By Heather Gustine
Editor-in-Chief
After much patience and perseverance, UPG is finally getting its own slice of airtime.

Students and faculty teamed up to construct a student-run radio station. What was once deemed impossible, due to high costs and legality issues, is now becoming reality. With the money from their budget, the Behavioral Science Academic Village was able to purchase equipment for broadcasting online.

“It’s real and we’re ready,” Frank Wilson, assistant professor of sociology/administration of justice, said. “We have equipment, we have software. This is a doable thing even during budget cutbacks.”

Just a few years ago, technology was limited to the standard radio broadcast requiring an Federal Communications Commission license and a transmitter. Once granted an FCC license, there is no guarantee that the license-holder will be given airtime.

Transmitters are costly and must be attached to either a tower or a very tall building in order to get good reception. Even with a transmitter, a radio stations can only broadcast so far.

“Who would we be broadcasting to, anyway?” Wilson said. “It’s not like we’re in the middle of a city. Pitt Main has a transmitter on top of Cathedral of Learning, but [despite this] they still have a limited broadcasting area.”

Today’s technology makes it possible to broadcast over the Web and does not require an FCC license. The costs are also more reasonable and legal issues are not as ominous.

Wilson and Anne Czerwinski, assistant professor of communication, offered to be the faculty advisors for the radio station project. Wilson was so excited about the project that he even gave up his office in Village Hall so that the students would have an office to conduct the radio broadcasts and store the equipment.

Wilson says that while other faculty and staff members have expressed interest in helping the radio station get off the ground, this was a student initiated project.

The students and faculty may not have radio expertise, but the radio station will be something they can enjoy learning together and that there will be plenty for students and faculty alike to work on.

“[The radio station] has the potential to become a locus for campus life and a link to the Greensburg community and beyond,” Czerwinski said. “The station has a remote broadcasting unit for covering campus programs, and even local community events, such as political/social rallies, concerts, festivals, holiday events and the like.”

Although the idea of broadcasting live is thrilling to the students involved, the faculty advisors feel that the first few programs going on air will be prerecorded until the students feel more comfortable with the equipment.

Prerecorded programs also give students the chance to erase mistakes and their “fumbling around” with equipment before going on air. This also gives students the chance to censor questionable material before it goes on air.

The administration has been quick to state their concerns over their fear that someone will get in front of the microphone who thinks they’re Howard Stern.

“It goes with the turf,” Wilson said. “Sometimes people are going to say [inappropriate] things out loud and everyone hears it and [they may not feel] comfortable [with what was said,] but you have to deal with that when it happens.”

Although the concern over censorship is on a lot of peoples’ minds, Wilson has the utmost confidence in the students involved and feels that they will do the right thing whenever a situation arises.

“Every time I’ve seen [the students] come up with ideas of their own, like the coffee house, that’s evidence to me that once people start working on things like this, they feel that they’ve invested something in it, then they understand it’s not just a one time fun thing,” Wilson said. “People are very conscious about wanting this to succeed even when they’re gone.”

Czerwinski hopes that the radio station will become a forum for student creativity and expression, something that students of all majors can come together and work on.

“I think the radio station can be a place where students from every division in the university can get involved working and learning, and gaining experience for future careers,” Czerwinski said.

The radio station is also a great way to strengthen the UPG alumni network. Alumni scattered all over can listen in and keep up with what is going on up at their alma mater.

Even if the radio station fails, the recordings produced will be usable to the UPG community. Faculty and students will be able to listen to events they could not attend thanks in part to the portable recording equipment.

One of the hopes for the radio station is that it will help recruit new students and ultimately increase the student retention rate here at UPG.

“Maybe fewer [students] would leave to go to Oakland if there were more of these opportunities available,” Wilson said.

A launch date depends on how fast the necessary work is completed and also on how many people participate. Wilson thinks that the station will be by the end of the school year at the latest, but adds “The radio station will go on the air when it’s ready.”

No matter when the station debuts, everyone involved with the project hope to see it flourish into something incredible which brings the UPG community closer together.

“The students have given us a present [with the radio station idea],” Wilson said. “If we can’t somehow use this in a real positive way then shame on us. I really believe that we are able to do it and that it’s going to create a real interesting thing.”