{"id":3393,"date":"2025-01-05T22:23:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T22:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3393"},"modified":"2025-02-14T18:29:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T18:29:40","slug":"ftv-woas-fm-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3393","title":{"rendered":"FTV: WOAS FM Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Both Chinese and Greek philosophers are given credit for the origins of the old saying, \u201cThe wheels of justice turn slowly.\u201d\u00a0 Sun Tzu\u2019s version is often quoted (\u201cWheels of justice grind slow but grind fine\u201d).\u00a0 Greek biographer Plutarch\u2019s claim is based on his paraphrasing an ancient Greek proverb when he said, \u201cThus, I do not see what use there is in those mills of the gods said to grind so late as to render punishment hard to be recognized, and to make wickedness fearless.\u201d\u00a0 I had considered applying my own interpretation (\u201cThe wheels of government . . .\u201d) to WOAS-FM waiting to hear news about our application for a change to a new frequency.\u00a0 When I read Plutarch connecting the \u2018justice\u2019 saying to \u2018wickedness and punishment\u2019, I was glad I took the time to look up the origins of this particular saying.\u00a0 The delay we experienced in the processing of our application had more to do with the Federal Communications Commission being slammed with a pile of applications to review in the summer and fall of 2024.\u00a0 With this time lag in mind, now would be the appropriate (and final) time to catch everyone up in the tale of \u2018what happened to 88.5 and what is the new WOAS FM frequency?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you are new to the story, let me give you a synopsis of how we ended up at our new home frequency of <\/span>91.5<\/b>.*\u00a0 The station was originally built and put on the air in 1978 by a large group of school and community volunteers under the leadership of then Ontonagon Area Schools librarian Tom Lee.\u00a0 The station had a full day and evening schedule of volunteer DJs that provided the first local radio station in Ontonagon until WUPY Y101 (first known as WONT) came to town.\u00a0 The station had some ups and downs but continued to broadcast each school year after Lee stepped down.\u00a0 The manager\u2019s position passed from Margaret Muskatt to Mike \u2018Zenith\u2019 Bennett, and finally to me (Ken Raisanen) in 1997.\u00a0 As the Community Schools director, Bennett secured grant funds to re-equip the station and had plans to upgrade WOAS FM from ten to one hundred watts.\u00a0 Those plans were never realized when Bennett had to leave the area for another job opportunity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The station\u2019s FCC license nearly lapsed when Bennett left in 1997, but once it was renewed, WOAS continued only with a much smaller crew of volunteers.\u00a0 The station\u2019s original electronics were all \u2018pre-owned\u2019 pieces.\u00a0 With the financial help arranged by superintendent John Peterson, the station was able to do a $9,000 renovation of the studio that included all of the electronic devices and studio furniture beginning in the 1998-99 school year.\u00a0 By 1999-2000, WOAS FM was virtually a new station albeit still a Class D, 10 watt educational \/ community station.\u00a0 Such was the status quo until the spring of 2022 when WOAS hit a major bump in the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In April of 2022, the station was informed via e-mail that our 88.5 frequency had been purchased at an open FCC auction in November of 2021.\u00a0 A religious non-profit radio group operating as a Class A station planned to begin broadcasting from a tower location near Rockland\u00a0 using 88.5 as their frequency.\u00a0 That organization\u2019s manager apologized for not notifying us earlier because, \u201cWe thought the FCC would let you know.\u201d\u00a0 For the record, the consultant who recommended this group buy our frequency should have known that the FCC does not do the notifications of frequency auction sales in cases like this (consultants are hired because they are supposed to be up on rules and regulations after all).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was all a little confusing because being the volunteer General Manager of a low power FM station doesn\u2019t mean one comes armed with all the rules and regulations neatly filed in a binder.\u00a0 What I have learned about running a radio station has come largely from relying on those who know about such things and by researching topics not in my wheelhouse.\u00a0 We immediately made contact with the FCC and were told that, \u201c Yes, Class A stations have rights to bid for frequencies that Class D stations do not.\u201d\u00a0 The FCC representative (Rudy Bonacci by name) was extremely helpful as we navigated the legal waters.