February 22, 2002
New co-station managers and a new advisor for WVAW are working to put the campus radio station back on the air. Co-station managers Rebecca Dawson and Rachel Perdue and advisor Stuart Minnis have revived the station, silent for over a year.
"That is our goal," said Minnis. "We're trying to work together to get the hardware and licensing issues taken care of as soon as possible."
In 1996, Bryan O'Neill and Tony Stewart were Station Manager, deejay, promotions director and the core of WVAW. O'Neill and Stewart, spent numerous hours trying to keep the station operating. Months later the unthinkable happened: WVAW disappeared from the airwaves. Students of Virginia Wesleyan College missed WVAW as a source of their free speech, including music, talk and sports programs.
"When cable was laid for the campus, that was the first sign of trouble we saw with the station," said Journalism professor Bill Ruehlmann.
A new antenna never really worked. Some thought it had been hit by lightning during a storm.
In 2001, the Student Communications Committee appointed two new people to resurrect the defunct station: Amir Alexander as the station manager and newly hired broadcast professor Stu Minnis as advisor. Together, these two provided hope for WVAW to return to the airwaves in the fall. Sending out the message all over campus, they wanted a fresh set of new faces to give the station a new sound, particularly people who enjoyed alternative rock, R & B and techno.
When the new staff was put together, Minnis and Alexander devised a plan of putting WVAW back on the air: webcasting, instead of traditional low-power AM. Said Minnis at one of the first meetings, "WVAW is taking a bold step into the 21st century by doing this, and together as a group, we can make this happen."
"With just a simple click of the mouse, listeners not just on campus but around the world could hear the new station." The initial plan was to move to its new location in the Batten Center and begin broadcasting when students returned from winter break in January.
Ruehlmann said, "I believe that Dr. Stu Minnis has what it takes to put this station back on the air. He is a knowledgeable technical pro who can make it happen." Everything was ready for the webcasting to begin in January except for one thing: there can be no webcasting because there was no bandwidth on campus and a licensing dilemma caused by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which would require the college to pay substantial commercial licensing to webcast copyrighted music.
"It's very complicated," Minnis said. "We hope to be able to broadcast on campus
as an AM station." Now in 2002, major changes have come into play again. Station
manager Amir Alexander did not return to VWC this semester. This change left
Minnis with the decision of choosing a new station manager with some of the
same insights and love for WVAW as Alexander had. Minnis chose Rebecca Dawson
and Rachel Perdue to share the position to assist him in overseeing the station.
"I also believe that Rebecca Dawson and Rachel Perdue have what it takes to get the job done well," said Ruehlmann. As a result of the bandwidth problem, Minnis devised two new plans. The options consisted of taking the signal from the station and airing it on closed circuit cable television so that students only on campus can hear the station, or fixing the antenna and resorting to low-power AM to which people in the nearby area would be able to listen.
Dawson, Perdue and Minnis decided that the best way to put the station back on the air and benefit the listeners was to fix the antenna and resume low-power AM. This solution is more difficult than it sounds, because not only will it be costly to fix the damaged antenna, but there are many legal ramifications with the Federal Communication Commission.
As of now, there is no anticipated date for the station to come back on the air. Said newly hired station manager Perdue, "We are doing all we can to put this station back on the air. When we have solved all the problems and cleared the problems with the FCC, WVAW will be better than ever."
By REBECCA SCHEELEY
Philosophy professor Dr. Larry Hultgren was recently promoted to Associate Dean
of the college. This promotion went into effect on Jan. 1 for a three year term.
"Sometimes there are complaints," said Hultgren, "I'll be handling those."
As Associate Dean, Hultgren has many responsibilities. One of his duties is to work with faculty development and recognition. Hultgren must also oversee the recognition of student academic achievement. He will also respond to concerns about the curriculum from students and parents. This is a new position designed to help out Dean Mansfield, who is Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the college.
"E.B. White once said, when he gets up in the morning he is torn between the desire to reform the world or the desire to enjoy it," said Hultgren. "This is how I feel about Virginia Wesleyan." This position has allowed Hultgren to spend half of his time teaching and the other half performing his duties as Associate Dean. Hultgren explained that this position has given him the opportunity to help maintain Wesleyan as a distinctive choice for faculty to teach and students to learn, while still being able to teach.
"I was very excited, I approached it hoping I could make some difference with my new position," said Hultgren. Hultgren started working at VWC in the fall of 1969. He attended Grinnell College as an undergraduate student and Vanderbilt University as a graduate student. Before becoming Associate Dean of the College, Hultgren was the director of the Portfolio program. He had to give up that responsibility and it is now being directed by Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Tom Fanney. Hultgren will continue to work with the students and teach the classes. "It will just be as grand as ever," said Hultgren, referring to the Portfolio program.