Cougar Cry
11
WCC Radio Station WSIF 90.9 FM
Is on the Air
Submitted by: Sandy Sheets
The Wilkes Community College radio
station has undergone the largest change in its 25
years of operation. Formerly 94.7 on the FM
dial, the station operated at 10 watts with a range
of 5 to 10 miles. The station now operates on the
90.9 FM frequency with a 1,000 watt signal that
reaches all of the counties surrounding Wilkes,
with a radius of approximately 30 miles. Station
90.9 FM is licensed by the FCC.
The improvement has been a long-time
coming to the WCC station. The original appli
cation to upgrade the power was filed with the
FCC in 1995. Because of a conflict in signals
with another station, the application did not go
through and the application remained dormant
for five years. When WSIF became involved
with transmitting MerleFest in 2002, the possi
bility of upgrading the station was again exam
ined. An amendment to the original application
was filed and approved, changing the station
from a Class D commercial stafion to a Class A
educational and non-commercial station.
Station 90.9 FM began broadcasting this
spring semester and operates Monday through
Friday ft'om 8:00 AM until 9:00 PM. The station
serves as a live laboratory in which students
have full responsibility for the programming of
songs and producing of promotional announce
ments and station identifications, as well as serv
ing as the station’s disc jockeys. The format for
music broadcast on the station is diverse, with
the students playing music of their choice from
jazz to oldies to alternative rock. Because of the
wide range of music, the students have dubbed
their station The Spectrum. Wilkes is one of only
five community colleges in the state to have a
broadcasting and production technology program
and one of two to have a student-operated radio
stafion as part of their curriculum.
Working in smaller, local radio stations
gives students and graduates experience before
moving up to the larger market. Local radio sta
tions work well with the Wilkes Community
College program and students. They call the col
lege when they need employees and are eager
to hire students to work part-time while they
are still in school. Several cuixent or former
WCC students can be heard on the air locally.
The station has its own student news team con
sisting of a producer, sports announcer and
news reporters. The students write, produce
and present all newscasts as part of the curricu
lum news writing course, “Broadcast Journal
ism.” The students cover news stories on the
local and national level with stories about what
is happening on the WCC campus and around
the world. Much credit for the success of
Wilkes Community College’s broadcasfing and
producfion technology program belongs to the
program’s lead instructor, A1 de Lachica. De
Lachica, who began work at WCC in 1997,
received his bachelor of journalism degree in
broadcast news ft’om the University of Texas at
Austin. De Lachica stated that he is proud of
the upgrade and the other technological im
provements to the station. The broader range
gives the broadcasting program a larger pres
ence in the community and will help listeners
in the area stay tuned to their favorite music
and sports coverage of the WCC teams. The
station also upgraded with a new audio board,
new transmitter and a new antenna located on
top of the John A. Walker Community Center.
The radio studio has been completely re
vamped, with the broadcast now being com
pletely operated by computer. "Going to com
puter operation in place of CDs is an important
improvement for our students," stated DeLa-
chica. "It was a necessary update to keep cur
rent with the pace of operation in radio stations
today. Even the smaller stations have now gone
completely to computer operation. It is impor
tant that our students learn and have experience
on the type of equipment they will be working
on in commercial radio stations."
Anyone interested in enrolling or for
more information about the broadcasting and
production technology program at Wilkes
Community College should contact A1 de La
chica at 336-838-6222 or visit the college web
site at wvvw.wi 1 kes.cc.nc.us