WEOS

Infobox Radio station
name = WEOS


city = Geneva, New York
area = Finger Lakes Region of New York State

branding = WEOS
slogan = "Public Radio for the Finger Lakes"
airdate = 1971 as FM station
1948 as AM Carrier Current
frequency = 89.7 MHz
format = Public Radio - Adult Album Alternative
power = 4000 Watts ERP
class = A: WEOS D: W212BA Also: W201CD (not owned by WEOS)
callsign_meaning = Echo Of the Seneca
former_callsigns = WEOS-FM
owner = Colleges of the Seneca
webcast = [http://www.weos.org/live.html mp3 stream]
website = [http://www.weos.org/ www.weos.org]
affiliations = National Public Radio - Public Radio International - Pacifica Radio

WEOS is a public radio station from Geneva, New York, broadcasting primarily on 89.7 FM across the Finger Lakes region of New York. It also broadcasts on other, smaller, relay transmitters on 90.3FM in Geneva and 88.1FM in Ithaca. The station is owned by The Colleges of the Seneca, Inc., the legal name of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The Board of Trustees of the Colleges are the owners, with the current President Mark Gearan as its Chair.

History

WEOS started in 1947 or 1948 as a carrier current radio station at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, primarily as a means of rebroadcasting recorded lectures from Western Civilization or other classes for students to either re-hear, or in some cases, hear for the first time if they missed class. However, there are records and citations that mention broadcast experiments and other related efforts in earlier years, one involving the broadcast of a Hobart and Union College football game in 1920.

The station was operated by students, many of which were part of the Delta Chi fraternity. The station's studios were in Smith Hall, before moving to the basement of Sherrill Hall, where real broadcast studios were built in the 1960s. The studios remained there until 1998.

The Station was granted a construction permit in 1970, for 91.3 MHz, at 10 watts ERP. However, this frequency would have precluded Syracuse from getting a public radio station (WCNY-FM). Through negotiation, the station applied for and changed its frequency to its current 89.7FM. The station went on the air in 1971, broadcasting a variety of programs both recorded and live, all forms of music, news, and sports, including those of NPR. The transmitter site was on the roof of Eaton Hall.

Through a series of power increases and improvements, the station increased its power and coverage in steps, first to 250 watts, then 460 watts, and finally 1500 watts. The latter moved the transmitter site and tower to the roof of Winn-Seeley Gymnasium in the mid 1970s. The station had an old RCA transmitter and a Phelps-Dodge 4 bay antenna.

In July 1988, lightning struck the antenna, and a fire destroyed the transmitter and related equipment. The transmitter was to be replaced and back on the air by the start of the school year, but the transmitter was destroyed in transit in a truck accident. The transmitter did not arrive until mid December 1988. The Harris FM1-K was installed in a new location in Winn-Seeley gym, including its Optimod 8100A. The STL link was a buried multi-conductor shielded audio cable running from building to building from Sherrill Hall in the old Alpha System fire alarm conduit. The station used to run audio and voltages on these cables, in a home built remote control. The advent of the new transmitter and a new remote control, allowed for the stereo audio, return audio from Remote Pick up transmitters (MARTI) and the data to use this cable, which when equalized, was flat from 15 Hz to 22 kHz!. In 1989, the antenna failed, and was replaced by an ERI 4 bay antenna which is still used today for a translator, W212BA.

In 1994, The station applied for and was granted a construction permit to move the transmitter site off campus. For years, there was an effort to get the station's transmitter up on "Bean's Hill" to lessen multipath and help improve coverage. This came to pass with a move to Stanley, NY, on a tower site owned by Ontario County public safety. The station went on the air from that site briefly, before moving to a permanent new tower site directly behind the Ontario County Site on Lake to Lake Road. The ERP was raised to 4KW, with a directional antenna, to protect co-channel WITR and adjacent channel WRVO. This greatly improved the WEOS coverage area, and added better coverage towards Ithaca.

About this time, The Colleges added W212BA, at 90.3FM at 88 watts to fill in the signal on the campus. This translator broadcasts from the old WEOS transmitter site on Winn Seeley Gym. WEOS is also on the air in Ithaca, at 88.1 FM, 250watts ERP on W201CD, owned by Ithaca Community Radio. The Colleges have a construction permit for a new station in Ithaca, at 90.1FM, for 4000 watts. It is anticipated that this station could be on the air sometime by the early part of 2008.

The station's 24/7 non-commercial news and electric music format serves a large audience, with a large percentage of the listenership in the Ithaca and southern Finger Lakes area. NPR New, Pacifica, and PRI programming are a main stay, with local music and other programming, including broadcasts of Hobart Statesmen and William Smith Heron athletic contests. While the music and other programming has changed from its early days, WEOS came full circle, as it joined the Public Radio Satellite System in 1990, after grants were received from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program to purchase the equipment. The large 3.8 metre satellite dish was on the roof (technically, mounted to the side of the building at roof level) of Sherrill Hall. It was relocated in 1998, when the station's studios moved to its current location at 113 Hamilton Street.

