In this week’s college radio news, the fight over the future of student broadcasting over Georgia State’s WRAS-FM continues with an all-encompassing campaign. The #SaveWRAS crew has already embraced social media, created stickers and flyers, and has been encouraging supporters to voice their grievances by contacting officials at Georgia State University and Georgia Public Broadcasting. Some talented graphic designers have crafted graphics and videos, with one video even gracing Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim this week.
Save WRAS also created an explanatory video giving some background about the station and some tips on what supporters of student programming can do.
On Tuesday, Album 88 Alumni were scheduled to meet with Georgia State University President Mark Becker. No official announcement has been made concerning the outcome of that meeting. Additionally, Creative Loafing ran an interview with Georgia Public Broadcasting’s VP of Radio Tanya Ott. In that interview, Ott talks about future programming on WRAS and explains why gaining access to WRAS-FM during the daytime is good for GPB. In the interview she says, “We look at it as being a good deal for listeners in the Atlanta market who’ve been clamoring for [National Public Radio] news [and] talk service during the day. GPB has a long history of partnering with educational institutions around the state…We just saw this as another opportunity to really enhance the educational mission of GPB.”
LPFM News
In other news, a few newly licensed LPFM stations on college campuses are facing resistance. As Paul wrote yesterday, a new LPFM at University of North Florida is having trouble getting additional funds from student government in order to build a new station. Over at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, there is some grumbling from administrators that they weren’t fully informed about plans for the new college radio station. In both cases, these may just be minor setbacks as both stations work to get on the air.
Another LPFM station, WHWS-LP 105.7 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, is in midst of a move to new digs on campus. The Geneva, New York station is actually licensed to a local organization, the Smith Center for the Arts, but is operated by students at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Radio Survivor will continue to monitor the situation at WRAS. We report on college radio news every Friday in our College Radio Watch column.
