Community TV Director Applies for FCC Licensure

By Brandi Makuski

The City of Stevens Point could soon have its own radio station.

Officials from the city’s Parks & Recreation Department- home of Community Television- have been granted permission to construct a low- voltage antenna for the city’s first official radio station, the low-power FM station 105.9.

But don’t expect golden oldies or sportscasts just yet.

“My immediate plan is to simulcast the meetings and other city programs on the radio,” said John Quirk, director of Community Television. “It’s also something we can use during emergencies because it’ll have backup power.”

Community Television- analog channel 95 on Charter Cable and channel 954 on digital television- broadcasts Stevens Point government meetings at regular intervals each month, which Quirk’s department is responsible for recording, editing and broadcasting.

The new radio station would air audio broadcasts of City Council, Finance Committee, Board of Public Works and other city meetings so residents can listen at home within the city and immediate surrounding area.

The city currently does not offer live-streaming viewings of municipal meetings, and Quirk said he wasn’t sure if county or School Board meetings- also aired on Community Television- would be included in the radio station’s simulcast.

Currently, the city’s television station operates from the parks building on Sims Avenue and does not have backup power, Quirk said. But the radio equipment, he added, will be housed in a utility building at the base of an existing tower somewhere in the city that does have a backup generator.

“It’ll have a direct connection to the emergency command center at city hall, which also has a backup generator,” he said.

Quirk said he applied for a permit to install the antenna with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) last December. The application was approved in February, but the city has no timeline for moving ahead with the radio station. A copy of the application can be found here.

“The FCC only grants these licenses every umpteen years: the last time was 2006. I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw Oshkosh started doing it in 2006, and finally this last fall I got the chance to apply so I did,” he said.

Quirk says the next step is purchasing equipment, which consists of an low- voltage antenna and some computer equipment, paid for with funds from his department’s regular budget, but he did not yet have cost estimates. The city will also likely need to apply for permission to broadcast per federal regulations before the station can begin to air.

Mayor Andrew Halverson said a city radio station became a topic of conversation after a major wind storm in 2011 caused widespread flooding and knocked down trees and power lines around much of the city, as well as power outages and damage experienced during a unusual storm which hit the city in November of last year. A city-run radio station, he said, would provide residents with emergency information when the Internet or television goes dark.

“That’s the real reason we’re doing this- in the event of an emergency, when all the power goes out we will be able to communicate with anyone throughout the city who has a battery powered radio, directly through our own system, directly from the emergency command center,” Halverson said. “As long as you have a battery- powered radio or a radio on your cell phone- not an app but an actual radio within your phone- you can get all those broadcasts through your phones, too, so long as they’re charged.”

Halverson said getting the information to the public as soon as possible is key during an emergency. Having a dedicated radio station, he said, would mean city leaders wouldn’t need to spend time crafting a press release or wait for area media sources to distribute the news and potentially edit important information from emergency messages.

“We hope by the end of the year we’ll be approved. We just need to wait for the FCC’s timeline,” Halverson said. He added during an emergency the city would continue to release information on social media, including Facebook and Twitter as well as through area news outlets as time allows.

Quirk said he expects the process to take “several months at least” before residents can expect any movement on the station, and any call letters assigned to the station would likely to decided by the FCC.

As for possible additional content for the station, Quirk said everything’s open for discussion.

“Whether or not it would develop into something a little more unique…well, I don’t know,” he said. “Some municipalities start out just with simulcast and it grows into something else; sometimes it doesn’t. In theory I could record something just for the radio that isn’t on the TV channel.”