
she has no problems with students starting a station, but cannot promise
funding for broadcasting classes.
Originally Sean Emery, Ramon Nunez, and Delane founded the club. They
believed that a radio station would be an excellent addition to L-C.
Although the idea was not totally new ( L-C once had a low powered radio
station in Spalding Hall). They started thclub with promotional meetings and
fundraisers to begin the process.
"L-C has teamed up with Lewiston High School, which has already had a radio
station for several years, and together the two schools will develop a joint
venture with a station on 88.9 FM. The non-profit educational radio station
has numerous possibilities of things to air.
DeLane stated that potential programs could be formed through a variety of
divisions on campus. Programs could include Native American language, NAIA
sports, car talk , the political forum, literature/poetry review, speech
and debate, history of jazz, school announcements, emergency/crisis
counseling, and much more.
In the Humanities Division the station would be able to offer education in
more areas of mass communication.
“Students involved in communications will have an opportunity to learn and
participate in the radio station” DeLane said. “ After gaining the
fundamentals of radio broadcasting, students will be able to pursue
internships and graduate with possible career options.” The station will
also benefit the college as a whole. The station would provide advertising
for campus and community, provide the campus and community with a voice on
current issues, and also provide the campus with recruitment and retention
by offering station services and experience.
The problem of manning the station 24/7 has also been resolved. Automated
software allows programs to be pre-recorded, allowing fewer people on the
air live.
Club President Tate Smith stated that there can be live shows, but also
automated shows during the late hours of the night. Smith also said that
ideally the announcers of such programs would include faculty, staff,
students and any others interested in radio broadcasting. Smith said, “It
would be wonderful for a student club or organization to deejay an hour a
week. They would then be able to promote their program and announce coming
events.”
Although the dollar amount of funding had not been approved by the time of
writing of this article, Smith outlined where the money was going to be
coming from and what had already been raised. The radio club held numerous
fundraisers including t-shirt sales and chili feeds, but soon the club
realized that these were not going to meet the requirement to fund a
station.
The radio club applied for funding through two sources in 2000-2001, the
institutional development committee and the student technology committee.
Institutional development granted the club $2,400 and student technology
refused to give the club any money. This year, 2001-2002, funding was
granted from both the institutional development committee and the student
technology committee.
The ASLCSC also allocated the club $1,000 to use towards the cost. On air
advertisements will not be used because the station is a non-profit
educational station. They can sell sponsorships for programmed hours,
however. This sponsorship is called underwriting.
The station is not on the air yet, currently it is LHS’s station KLHS, it
will be as soon as the funds are raised and there is a formal agreement
between LHS and L-C. The club has organized L-C’s Warrior Wednesday in
collaboration with 105.1 Goodtimes with live remotes.
If others are interested, people can still join the club, as long as they
are affiliated with L-C. Any academic or technical student can be a member
as long as they are enrolled full-time or part-time at L-C.
Students interested in joining the club please contact Smith or DeLane.
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