Brattleboro Reformer (Vermont)

June 24, 2005 Friday

Turn the radio on: WOOL 100.1 FM

HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN, Reformer Staff

DATELINE: BELLOWS FALLS

For organizers of community radio in town, the signal has always been loud and clear.

While laying the groundwork for the radio station, they have had to negotiate with a national communications giant to get their antenna on an existing tower and scale a mountain, literally.

They endured "spirited" discussions at board meetings while hammering out bylaws and station rules and already were forced to move the location of their station due to sound and space limitations.

But by 4 p.m. this Saturday, the product of all the talk and work and waiting of the Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company will beam down from atop Fall Mountain to listeners around the Great Falls area.

WOOL 100.1 FM -- Black Sheep Radio -- is going live.

Station members plan to flip the switch on Saturday afternoon after the organization's annual meeting. After holding board elections and conducting some business, community radio organizers will fire up the grills for a barbecue and open the radio airwaves to the people of the Great Falls area.

"Some see this as some kind of cute little hobby for radio enthusiasts," said WOOL FM board member Gary Smith. "But it is far more than that. Every member brought something to help make this happen and that is what makes community."

The station's founders held their first meeting in November 2000 to talk about bringing a community radio station to Bellows Falls. From that first gathering, remembers Nancy Stefanik, it was clear there was desire and drive to see the concept through.

About 50 people showed up on that first night.

In 2001 the Federal Communications Commission opened a small window and allowed any station in the country to apply for a low-power license.

The Bellows Falls group got the paperwork together and began organizing.

The Low Power FM Broadcasting Permit finally came through in February 2004.

During that time, Smith said, the group overcame one challenge after another, always keeping its eyes on the prize.

Negotiations with Adelphia Communications Corp., the national cable company that owns the tower on Fall Mountain, almost fell apart at one point.

The original station that was set up on Canal Street did not work out and the company had to take it all down and move it to the present space on Bridge Street.

And then there were the countless hours of meetings.

"Anytime you are dealing with a group, there are interpersonal dynamics and I cannot pretend that there was not some tension," Smith said. "Community is not a unanimous agreement on a social agenda. It is a unanimous agreement to have and discuss that social agenda."

Smith, who owns a music promotion company and helped bring live music to the Hotel Windham, said he has been constantly amazed at the level of talent that people in the area have and at their willingness to share it.

Local resident Ira Wilner helped set up the original station for Vermont Public Radio in 1976 and he helped with the technical details.

Tony Elliott from Sovernet shared his expertise in streaming media and radio technology and also helped with the Adelphia negotiations.

And Smith, who ran a live music program in Boston before moving to the area, brought in some of his equipment to get things off the ground.

"We are very, very, very lucky to have the talent pool we have in the Great Falls area," said Smith. "And to have that talent pool engaged in our endeavor seems almost miraculous."

Prior to 2000, low power radio only existed as illegal, pirate stations. On Wednesday, the FCC closed down radio free brattleboro for not playing by the rules and Smith was quick to point out the Bellows Falls station is marching across new terrain.

"This is a new frontier in the face of more and more consolidated media," he said. "We could lose our license. We want to try and operate within the rules. We don't want to fight to be on the air. We want to be on the air."

Smith hopes to broadcast live music from the Windham. The programming list is still being developed, but he said it will eventually include literary discussions and sports events. He said local meetings, news and talk and a lot of music will be available.

"Things take time and we will try to build it technically and philosophically as we go," Smith said. "We want to build a community radio station, and if it takes five years, that will be five exciting years."

"I see the station and Web site as a place in the not-too-distant future to go to read the pulse of the community," said board secretary Bob Ross.

Ross, who has been involved for about two years, said the group continued to move forward through all of the challenges.

"It's been a long haul. A lot of communities might have been intimidated by all of the procedures. It really is a true example of many different people with different skills pulling together for a common goal."

The 100-watt station is expected to reach radios within a 6-10 mile radius. Walpole, Chesterfield, Alstead and Westmoreland in New Hampshire, and Rockingham, Westminster, Putney might all receive the signal, depending on how the hills roll.

The station is available over the Internet on streaming media at http://wool.fm.

All of the equipment is in place and organizers say they have done a dry run and are ready to go.

Members and nonmembers are invited to come down to the station on 33 Bridge St. on Saturday to see what it is all about. And, of course, anyone within the listening area can come Saturday afternoon. All anyone needs to do to become a part of the station is tune your radio to 100.1 FM.

LOAD-DATE: June 24, 2005