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JOHN WALLER, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/21/2008 03:08:22 AM EDT
Friday, March 21
BENNINGTON — Eight years ago, a North Bennington resident, Robert Howe, purchased Bennington’s only local AM radio station to save it as a community outlet. Last day for proposals
Now, with the station’s local broadcasting in jeopardy once again, a group of community leaders, including Howe, is scheduled to present plans to preserve the station WBTN-AM to Southern Vermont College officials today, the last day the college is accepting proposals.
College trustees directed President Karen Gross to end the station’s losses by May 15 in early February, after the college reported it had lost about $450,000 since it was donated to the college by Howe in 2002. Howe, a college trustee, said he voted against the decision but understands why it happened.
“The college has other things it wants to do,” he said Wednesday. “(College officials) have to make these decisions. I was disappointed, but it was their prerogative, the college has priorities, and that’s okay.”
Howe said that in some ways the decision has been beneficial, as it has gotten the community behind the station. Since the decision, there have been a number of community petitions and letters in local newspapers urging the college to keep the station locally owned and run.
The group made up of town officials, organization directors and media owners and experts is determined to keep the station as a community voice, Howe said. He said he has been impressed with the group’s vision and organization and was confident it would come up with a solution.
“If these people have anything to say about it, it will happen, they’ll make it happen,” he said, “but I don’t know what the college will say.”
When news of the group was first reported, college spokesman David Scribner said it was one of many proposals, but he thought it was great that a local group had come forward. He said a lot of options are still on the table, including an outright purchase, a lease, co-ownership or a minority share for the college.
Although he did not know the specifics of the proposal, Howe said the bottom line is that it would keep the station locally run and operated. He feared an out-of-town buyer would simulcast broadcasting, like Vermont Public Radio did when it bought the AM and FM frequencies from Belva Keyworth, who started the station at the bottom of Harwood Hill in 1952.
Howe said when he bought the AM station from VPR in 2000, he never intended to get into the radio business, he just wanted to give it back to a community that had helped him start and develop Porta Brace, a company that makes cases for media equipment.
“It was a place wherepeople would be able to speak in their own voices to one another,” he said. “… It was to provide the forum for people to speak … to provide a microphone for the people of the Bennington and New York area … It is all about localism and human contact.”
Although he said it would be a challenge, Howe said he could see the addition of even more local programming in the future, including broadcasts of local high school and college sporting events if the group’s proposal is accepted.
In addition to Howe, the group consists of a number of directors of local organizations, including Joann Erenhouse of the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce, Marshal Case of the American Chestnut Foundation, Lisa Byer of Catamount Access Television Corp., John Shannahan of the Better Bennington Corp. and Banner Publisher Edward Woods.
Other group members include Bennington Town Manager Stuart Hurd, Rep. Mary Morrissey, R-Bennington; North Bennington residents Robert Lowary and Michael Keane, Bennington resident Lindy Lynch and former Advocate publisher, Bill Densmore.
March 22, 2008
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Full article.
By Ian Hill
March 21, 2008 6:00 AM
Big D grew up on the streets and lived in a homeless shelter. Chip the Whip has been an Eagle Scout and he’s been in prison. And Tommy Boy worked at a Bay Area grocery store.
But that’s the past.
Today, Dan Wilson, Chip Hughlett and Tom Dempsey – who on radio are Big D, Chip the Whip and Tommy Boy – are working on the future. They’re among the San Joaquin Delta College broadcasting students being trained to use modern technology to produce films and television and radio shows.
In November the program launched DeltaCollegeRadio.com, which streams the college radio station, KSJC 89.5 FM. The station plays music from a variety of genres, and listeners from Oregon, Japan and Canada have sent letters praising its coverage of Delta sports.
DeltaCollegeRadio.com also includes a link to the broadcasting program Internet page, which can take visitors to student films on YouTube.com. In addition, the students produce newscasts and sports shows that are broadcast at 4:30 p.m. Thursdays on Comcast channel 26.
“My challenge is not only to get them ready for now, but five years from now,” said radio and television instructor Will Story, 49. “The goal is to take it where all media is going to go anyway – the Internet.”
Story’s students seem eager to learn the skills needed in that new-media world, and they reflect the diversity that Delta attracts as a community college. Some, such as Rod Villagomez, 32, of Stockton, have just started their careers and use the program to build their résumés.
