The following is reprinted from the Whitman College Pioneer,
September 24, 1970
The Radio Committee has received the construction permit which they were waiting for from the Federal Communications Commission. Backed by this authorization, they have ordered a transmitter, control console, and antennae from the Gates Radio Company, which should arrive in about five weeks.
Once they receive the equipment and test it, they can apply for a program test authorization which will allow the station to operate until their application for a regular license is approved. The final approval should not take more than four months to go through.
The Gates Company will be taking a transmitter off the shelf and grinding the crystals to the Whitman radio frequency, which will be 90.5 on the FM band. While they are waiting for the transmitter, the Radio Committee will be preparing a studio in the SUB so they will be ready to install the equipment when it arrives.
Ready By Next Semester
When asked for a tentative date on when the station would be on the air, Robert Searfoss, general manager of the Radio Committee, stated that he expected it to be ready before the end of the semester. The Committee will be starting a search for programing sponsors in the near future. The Committee itself has little money to buy programing and will depend heavily on other sources for money to buy programing.
The station already plans to buy a series of episodes of The Shadow at a rate of $10 per episode. Mr. Searfoss expressed the hope that the living groups would follow this lead and purchase other series, such as Sherlock Holmes, the Lone Ranger, The Weird Circle, and Dangerous Assignments, or buy other non-serial programs, of which there is a large variety available. Different college departments could also sponsor programs in their field. There are programs like the plays of Shakespeare and other dramatists, readings of poetry by the poet, programs on current issues, and speeches by people like William O. Douglas, Ray Bradbury, and Norman Mailer.
One way of getting some of this programming would be to join an educational radio network. For a certain standard fee, the radio station would obtain a certain number of hours of programing of their choice for no further cost. The Station does not have th emoney in its budget to make this possible right now but possibly they could get it from various campus groups.
Student Programming
One of the most exciting prospects for the new station would be programs produced by students within the field of their major for credit. Thus an economics major could do an analysis of the stock market, music students could give recitals, or sociology majors could do programs on cultural change. Groups such as the BSU would also have a chance to produce a program.
One of the requirements for a station of the type planned for Whitman is that an operator with a third class license be present at all times. Getting this license is not too difficult, since it entails basically a knowledge of what to do under basic conditions, and of the laws pertaining to the operating of a radio station. The Radio Committee is planning to organize a class in the near future for those people who would be interested in obtaining a third class license. They need people who are interested in doing this, since presently there are not enough third class licenses on campus to keep the station operating.
The keynote of the quality of the station will be its potential. Although it will be starting small this year, the station will have the equipment to match the finest stations around. If there is anything a student wishes to see on the air, the station will have the equipment capable of producing it, if only the people are there.
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