BELLOWS FALLS — It's not a done deal yet, but WOOL-FM is poised to move to a new spot on the radio dial.
Gary Smith, WOOL-FM board member, confirmed that the low-power, nonprofit radio station is a selectee - pending final approval from the Federal Communications Commission - for a NEC (new construction) permit for the station's new digs at 91.5 FM.
The new license will give WOOL-FM a broader reach up and down the Connecticut River Valley, but exactly how broad is unknown.
“We have 18 months to get on the air with the new license,” Smith explained. “We've been granted a new low power (LP FM) license which replaces the old license. Once we're up and running, we'll be on the new, more powerful lower frequency.”
Smith explained that the NEC permit is a bit of a misnomer. In some cases, he explained, new apparatus would be constructed. WOOL-FM, however, is looking at pulling together components to link from the studio to the transmitter, as well as possibly some new elements for the antenna.
“We have some of the equipment,” Smith said. “We've a reasonably well-appointed studio suite.”
Smith said that when WOOL gets the NEC permit, the station will begin renegotiating a lease with Comcast, which owns the transmitter tower currently in use, to accommodate the upgrades and changes.
“Low-power frequency is a bit complicated to explain,” Smith said. “It sounds like it would be less powerful, but it reaches further because of a more complex contour.”
A contour is the line on a radio station's coverage map which shows where a reliable signal can be received by an ordinary antenna and radio. The average contour for an FM station is 60 dBu -defined as the point where an signal can be received at 60 decibels on an open circuit. Beyond that contour, reception can be spotty to nonexistent.
Smith said that, with the 91.5 frequency and an improved service contour, WOOL hopes to be able to reach as far north as Claremont or even Hanover, on the New Hampshire side of the river, and as far south to Brattleboro or Vernon.
Lots of competition
WOOL-FM beat out 11 other applicants for the frequency allocation for a non-commercial education license from the FCC.
Smith said WOOL applied sometime in 2007 and was among thousands around the country applying for similar licenses within a brief window of time. Allocations are made using a point system that is meant to streamline the process.
“You might think the FCC has a lot more people involved than they do,” Smith said. “With everything they have to consider and the number of people who do it, they were very fast. I've been in touch with them all along the way. They were very helpful and told me exactly where they were in the process each time I called.”
He said he was very impressed with the federal agency throughout the process.
“They were right on target with the dates they gave me for each step,” he said. “They were spot on, very well managed.”
One of the jobs the FCC is tasked with is to be sure there are no overlaps, so no two applicants are from related groups.
“It's complicated. It's amazing they can do it at all,” Smith said in praising the FCC.
Smith went on to explain that while WOOL is a selectee from the MX (mutually exclusive) group, any one of the other 11 competing applicants for the 91.5 frequency has time to dispute the selection. But Smith didn't think that would happen before the final decision in August.
“Our strong points in the application were that we were already an existing radio station. We're locally owned. The board members all live within this region. We're not aligned with any other organizations, and we have no other licenses,” Smith said.
“We put together a good application,” Smith said. “We've got a strong organization base in the community. We're all volunteers who work really hard to make the radio station work. Some of the volunteers have put up their own money. It's the community that makes this work.”
Five years, and counting
WOOL-FM has been on the air for five years at 100.1 FM.
“We're trying to build something that is meant to inspire, educate and entertain,” Smith said. “We want to be a reflection of our audience and community. We're an anathema to pandering, unlike other radio stations who seek out demographic forms. We've got real people, real shows. It's a different way to put it together. It's unformatted radio. It's not laser focused.”
As a nonprofit, WOOL volunteers must raise the funds themselves, whether through community donations, grants or fundraising.
“We got one $500 grant before we ever even went on the air in 2005,” Smith said. “That's the only one we've ever gotten.”
Smith said that should WOOL receive the NEC permit, the station will apply for a Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) grant. “It's a federal grant to help replace older equipment, buy new equipment and help with some administrative costs.”
WOOL-FM usually has three to four fundraisers a year. Supporters just matched a $2,000 challenge grant by raising $2,700 at a block-party fundraiser at the Waypoint Center on the Island, for a total of $4,700.
“About 100 people of all descriptions attended,” Smith said. “It was a true reflection of the community [we serve]. If we are successful and get on the air with the FP license, we'll be more powerful and reach more people. Community support is the only thing that makes a difference [to our existence].”
Smith is quick to say that WOOL's board members have plenty to occupy themselves every month, whatever happens.
“At our monthly board meetings, we are always dealing with comings and goings [of volunteers], technical issues, and we're constantly fighting the forces of entropy, which are formidable,” Smith said with a laugh.
“It's a miracle of fate that we have been holding our own,” Smith said. “There are 1,000 more LP FM stations now than in 2008. We hope to expand our listening area so the economic scale can help propel the talent pool [of volunteers],” Smith said.
“Our values aren't necessarily to change the world but to change the relationship between product-to-consumer media, and help people to see media for what it really is,” Smith explained. “A key component of who we are is in the question, 'what is media?'”
“We don't want people just consuming radio, but making it,” Smith added. “We're not monolithic. We have many people with many different motivations [for being involved].”