Recent Press about WHHS >>>

Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
August 16, 2005
Section: LOCAL NEWS PHILADELPHIA & ITS SUBURBS
Edition: CITY-D
Page: B06

Good guys win in this radio serial
Haverford High's station will live on.
Jeff Price INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Not much drama can be found on radio these days - mostly music, news and talk.

But a real cliff-hanger has played out at Haverford High, where it appeared the student-run station, WHHS, billed as the oldest high school-operated FM station in the United States, might never make it back on the air.
WHHS, launched in 1949, was silent all last school year, after being booted from its home at frequency 107.9 to make room for Radio One Inc.'s new acquisition, WRNB-FM. That set off a scramble by WHHS to find a new spot on the crowded Philadelphia FM dial.

An application to relocate to 99.9 was made to the FCC in June 2004. There were some issues, so staff and supporters hunkered down for the expected three-month wait.

Because Radio One, the nation's seventh-largest broadcasting company, brought its power, influence and expertise to bear on WHHS's behalf, fans of the low-watt, Class D station were optimistic. But as the school year turned into the new year, the drama appeared headed for a sad ending.

Ed Weiss, a Haverford faculty member and WHHS sponsor, said yesterday that he frequently heard a decision was "well, within a month . . . well, within a few weeks. When that went on a while, I figured it was not going to happen."

David Weston, a Haverford High alumnus who worked for the station during his student days in the '60s, said: "Every indicator said it would not get a license."

So imagine the surprise and joy when the FCC gave the official go-ahead last week. "Today was one of the best days of my life," Weston said then.

When classes begin Sept. 6, the more than 100 students who live the real-life radio world at the 1,800-student school in Havertown will begin training, preparing broadcast schedules, and checking out the new digital equipment from Radio One. The broadcasting powerhouse has parts to spare.

Weiss says broadcasting usually begins a few weeks into the school year, but this year it could be later.

"We have to calibrate the equipment and the station to broadcast at 99.9," he said. "We have to get the new tower squared away, mounted on the building, and we're still waiting for some equipment from Radio One."

But WHHS will be back, broadcasting its mix of music, news and sports to listeners within roughly five miles of the tower. So, why the drama, and what took so long?

Well, according to Weston, "this is the first time that a Class D license with a second-adjacent-channel waiver has ever been granted."

Without getting too technical, FCC regulations prohibit occupation of channels adjacent to a station in that station's broadcast area. So if WHHS is at 99.9, no stations are going to be found at either 99.7 or 100.1. And there already are stations at the so-called second-adjacent frequencies, 99.5 (WJBR in Wilmington) and 100.3 (WPHI in Media, according to the FCC). That's also a federal no-no.

So, Radio One, in its role as savior, set out to get waivers, essentially saying that those stations would agree to accept the risk of interference from WHHS. It was easy for WPHI, because Radio One owns it. WJBR, however, is owned by Next Media Group in Denver.

"The radio industry is relatively small; we all know each other," said Linda Vilardo, chief administrative officer. "We knew that broadcaster and made the call."

WJBR agreed after Radio One did an engineering work-up on what interference could be expected from the 9.5-watt WHHS. "Minimal would be too strong a word," she said.

Still, the FCC had those waivers back in June 2004, and here it was more than a year later and still no decision.

Might there be a problem because WHHS was a Class-D station? The FCC began phasing out those low-power, no-frills stations in 1978, said Rudy Bonacci, an engineer with the FCC's Audio Division. He said Class-D licenses were down from 170 that year to 111 in January.

Might there be precedent problems? If the waivers for WHHS were approved, would it be cited by other Class-D stations in similar circumstances?

No one at the FCC is saying. "Every person on this case wishes he were a fly on the wall of the FCC," Weston said.

He has two theories.

"The answer is, either the staff and commission decided to do a good deed, and/or there was government pressure to start to allow more lower-power stations to coexist."

If so, "community organizations, like religious organizations or jazz clubs, may be able to get back on the air."

Anyway, the WHHS drama is over. Now the mystery as to why the license was approved begins.

Stay tuned.

Contact staff writer Jeff Price at 610-313-8124 or jprice@phillynews.com.


Illustration:PHOTO
This note, put up in February 2004, reflected the sense of impending doom at the station, which was forced to stop using its former frequency. The application to shift to a new one appeared stalled because other stations were too close on the FM dial.

JOAN FAIRMAN KANES / Inquirer Suburban Staff

Back when the station was in full swing, (from top) Grace Goldblatt, 16, used the phone while program director Kevin Moran, 16, and Emily Aufschauer, 16, ran a show. Now such scenes will return.

Site by Kevin Moran: kwmoran@gmail.com