Up until 1990, the station was at the will and whim of the students and community volunteers, as to when the station would sign on the air. In 1988, the Colleges' President, Carroll Brewster charged WEOS to become more consistent in its programming, and to pursue adding public radio programming. This was in part due to the adjacent channel issue caused with the main NPR news outlet at that time, WRVO (This was in part a mistake that the FCC made, in allowing WRVO a power increase, that actually interferes with WEOS. This interference still exists to this day, and the FCC did not remedy the error). Due to the "gray area" of no city grade coverage of public radio in the Finger Lakes, WEOS was allowed to broadcast public radio programming from NPR and PRI. WEOS also was a Pacifica affiliate at that time. At first, there was resistance from students, who equated "public radio" with classical music. However, with the programming mostly news and modern music, the quickly went away when Gulf War I occurred, and WEOS became a primary source in the area for up to the minute news and information. It was in 1990 that WEOS started broadcasting 24 hours a day, when many other public radio outlets were signing off at midnight. WEOS's schedule was adjusted so that a bulk of its news and information programming is in the day time, leaving the evening hours for music programming, by staff, students, and community volunteers. WEOS continues to produce the broadcast of visiting speakers, sporting events, live concerts, and other programming, including speakers at Cornell University.

In 2004, WEOS was the first station in western New York State to broadcast in HD Radio digital audio broadcasting.

WEOS also originated broadcasts for the NCAA in the early 1990s of the Men's NCAA Lacrosse Championships. This continued in the 1990s, and the broadcasts were carried by radio stations both in the United States and worldwide, including Japan and Australia. WEOS uplinked the broadcasts to both the Public Radio Satellite and commercial satellite carriers. This effort started in 1992 in Philadelphia. WEOS has also distributed web only broadcasts of various tournaments, including the NCAA Women's Field Hockey Championships, NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championships, and the ECAC Men's Division I Hockey Championships. WEOS has also fed the Liberty League Basketball Championships to the web, as web only events.

WEOS was an early adopter of webcasting, using Webradio and Broadcast America for streaming. WEOS has been using Public Interactive for its streaming, and recently switched its format to Mp3 from Windows Media. WEOS also has archives and podcasts of its programming.

Community and corporate contributions (often obtained during year round quiet fund drives) have helped the station grow in its ability to produce more local coverage and support the addition of a full time staff member. The station hopes to continue this growth.

Criticism and views

NPR's official news policy states that its affiliate stations should be 'fair, unbiased, accurate, honest, and respectful of the people that are covered'. [cite web|url=http://www.npr.org/about/ethics/#principles|title= NPR News Code of Ethics and Practices.] WEOS subscribes to these policies by presenting varied viewpoints and perspectives, with the addition of Pacifica programming and local productions. However, criticism has come from listeners either indicating the programming it too liberal or too conservative, depending on ones viewpoint. With the other news outlets in the area predominantly airing conservative talk show programming, such as Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, or Bill O'Reiley, or Fox News outlets, WEOS prides itself in presenting objective public radio programming, and in the case of some programming, the opposite viewpoint. WEOS does not censor its news programming or present only one sided issues.

Original programing

WEOS produces or originates many programs of its own or from area producers. These include:
* The [http://www.hws.edu/academics/fisher_center/ Fisher Center Lectures] Series
* [http://www.hws.edu/about/forum.aspx President's Forum]
* [http://www.hws.edu/about/radio_show.aspx The President's Radio Show]
* " [http://www.outofboundsradioshow.com/ Out of Bounds Radio Show] " with Tish Pearlman
* Hobart Statesmen Sports
* William Smith Heron Sports
* Cornell Lecture Series
* "Mike & Charles Sex Show"
* "Gospel Outreach" with Patti
* "Stuck in the Psychedelic Era" with The Hermit
* "Jazz and More" with Jake

Former programs

Since many of WEOS's locally produced shows are done by unpaid volunteers, or by HWS students, they don't always last. Here is a partial list of their shows that, for whatever reason, aren't produced anymore. Or aren't produced at WEOS anymore.

* Sound Salvation
* The Nobody Show (grew into the Homelessness Marathon)
* [http://www.homelessnessmarathon.org/ Homelessness Marathon] (still produced, but independent of WEOS)
* In the Zone
* To The Point
* JG & The Chill Hour
* The Uncle Ziggy Show
* Justifying The Means
* Plato's Cave

National Programming

WEOS also produces programs that are or have been distributed to other stations. These include:
* National Women's Hall of Fame Induction
* Elizabeth Blackwell Awards
* Live Political Debates
* Grass Roots Festival Broadcasts
* [http://www.unwelcomeguests.org Unwelcome Guests]
* Other specials

Podcasts

WEOS also podcasts their original programs. They offer a version of pubcatcher to manage their podcasts, it called the [http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/weos/.jukebox?action=featured WEOS Jukebox]

References

See also

* WHWS-LP - Spanish-language station operated by the colleges

External links

* [http://www.weos.org WEOS Homepage]
* [http://www.hws.edu Hobart and William Smith Colleges] - Our Licensee
* [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=weos&x=0&y=0&sr=Y&s=C Information & Coverage Maps of WEOS from Radio-Locator]
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