“It’s an opportunity to get that reel together, to walk out those doors and make those contacts,” Villagomez said.
Other, older students feel the program offers a second chance at life, and they’ve embraced the opportunities Story offers.
“This is my way, somehow, of repaying society,” said Wilson, 47, of Lodi. He was working to earn an associate’s degree in management from Delta when other students suggested that his deep, rough voice would be perfect for radio.
Wilson now spins tracks from the ’60s-’80s on KSJC, and he appears in a short film in which he tries to best the world record for breaking plates over one’s head. He’s also working on a documentary with Hughlett that involves children at St. Mary’s Interfaith Dining Hall.
Hughlett, meanwhile, said he tells his Alcoholics Anonymous group that the program proves you can get a second chance. He hosts a KSJC program about rock music and pro wrestling, and he plays Top 40 music on the station.
Both Hughlett and Wilson describe taking part in the program has been a touching experience. Hughlett said getting up close with former President Bill Clinton while videotaping Clinton’s February appearance at University of the Pacific “was so emotional for me. I must’ve cried for 15 minutes.” Tears also came to Wilson’s eyes when he talked about Story’s efforts to build the program and the opportunity it’s offered him.
The broadcasting program itself is also getting a second chance. Story said it was strong when he was a Delta student in the ’70s.
He went on to become the director of multimedia programs at a community college in Colorado, where he said he bragged about the broadcasting education he received in Stockton.
“My dream job was to come back to Delta where it all started,” Story said.
That opportunity arrived last year, when Story was hired as the broadcasting instructor at Delta.
He was surprised to find that KSJC’s broadcasting license with the FCC lapsed in either 1999 or 2000, and the station had gone off the air.
Story worked long hours to revive and modernize the program. Now the results are evident. The progam has grown to 200 students from 80. The broadcasting offices were buzzing with activity Wednesday even though Delta was on spring break.
Some students were out on campus shooting scenes for a film. Others were inside editing a commercial for a Stockton car wash.
A student DJ, meanwhile, manned the boards for KSJC, which is on the air 24 hours each day. In addition to streaming on DeltaCollegeRadio.com, the station can be heard on radios on campus.
“We’ve come a long way in a short time,” Story said.
Ian Hill is the editor of 209Vibe, a local music and entertainment Web site and newspaper. Contact him at (209) 943-8571 or ihill@209Vibe.com.
March 22, 2008
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We will spend some time examining issues related to college radio in the coming posts.
- Webcasting Fees and recordkeeping/Reports of of use.
- The “Performance Tax”
- “Localism”
1. Webcasting Fees and Recordkeeping/Reports of use.
For a background on these issues, see the links on the right. The current status report is that the bills introduced in Congress to address the fees have stalled. There are two other avenues being pursued to correct the fees. The first is the courts. Various parties, including CBI have filed an appeal of the fees set by the CRB in the Courts. The second avenue is a negotiated settlement.
Other than cap on the total minimum fees referenced in a previous post, which is inconsequential to college radio stations, no settlements have been announced. With respect to recordkeeping/reports of use, they are still required, even though no regulations have been announced that would require a due date for this data.
2. The “Performance Tax”. A bill, know as The Performance Rights Act, would require all FCC licensed non-commercial stations to pay an annual fee of $1,000 per year IN ADDITION TO the fees already paid to ASCAP, SESAC, BMI and SoundExchange for the use of recorded music on the station.
3. Localism and the FCC. The FCC has proposed new rules concerning every broadcast stations programming to insure diversity and localism. See the text of the proposal here. If implemented, this would require stations to have someone present in the studios during all hours of operation, even if automated. It would also require detailed reports concerning how music is selected, the music played, the formation of community advisory boards and weigh license renewal based on how well the station complied with the proposed(?) localism guidelines.
Each of these issues are extremely pertinent to stations at schools across the nation.
Future entries, coming soon(!), will discuss these issues in detail and suggest how you can respond to these proposals that will impact your station.
March 22, 2008
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"Performance Tax", Blogroll, Rates, Uncategorized | "Performance Tax", 04-233, College Radio, Localism, Performance Rights Act, Recordkeeping, Reports of Use, Webcasting Fees |
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