Campus Brian Conroy is mad. It's not easy being in charge of a radio station that's just barely on the air. Yet that is the reality that Conroy and the 17 other disk jockeys at Capitol Campus' WNDR face every day. The station operates on a "carrier current" system. That means it can only be heard in the Olmsted Building, the dor mitories and Meade Heights. Well, part of Meade Heights. And the dorm transmitter has been out of service most of the semester, explains Conroy, WNDR's program director. "We need to go FM," Con roy says matter-of-factly. Ac quiring an FM transmitter has been a dream of several recent program directors. This semester, the picture brightened for a time as the campus administration express ed interest in moving to the FM The Capitol Times Reporters in W 129 for details Stop MID-TOWN PIZZA C !" lor 414 -town -Plaza 450 t. Main . St Middittow -Pa n . • -, *Am went, Kr ' , e ' 5. Woo 2 SIS ' - tBt i t . , 5 ''3 St*e 454 S k e2S .15.06 ' ' ors e2S ALIXI nee 9.26 -47,15 8.0 , 11.25 AMC SYS 825 *Of OA '' 825 48 SIAS 8.25 A licaplizzas sue Shifel-Mhells 1911 You Cal et. I.n swam - arAsh 3.59 Lew 1.99 Spighettl wiSauee 3.00 Small 129 SNP'S' willedbells 3.50 Chef Salad 2.25 Spaghetti wiSausage 3.75 Sm. Chef Salad ......1.50 EXTRA: Mushrooms, Green Peppers..o.7s Hours: Monday thru Wednesday -- 11-12 Thursday thru Saturday -- 11-1 a.m. Sunday -- 11:30-9 station seeks FM transmitter band. According to Don Strausburger, creative consul tant and former program direc tor, both the Humanities Divi sion and Student Affairs Office were involved in discussions on that possibility. A prohibitive cost suspended consideration, said James South, Assistant Provost for Student Affairs. According to Strausburger, going FM without stereo would cost $9500. That would buy a 150 watt transmitter with a range of 20 miles. Adding stereo would cost and addi tional $l5 thousand to $2O thousand, he said. Moving to the FM band would mean that commuter students and the community at large would be exposed to Penn State Capitol on a regular basis, according to Angelo Vecchio, the station's business manager. needs Ilegukt nab Ham and Chose Capicola and Cheese Salami and Cheese Turkey Turkey Cheese Tuna Chicken Cheese Roast Beef Roast Beef and Cheese Ham, Turkey and Cheese 10% DISCOUNT ON ALL FOOD WITH PENN STATE ID Vecchio was in charge of the Wilkes-Barre Campus' WPSU before it was closed by the university. The studio equip ment from that station, Vec chio. said, is now in Capitol's third floor Humanities produc tion studio. The transmitter, however, could not be used here because of a recent Federal Com munications Commission (FCC) policy change barring the licensing of any new 10-watt FM stations, according to John McVeigh, an FCC spokesman. The transmitter was a 10-watt unit. McVeigh said that Capitol's radio station, which is current ly non-existent so far as the FCC is concerned, could apply for a non-commercial FM license with at least 100 watts, a commercial FM license with the same requirements, or an AM commercial license. He said a "spectrum search" would have to be performed to find a clear frequency in this area. McVeigh also noted a recent change in FCC regulations that allows stations to operate without a full time engineer. As yet. no decision hai been made on improving the transmission system, according EINE= , 4 -.4. , 10. #t .At I riutit , . 1 ,.. c4 ,..; _ , ~,, : . .g. , h , -..- ,:: 111•111111. • 1,111 Sumo • 2.1111 SlaatbNl & Sausap 3.25 Green Pepper & Mushroom Meatball, Sausage, Green Pepper & Mushroom 3.75 Thursday, December 13, 1984 The Capitol Times Page 11 to Strausburger. In the interim, the station has submitted a re quest for a 100-watt carrier cur rent transmitter to add to the three now in use. Program director Conroy called the car rier current unit "the most cost effective way" to expand coverage, although he said it is far inferior to an FM station. Under the carrier current system, the signal will still . be limited to certain parts of the campus, Strausburger noted. "We take our performance seriously," said Vecchio, "We have pride in what we sound like. Sometimes it's a fight with the equipment in there." Does Vecchio feel happy with the carrier current system? "If you tell (record com panies) you're AM carrier cur rent," he replies, "they feel it's not even worth the postage to send you their records." Most radio stations recieve promotional copies of records from record companies in terested in getting their product heard over the airwaves. Vec chio has been contacting record companies to acquire such a service for WNDR but has met with mixed results, primarily because of the station's size and broadcast quality. Compensating for this are lowitmti 4 -~,.. ~~~~ _,+~~ ^~'YF •N~":. ...3.00 the recent steps that the station has taken to make the program ming sound professional. A "format" or rotation of cur rent music has been in use this semester, and the recent ac quisition of Westwood One programming like the "Dr. Demento Show" and "Off the Record" have brought the sound of the station closer to that of a commercial FM station. Further complicating the sta tion's image problem is the pen ding move of the station to W-343, which Strausburger estimates will occur during the semester break. "By moving upstairs," he says, "the station will no longer be as visible to the average stu dent. The move will, however, technically help the station in terms of expansion and ac cessibility to production facilities." South says the move would facilitate any future movement toward an FM station, because of the increased access to the roof from the third floor. Such improvements, however, apparently are not ones that either Conroy or Vec chio or Strausburger will have the opportunity to see before they graduate. delivery prices 944-2195 19 1 1 SUSS ' - 1° "" 1111°11 U *4l; • - • ~,,.. 1 ......4j to it • :46 ' ia. Aff, 3 -1.05 3 c s Zis-' 125 - IS LEII3I , , 4.110: 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.60 3.60 3.40 3.65 3.65 3.40 2.40 2.40 2.40 2.40 2.40 2.40 2.60 2.60 2.40 2.65 2.65 2.40
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