\u00a0 He threw us our first lifeline when he said, \u201cThere are many open frequencies available and you will only need to do a \u2018Minor Modification of License\u2019 application to move to a new one.\u201d\u00a0 The initial shock soon wore off and we began planning for a post 88.5 future for WOAS.\u00a0 At first it looked like we would be off 88.5 in the fall of 2022, but the wheels of building a transmitter site also turn slowly.\u00a0 We were relieved to have the 2022-23 school year to figure out what our path forward would look like.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Naturally, the first concern was monetary.\u00a0 Our 20 year-old 25 watt BEXT transmitter had recently been repaired and it made sense to upgrade to a new unit going forward.\u00a0 The FCC had also let us know that low power stations were no longer limited to 10 watts.\u00a0 It also made sense for our new transmitter to be able to broadcast up to the legal 99 watt low power limit for Class D stations (I am sure \u2018Zenith\u2019 Bennett (R.I.P.) is smiling).\u00a0 We considered applying for a Class A license to protect us from another takeover in the future, but more on that idea a bit later.\u00a0 The most pressing concern at this early stage of planning was the $3,000 WOAS needed for a new transmitter.\u00a0 When approached, the Ontonagon Area Schools (who own the WOAS license) suggested we do some form of fundraising.\u00a0 The district had no \u2018extra\u2019 money available in the budget for the upcoming 2023-24 school year and were planning on reducing their operating costs even further..\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have never been overly fond of fundraising, but after a quick visit with the school\u2019s business manager to find out how we would handle donated funds, a plan took shape.\u00a0 An appeal was made via the <\/span>Ontonagon Herald<\/span><\/i> and our <\/span>www.woas-fm.org<\/span><\/a> website.\u00a0 Since the last renovation in 1999-2000, we have financed most of the station\u2019s needs via a modest income from two vending machines we operate in the school (plus occasional donations).\u00a0 With artists and labels donating music and occasional gifts of CDs from listeners, our overall operational costs have been kept manageable.\u00a0 Just the same, I held my breath until the first donation appeared in our mailbox.\u00a0 We are not equipped to do on-line fundraising so everything came in the old fashioned way via the U.S. Postal Service.\u00a0 The very first donation came from a local donor who wished to remain anonymous and I blinked twice to see what they had sent:\u00a0 they called WOAS a \u2018community asset\u2019 and kick started our campaign to the tune of $1,000!\u00a0 Over the next three weeks, more donations came in (or were handed to me on the street or at local stores).\u00a0 Thanks to our generous listeners and many former DJs and other volunteers, we reached our transmitter goal in less than a month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just after we passed the $2,000 mark, John Carlisle from <\/span>The Detroit Free Press<\/span><\/i> called and asked a few questions about our appeal.\u00a0 John covers many local interest stories across the Upper Peninsula (the most recent before he called me was all about Stubb\u2019s Bar in Ontonagon).\u00a0 He said\u00a0 he would be in the area in a few weeks and would like to do a feature about the station.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe it will help your fundraising,\u201d he said.\u00a0 When informed that we would probably have reached our goal before he got here, John said, \u201cWell, it will still be an interesting story.\u00a0 Plus, you can always use more money, right?\u201d\u00a0 The \u2018run the station with minimal income\u2019 mentality finally snapped and I said, \u201cYou know, you are absolutely right.\u00a0 Why settle for \u2018just barely enough?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When John and photographer Ryan Garza arrived in town, we sat down in the school library to go over what they wanted to see.\u00a0 Over coffee and donuts, they laid out a half day plan and I got out of their way.\u00a0 They interviewed some of our DJs, took a lot of photos, and did the leg work needed for their article.\u00a0 I snapped their picture and asked if it would be okay to use it when I wrote my own article about their visit.\u00a0 \u201cSure,\u201d John said, \u201cbut please don\u2019t run it until our article goes to print in <\/span>The Free Press.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>That sounded fair enough so I wrote up my account of <\/span>The Freep<\/span><\/i> visit and waited to hear from John.\u00a0 Finally, with a day notice. I found out the article would be in print on July 13, 2023.\u00a0 I was able to read the on-line version first and John promised to send me a couple of copies of the paper as <\/span>The Free Press <\/span><\/i>is no longer distributed in our area.