Previous

||

This Issue

||

Next

AROUND THE QUADS

WKCR 89.9 FM Is Back on the Air

By Shira J. Boss ’93

Two years after its transmitter went down with the World Trade Center, WKCR is back on the air in the tri-state area, beaming its signal from an antenna atop a new midtown office tower, 4 Times Square.

Following September 11, 2001, the station had been broadcasting from atop Carman Hall, with a limited outreach. Now its potential listenership is back up to 11 million, about 90 percent of what it was when broadcasting from the top of the World Trade Center.

The station is celebrating its return to the wider airwaves this fall with multi-day festivals for Latino Heritage Month, the 20th Anniversary New Music Festival, the African Music Festival and the December Bach Fest. Phil Schaap ’73, Sharif Abdus-Salaam ’74 and other beloved DJs are returning to their programs.

WKCR’s return to the airwaves did not come easily.

While other stations went straight to the top of 4 Times Square, WKCR sought to transmit from the top of Riverside Church, which had housed the station’s studio for five years while Lerner Hall was being constructed. Even though the FCC was granting stations affected by the World Trade Center collapse expedited processing of new transmitter applications, WKCR’s application was delayed because of an objection from Seton Hall’s radio station, which broadcasts on the same 89.9 frequency from New Jersey and said the Riverside Church location would interfere with its broadcast range. City College, just north of Morningside Heights, also lodged an objection. While WKCR awaited a ruling by the FCC, the station was only heard in the immediate campus vicinity.

“The University, along with the students, has been frustrated with how long it’s taken us to get back on-air,” says Kevin Shollenberger, executive director for student development and activities. “It’s been unfortunate.”

Early this summer, WKCR’s application for the Riverside Church antenna was rejected. A new application promptly was submitted for 4 Times Square, however, and that was approved in two days. The antenna was installed by September, but just as former listeners began tuning back in, the station fell off the air temporarily. A large crane involved in construction atop 4 Times Square was moved to protect it from the winds of hurricane Isabel, and it blocked the microwave signal coming from atop Carman to the transmitter in Times Square. That problem was solved by speeding the installation of an ISDN line that allowed WKCR to broadcast again, although at a reduced audio quality, until the crane could safely be moved.

Being knocked off the air a second time highlighted one of the previous problems — that WKCR was operating without a reliable backup in place. “This is part of a short-term plan,” Shollenberger says of the latest antenna. “We’re looking to make 4 Times Square our backup and seeking a more permanent home.” A prime candidate is the Empire State Building, but Columbia is exploring other possibilities, including buildings under construction. In the meantime, Carman remains the backup.

The two years of downtime dealt a financial blow to WKCR as well, because it had just moved into new studios in Lerner Hall and had planned fund-raising drives to help pay off substantial debt associated with the new facility. A centerpiece was to be a two-week-long John Coltrane festival in September featuring his entire recorded works as well as guest artists, but the September 11 tragedy and problems with the move to 4 Times Square forced that festival to twice be postponed.

“We have a mounting deficit, mainly because we haven’t been able to fund raise,” says Matthew Niederhauser ’05, a WKCR board member. Niederhauser notes that some alumni have helped out and that some expenses have been covered by insurance and a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. But expenses continue to mount, and more funds are needed.

Now that the radio station is again reaching a wider audience, student recruitment is up and King’s College Radio can again turn to fund raising. The University is in the process of hiring a full-time director to work with the station, with part of the job being to help raise funds.

The Coltrane festival, meanwhile, is being rescheduled for the spring, not as a fund raiser this time, Niederhauser says, but “more as a celebration of going back on the air.”

For more information about WKCR, see www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr.

Previous

||

This Issue

||

Next