[BC] seattletimes.com: Asset too valuable to sell

[Fred Gleason]

On Thursday 05 May 2005 18:01, Craig Bowman wrote:
> Personally, I think a dance station is the farthest thing from a "public
> treasure"!  Lets keep things in prospective, this is likely a luxury the
> school system can no longer support.  Do all the classes have enough
> books?  How many kids per class?  Should I continue?  Yes, this might be
> a short term financial problem, and selling the radio station will mean
> that it is gone forever  How many students might do without in the
> absence of this money and what is the value of that.

This is a subject close to my heart, seeing as I got my start at WVPH 90.3 
Piscataway ('The Voice of Piscataway High') in Piscataway NJ.  At the time 
(late seventies) it was one of only 14 high school based stations in the 
country, with the flamethrowing power output of 10 W (since upgraded to 200 W 
ERP), and sharing time with WVHP ('The Voice of Highland Park') one town 
over.

If it were not for this station, I would very likely have never gone into 
broadcasting, as it was a field that was not even on my radar screen until I 
happened to discover WVPH in my freshman year.  As it was, I got my First 
Phone in my sophomore year and as they say, 'the rest is history'.  :)

Ironically, as a student at the station I can remember having to fight this 
very same budget battle with the local Board of Education, being one of the 
students delegated to go speak before the Board as to why funding for WVPH 
should not be cut.  I have no idea whether anything we students said made any 
difference, but the Board voted to keep the station.  AFAIK, it's still there 
today.  OTOH, WVHP didn't make it, the Highland Park Board voting to let it 
go dark rather than spend the money to upgrade it to Class A when the 80-80 
docket hit.

Don't shortchange these little stations.  They are a great way to interest 
young people in our field.  It sure beats having folks put up a pirate signal 
someplace.

Cheers!


|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Frederick F. Gleason, Jr. | Director of Broadcast Software Development  |
|                           |             Salem Radio Labs                |
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| True leadership is the art of changing a group from what it is to what  |
| it ought to be.                                                         |
|                                      -- Virginia Allan                  |
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