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t mention that we were front page news!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As John had predicted, state-wide coverage of our appeal began attracting notes of encouragement and even more donations.\u00a0 Within a month of publication, we had more than doubled our $3,000 goal.\u00a0 A few days after<\/span> The Freep<\/span><\/i> article came out, I got a call from someone at Mitch Albom\u2019s WJR AM radio show in Detroit.\u00a0 He asked if I would be available for an on-air interview later in the afternoon.\u00a0 I said \u2018yes\u2019 and told me he would call back 10 minutes before the segment.\u00a0 Mitch and his partner both had fond memories of getting started on radio in college and we had a great talk about what was happening with WOAS.\u00a0 Albom was curious who did the 2:00 AM shift (apparently the time slot he had started in back in the day).\u00a0 I informed Mitch that, \u201cWe aren\u2019t typically on the air at 2:00 AM,\u201d but I also took the opportunity to invite him to stop by and fill the slot if he was in the area.\u00a0 Sure enough, the next round of donations included many references to people hearing about our story on his show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not long after <\/span>The Freep<\/span><\/i> article and Albom Show helped spread the word, I got yet another phone call, this time from Kinjal Patel.\u00a0 She worked for <\/span>The NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt<\/span><\/i> and asked many questions about the station.\u00a0 She said, \u201cWell, I want to pitch this to our production team as a possible feature.\u00a0 I see it as a \u2018feel good\u2019 story.\u00a0 I will get back to you.\u201d\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take long before I got the news:\u00a0 \u201cThey loved the idea,\u201d Kinjal told me.\u00a0 \u201cWhen will the new transmitter be in operation?\u00a0 They would like to send up a team from Chicago to do the feature.\u201d\u00a0 At that point I said I would keep her in the loop but the transmitter had not even been ordered yet.\u00a0 When the time gap between first contact with NBC grew to six weeks, I apologized and said, \u201cI fully understand if this is out of your timeline.\u201d\u00a0 Kinjal assured me that they still had it on their planning board.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We were just in the process of organizing the transmitter swap out when Kinjal got back to me with a date:\u00a0 Friday October 13, 2024.\u00a0 She said the producer, Ramon, would be in touch to lay out the plan.\u00a0 I got on the horn to our engineer, Jim Bradley, and gave him the news.\u00a0 I did not think we could have the new equipment installed by then but Jim is a \u2018get \u2018er done\u2019 kind of guy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our funding appeal had now brought in six times our original goal so we had added a new equipment bay to our plans.\u00a0 With Jim putting in some long hours (with some minor assistance from yours truly), we managed to have the new transmitter on the air by the time the NBC crew arrived.\u00a0 All that remained was a deep cleaning the station hadn\u2019t seen in a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The segment that aired on <\/span>The NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt<\/span><\/i> in November of 2023 is still out there if one wishes to view it.\u00a0 Ramon and his team did a wonderful job of showcasing the entire community along with the radio station and DJs.\u00a0 What the clip doesn\u2019t show is the amount of effort it takes to gather enough information for a couple of minutes of air time.\u00a0 Ramon arrived first from New York City and spent the night at a local establishment.\u00a0 He said he would meet me at the school at 7 AM along with the film and sound guys.\u00a0 The crew of Steve (cameraman) and Marty (sound) had spent the night in Marquette and arrived first.\u00a0 They were happy we had set aside the entire library for their use for the day.\u00a0 Ramon came in next and reviewed the timeline they needed to follow.\u00a0 Reporter Maggie Vespa flew into Green Bay and drove up from there.\u00a0 By the time she rolled in around 9 AM, the rest of the crew had everything ready to go including breakfast from downtown which the gopher (go-for)(me) picked up while they were scoping out the station.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As with the <\/span>Freep<\/span><\/i> guys, my job was pretty simple at that point – stay out of their way.\u00a0 I had arranged for a couple of DJs and station volunteers to drop by and we were off to the races.\u00a0 Doing an interview with a national correspondent should have made me nervous, but Maggie is the kind of pro that makes you forget you are being interviewed.\u00a0 The two student DJs (Violet Amos and Jack Nelson) must have had the same reaction because Maggie said, \u201cThey were great.