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Community Radio Station Gets Full-Power License
2.18.10
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., February 18, 2010) - The Federal Communications Commission Tuesday granted a full-power broadcast license to WBCR-LP 97.7 FM, the all-volunteer low-power community radio station located in Great Barrington. The switch to full power status will establish WBCR-LP as a bona fide regional radio station, broadcasting into parts of three states.
WBCR-LP and its volunteer members now have a three-year window to raise funds and make necessary upgrades to the station’s equipment to begin broadcasting with a dramatically stronger signal, at the new frequency of 89.5 FM and most likely with new call letters as well.
In 2007 the FCC provided a rare opportunity for the licensing of non-commercial radio stations, and WBCR-LP applied to upgrade its status to full-power. Besides allowing WBCR-LP to broadcast a much more powerful signal covering a dramatically enhanced geographic area, the full-power designation also removes the risk that the community radio station could be “bumped” from its frequency sometime in the future by the expansion of a nearby full-power station.
The station’s over-the-air broadcast signal currently reaches only a few miles outside of Great Barrington; the new signal will extend north through Pittsfield, throughout most of New York’s Columbia County to the west, east to Westfield and south throughout much of northwestern Connecticut.
“This is something we’ve been working toward for several years,” says station board president Paul Rapp. “Having a regional signal will create a lot of great opportunities and contribute immensely to our mission of community-based media access. First off, the challenge will be raising the money for the transition.”
A committee of station volunteers is currently creating a business plan with projected costs of the transition, and Rapp said that the necessary engineering services and equipment upgrades needed for the switch will be a significant expense, with the station’s fixed running costs doubling or tripling from the current level of $3,500 per month.
Other committees will grapple with issues relating to maintaining the station’s community and identity while dealing with the inevitable influx of new programmers and connecting with a more expansive geographic area.
“Right now our schedule is jam-packed from six a.m. to midnight, seven days a week,” said Rapp. “We’ll need to consider how to continue to cultivate our open-access mission when our listening area increases exponentially, and more and more people from the region want to be on the radio.”
More information about the station’s transition to full-power, and associated fundraising efforts and events will be announced in the coming weeks. An extensive publicity campaign is planned to introduce the station to its potential new broadcast area, and to recruit new volunteers and programmers.
In the meantime, the station continues to broadcast its low-power signal at 97.7 FM and streams worldwide at www.berkshireradio.org.
WBCR-LP is operated by the Berkshire Community Radio Alliance, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization. The station has no paid staff, is committed to community access to the media, and allows anyone who wishes to be on the radio the opportunity to have a radio program.
Currently, over 100 volunteer programmers present an eclectic schedule of radio programs each week at 97.7 FM. WBCR-LP has been on the air for over five years. More information about the station, as well as an internet stream of the station’s programming, can be found at BerkshireRadio.
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