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Volume XII, Number 18
TJie Student News|M|>er of the Univernty of North Cjimliiia at Qiarloite
Cliarlotte, North Carotuia
January 18, 1977
WFAE-FM grant request rejected
By Brad Rich
The Corporation for Public
Broadcasting (CPB) has rejected an
application for a $25,000 grant from
WFAE-FM, the UNCC campus radio
station. The rejection, received Thursday,
January 6, by, station officials, has once
again clouded the future of FM radio on
campus.
Coleman Thompson, chairman of the
Student Broadcasting Association (SBA)
and the station’s Executive Board, said
the rejection was for a number of
reasons. “They (CPB) told us our
programming plans were not specific
enough,” Thompson said. “We gave Doug
Orr (vice chancellor for student affairs) a
specific timetable worked out down to
every 15 minutes, but somehow it didn’t
get included in the application. This can
be corrected, though.”
Basically though, the problem seems
to be one of finances. “They said our
income was not steady or diverse
enough,” said Thompson. This would
include such things as community
support, state aid and school funding.
“Also,” said Thompson, “There were
a few discrepencies in the application.
Our potential listening audience was
estimated at 70,000. Tnere are 300,000
people in the Charlotte area.” (According
to Betty Chafin, assistant dean of
students, this mistake was later
corrected.)
Another thing that was
misrepresented was the heiglit needed for
the station’s antenna. On the application.
the antenna height was listed at 135 feet
above the actual terrain. Thompson said
the rejection stated the antenna needed
to be 5,000 feet or higher, but this
probably applied to the station’s future
plans to increase from 15 to 60,000
watts.
“We plan to reapply for the grant,”
said Thompson, “but for now the
Executive Board has decided to redirect
our focus. We’re going to try to do one
thing at a time. First we’re going to finish
our construction, get our offices painted
and everything. Then we’re going to get
everything ready for FM, get our studios
completely ready so when we get the
money and an engineer, we’ll be ready to
go on the air.
“We are still working ufider a
construction permit,” he continued. “We
don’t actually have our license, but we
have until June 8th to get on the air or
apply for an extension.”
The AM situation is not much better.
Thompson said, “We still need an
engineer, two transmitters need' to be
repaired and we would have to get
advertising, which we haven’t even
started on.
“In a sense we’re pulling in or
regrouping,” said Thompson. “We’ve
been spreading ourselves a little thin,
trying to do too much. Scott Phillips
(previous station manager) is leaving, and
we don’t have a station manager. The
department heads are still working their
departments. When we get an engineer
and some money, we’ll be ready.”
Carolina Journal photo by Pete Meuser
Coleman Thompson, Chairman of WFAE’s Executive Board
Registration is ‘as perfect as it will get.’
-Registrar Bob Gwaltney
Carolina Journal photo by Pete Meuser
UNCC Registrar Bob Gwaltney was in charge of keeping
registration running smoothly.
By Steve Bass
“I was most satisfied with this
semester’s registration process. It went
smoothly, the lines were short. In fact,
we were generally - ahead of schedule
especially in the afternoon. I’d say we’ve
gotten the present registration process as
perfect as it will get,” said UNCC
registrar Bob Gwaltney.
Thus did the man who brought you
the trials and tribulations of registration
describe the semiannual organized
confusion. “I didn’t really get down to
the gym very often, leaving most of the
supervision work to Doug (assistant to
the Registrar Doug Sutherland). He told
me that most students seemed pretty
satisfied with the way the process went,’
said Gwaltney. “I heard a few complaints
from evening students about how cold it
was, but I can’t control that.
“What we’ve done is attempt to
make this system move as smoothly as
possible. One thing we changed this
semester was the way we divided the
admission times. Previously, we’d Just
divided the student body alphabetically,”
said Gwaltney. “The problem with this is
that you’d have a few seniors, a few
Juniors, etc, in at every time. This would
cause backups at certain tables, like
English and math. This semester, at the
suggestion of an employee of the
computer center, we issued admission
cards by class ranking. For instance, we
took the number of seniors and divided
that number by 15 minute blocks, so we
knew how much time to allot.
“I’d like to say how impressed I am
by the sophisticated operations that the
math, English and psychology tables
have. They divide up the table into levels
and even sections so that the work moves
rapidly and they can post class closings
quickly and accurately,” said Gwaltney.
Gwaltney said registration always
moves better for upperclassmen and
particularly at spring registration. “Well,
it only follows that the higher level
classes you try to get, the easier it is to
get the class simply because there is less
competition for the openings.
“Spring registration always moves
better than fall session. I’m sure there are
many factors involved here; one there is a
smaller gap of time between pre-advising
and actual registration. Students have a
better idea of what they want,” said
Gwaltney.
Even as the registrar’s office is trying
to improve the present system, efforts
are underway to convert to a new
computer registration system. Sutherland
is in charge of the transition period.
“Everyone knows that the present
system, while improved, is antiquated,
^b (registrar Gwaltney) knows it, I
know it and the students and faculty
know it. The purpose of the
questionnaire we sent to students and
faculty this fall was designed to see what
the university community wanted in the
new system,” said Sutherland.
“Unfortunately,” said Sutherland,
“the typical response we got was what a
terrible system the old way is. Like I
said, we know that. We were also a little
disappointed at the resfionse we got from
students (about 14 per cent of the
student body). However, taking what we
have. I’m running analysis on the
responses. I should have some data to
'report soon.”