\u201d\u00a0 The final session took place downtown for some aerial shots of the mainstreet taken with a drone.\u00a0 At 5:00 PM, they concluded their ten hour day on site (travel time not included).\u00a0 I can not express how interesting it was to watch this well oiled machine roll in from the NBC mothership in Chicago, do their thing, and then depart for the long trip home.\u00a0 They work hard for their stories.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The evolving story up to this point was interesting and a balm for the soul.\u00a0 In the space of 18 months, we went from thinking WOAS FM was history to having a brighter future than we could have dreamed of.\u00a0 Our fundraising went over the top, the station equipment was upgraded, and we were positioned to move forward with a new frequency.\u00a0 It made me more than a little nervous to contemplate how deep down the FCC rabbit hole I would have to dive to apply for the \u2018Minor Modification\u2019 of our license.\u00a0 Before I could even contemplate where to start the process, I got an email from Todd Urick at an organization called commonfrequency.org.\u00a0 Todd explained that his group specializes in helping low power community and educational FM radio stations file\u00a0 applications with the FCC.\u00a0 \u201cI would be glad to help you do the paperwork on your station license at no charge to you,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was a lot of back and forth communication concerning our equipment, our goals, and where we wanted to land, frequency wise.\u00a0 After many months of research on his part, Todd filed our application which the FCC acknowledged receiving on June 17, 2024.\u00a0 In August, I inquired about the FCC timeline to review it to which Rudy replied, \u201cIt usually takes 2 to 4 weeks.\u00a0 If it is a more complicated matter, it may take 3 to 6 months.\u201d\u00a0 When we hit five months, I sent a second email asking where things stood and Rudy replied, \u201cWe have been slammed with applications.\u00a0 We should have yours reviewed by the end of November or early December.\u201d\u00a0 With that, the waiting game continued until now.\u00a0 With this last communication, we at least knew why the wheels were turning slowly, but they were still turning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On December 20, 2024, Todd at commonfrequency.org was informed by the FCC that,\u00a0 \u201cOur application to move to 91.5 had been approved by the FCC on December 19, 2024.\u201d\u00a0 With the school district on Christmas Break from December 21, 2024 to January 5, 2025, we used this opportunity to make the switch to 91.5.\u00a0 Many thanks to all parties involved and an extra big \u2018thank you\u2019 to Rudy at the FCC and Todd at CommonFrequency.\u00a0 Thank you also to Andy at Gospel Opportunities for allowing us to continue using 88.5 during the review of our application to change to 91.5.\u00a0 Happy New Year to all – you know where to look for us starting on January 6, 2025 and beyond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0*A footnote – We were not totally sure if our current tower elements would support the new frequency and had no way to start testing it until 91.5 was approved.\u00a0 The bad news is we can only run the transmitter at 15 watts otherwise the reflected power shuts it down – the FCC requires us to broadcast at our full 99 watts or not at all.\u00a0 For this reason, we have had to file to be a SILENT STATION until the new elements are in place.\u00a0 The good news is we can broadcast for now on www-woas-fm.org (scroll down to LIVE STREAM\u00a0 – the ‘listen live’ icon to the right does not work yet) until we get new elements in place on the tower.\u00a0 The old tower bays could be retuned, but the wisdom of removing 45 year-old (plus) elements and then returning them to the tower makes little sense.\u00a0 Once we have the new units here and in place, we will be able to go back on the air at 99 watts.\u00a0 Our web feed at www.woas-fm.org will remain active during this time. \u00a0 A radio engineer’s job is never done, right Jim?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Piece Video – Chicago expresses how we feel heading into 2025!\u00a0 Happy New Year to you, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Both Chinese and Greek philosophers are given credit for the origins of the old saying, \u201cThe wheels of justice turn slowly.\u201d\u00a0 Sun Tzu\u2019s version is often quoted (\u201cWheels of justice grind slow but grind fine\u201d).\u00a0 Greek biographer Plutarch\u2019s claim is based on his paraphrasing an ancient Greek proverb when he said, \u201cThus, I do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3393"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3437,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393\/revisions\/3437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}