CPCC gets OK to go into radio
Cabinet to meet about opportunity to launch low-power FM station

-The Charlotte Observer published Fri, Jul. 14, 2006

MARK WASHBURN, TV/Radio Writer

Central Piedmont Community College, which has dramatically expanded its cable television offerings in the past two years, got FCC approval this week to branch out into local radio.

The Federal Communications Commission gave the go-ahead for the college to launch a low-power FM station that would be audible in much of Charlotte.

Tony Zeiss, CPCC's president, said Thursday he plans to talk to his cabinet Monday about the opportunity and has ordered a study on technical feasibility and what kind of content such a station would carry.

If the start-up money can be found and it seems like a useful addition to the college, he said, CPCC has 18 months to begin construction under the FCC permit.

Low-power FM stations are a relatively new addition to the broadcast spectrum. They focus on compact service zones and usually carry specialty programming.

If the college decides to proceed, the 45-watt transmitter would be located on the West Campus at Morris Field Drive and the Billy Graham Parkway, near Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Its signal would likely be audible for four or five miles, reaching into uptown.

Zeiss, who helped pay his undergraduate tuition at Indiana State University by working at a TV studio, said a radio studio might provide a useful laboratory for communications courses.

"We could both do some education of our public through our programming and get hands-on experience with students through those classes," he said.

CPCC has broadened local production on its cable broadcasts (Time Warner Channel 17 and Adelphia Channel 23). It now offers more than 70 hours of local productions each week in addition to instructional programs, said David Rhew, the college's broadcast general manager.