\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To say Tom was a busy fellow would be a gross understatement.\u00a0 The first indication of this was his office in the H.S. library.\u00a0 Tom would take articles (some by him and many about the radio station being put together under his guidance), frame them, and hang them on the three bare walls.\u00a0 The only problem was space – he quickly ran out of wall space, attesting to the volume of activity taking place on his watch.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My favorite Tom story has to do with the first steps taken to establish WOAS-FM. \u00a0 After filing the exhausting string of documents to apply for a license, the first application for WOAS-FM was turned down by the Federal Communications Commission.\u00a0 They noted, \u201cA radio tower can not be constructed on an airport landing field.\u201d\u00a0 Tom happened to be traveling to Washington, D.C. for a conference, so he took his documents in hand and visited the FCC in person.\u00a0 He showed them the \u2018airport\u2019 on the USGS 15 minute topographic map of the area and noted the map had not been updated since 1954.\u00a0 Tom then showed them photos of the school building on that site and the 1975 cornerstone of the school building. \u201cThe old landing field,\u201d Tom pointed out, \u201cused to be where the front hall of the new school is now.\u201d\u00a0 With that little mystery wrapped up, the application was reviewed again and the license was granted.\u00a0 WOAS-FM went on the air in December of 1978 and has been a continuous presence up until December 20, 2024 – an uninterrupted span of 45 years.\u00a0 Thank you Tom, we will miss you but your legacy will live on.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At 10 p.m. December 20, 2024, Friday night DJ Lee \u2018The Nightflyer\u2019 McCaffrey signed off as the last live DJ to be heard on WOAS-FM 88.5 – for the second time.\u00a0 When Lee signed off back in June of 2024, we thought we would be starting the school year on a new frequency.\u00a0 We were first told our application should take 2 to 4 weeks to process (it is considered a \u2018minor modification\u2019 of our license).\u00a0 This\u00a0 was then extended to 3 to 6 months (or longer).\u00a0 When we contacted the FCC in early November, our contact informed us that their bureau had been slammed with applications and they hoped to act on ours by late November or early December.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without seeing movement on our license request in August, I contacted Andy Larsen, the GM of the radio group in Marquette that purchased our old frequency at an open FCC auction three years ago.\u00a0 They had not yet begun broadcasting and did not know exactly when they would be ready, so he gave us permission to start the school year at 88.5.\u00a0 In our last round of communications, Andy told us they have been ready to go for a couple of months but were holding off so they would not put us off the air while we waited for the FCC\u2019s final decision.\u00a0 The construction permit (or CP) for their new translator station expires in February of 2025, so they have no more leeway to wait for our new frequency to be granted.\u00a0 With that said, WOAS-FM 88.5 is now officially a thing of the past.\u00a0 We wish to thank Andy for allowing us to stay on the air up to what turns out to be (give or take a few days) the 46th Anniversary of WOAS-FM\u2019s first broadcast.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At this point, it would be appropriate to thank everyone who has been involved in WOAS-FM from start up to the end of our run on 88.5.\u00a0 We viewed the loss of 88.5 with some sadness, but in the end, it spurred a fundraising campaign (with much help from The Ontonagon Herald, The Detroit Free Press, and the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt) that allowed us to upgrade our facility and apply for a new frequency.\u00a0 I had hoped to be writing a \u2018Welcome to the New WOAS-FM\u2019 article at this point, but alas, we are still in a holding pattern.\u00a0 It is our intention to be on the air just as soon as the FCC gives us a thumbs-up and you can be assured we will let you know ASAP.\u00a0 In the meantime, Happy New Year from the staff of WOAS-FM.<\/span><\/p>\n
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