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WCOM ponders move

Posted on September 19, 2009 by Staff

By Beth Mechum
Staff Writer

From the beginning, volunteer-run WCOM-103.5, located in the heart of Carrboro, put the concept of community first.

Its location on the corner of Weaver and North Greensboro streets fit that mantra perfectly.
Now WCOM is being forced to move, and the community it’s become, and the one it’s been serving, could have a different look.

Weaver Street Market owns the building in which the station is now located and has been housing the station rent free. Now the building, which was once a bank and still has drive-thru windows, is up for sale.

“For a year now, we’ve known this is in the works,” Leo Reynolds, a member of the station’s steering committee, said. “We like being in Carrboro, but there aren’t that many places in Carrboro for us, and rents are high.”

Reynolds said because the station is volunteer-run and not-for-profit, they’d require an arrangement to lease space in downtown Carrboro at a below-market cost.
It’s no surprise to the station’s volunteers that in these tough economic times, not many building owners are clamoring to sign such a deal.

But one option has arisen – setting up shop at Carrboro High School.

Moving WCOM to CHS was discussed at the Aug. 13 Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education meeting and was met with mostly positive feedback from board members.

“I think it’d be great,” board vice chair Mike Kelley said. “I think there is a great deal of potential in terms of community building and bringing an opportunity for students in clubs to have access to a broader audience for their ideas.”

Other board members expressed similar sentiments, but questions were raised at the meeting about insurance, access and how programming would reflect on the school.

Assistant superintendent for support services Todd LoFrese is now in the process of working out a lease for WCOM-103.5 to consider.

“There are a couple of other options,” Reynolds said. “But I would have to say they are not fleshed out at all at this point; there are problems with both of them.”

Reynolds said he was not comfortable revealing what those options were because no official offer had been made.

Bob Burtman, a member of the programming committee, said he doesn’t agree with how fast the Carrboro High idea is being pushed through.

“The station should pursue as many possibilities as we could identify, and when a decision has to be made, weigh all the options together and make the decision that makes the most sense for the station,” Burtman said. “I’m not suggesting that it’s a better or not as good option as other ones, I’ve just always felt that we needed to have as many [options] out there as we could.”

Burtman also expressed some concern with the philosophical issues of having a radio station at the school.

“I think that people differ on whether or not it’s important to the station to be in town, as a sort of free-standing entity, as opposed to be being on the outskirts, on a high school campus, and whether that would change the essential nature of the station,” Burtman said.

Chris Frank, former station manager and one of the originators of the station, sees it as a positive thing.

“I think for the long-term stability of the station, it could be a great relationship,” Frank said. “The people that go to the school all live within the listening range of the station. I think it would help increase our listenership.”

Another issue that has come up is one of free speech. Censorship is alive and well on high school campuses, but Frank said the agreement with the school system would need to address that before WCOM agreed to it.

“Free speech is one of the highest priorities for us; that’s one thing we have to maintain,” Frank said. “We have to follow the rules that the FCC has and that’s what we intend to do, and be autonomous besides that.”

Carrboro High School could also benefit from a broadcast journalism class, teaching students both the editorial and technical aspects of journalism, but that remains to be worked out in the agreement the school system is now considering.

Then, after those kinks are worked out, the issue of money must be resolved. The move, wherever it may be to, won’t be cheap, and WCOM will have to shoulder some of the costs. That money is expected to come from fundraising and donations, though those efforts won’t go full force until the station knows how much, and for what, money will be needed.

Station committee members will review the lease from Carrboro High School and decide on what’s best for them, but all are still open to other options.

“If there is anybody in the community who would like to help us out, this is a pretty crucial time for us,” Reynolds said. “We’ve been on the air for five years now. We could look at this as our first phase of broadcasting, and it’s time for us to grow up a bit and enter a new phase.”

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