January 17, 2007
FRIENDS OF WNRB:
At our Jan. 10 meeting fund raising ideas were discussed and my suggestion was/is aluminum can drive. Prior to the meeting I turned in cans & alum. Scrap collected over the last few months raising $38.17 for WNRB which was then deposited into the WNRB Community Radio savings account provided by the WAHMA.
If aluminum saved by one person can raised almost $40 – working together and saving ALL our cans and scrap WNRB will reap $100’s of dollars. An aluminum drive won’t satisfy all of our funding needs but it can (no pun intended) provide a steady income. What I’d like ALL of you to do is to save all of your aluminum for the station. See if you can get friends, family, associates, and neighbors to do the same. You can turn cans & etc. over to me at meetings, at my home (936 Kent Street, Wausau), or ask for a pick up. I’d also like some of you to help me from time to time with pick up and/or the turn in of scrap.
PLEASE separate the aluminum into cans (beer, soda, water) from food (pet, anchovies, etc.) and other alum. Scrap (pots/pans, tubing, etc.) This save lots of time at turn in time since dealers pay different prices for different aluminum mixes and REQUIRE it to be separated. It would also be a plus if you would please crush the cans; thus saving space and eventually getting the weight of the scrap up.
THANKS!
Bob Decker
November 28, 2006
Dear Everyone,
I sat down with Peter and Blong today. We went over the correspondence between NTC, the Lawyer, and the FCC.
The Hmong Association is acting with great foresight in getting the things done that they need to.
WNRB is moving along nicely.
October 8, 2006
I wasn’t able to make last week’s meeting, but it seems we are at a bit of an impasse anyway. The short story is that the fate of the on air license is in the hands of the FCC and there is not much we can do to facilitate any “process” that might be happening. A decision could come soon, but probably not. In the mean time some plans are being made, but those plans could change rapidly with whatever happens to the license. So, I guess, now we wait.
While you are waiting, I will once again suggest Odeo. Odeo is sort of iTunes and YouTube for audio combined. On Odeo you can subscribe to and listen to podcasts on line, but even better you can make your own podcast on the site.
They say they have an online recording “studio” but you can also upload your own recorded audio. I would think that working in Audacity and uploading would be much easier. So, if you want your show to continue (Mike? Dr. Rent? Anyone?), get yourself an Odeo account and set up a podcast. It only takes a minute.
If you need help getting set up with Audacity, shoot me an email and I will try and find some time to sit down with you. After you get your podcast set up, please let me know. Odeo players can be put directly into WordPress blogs, so I can post it here and on the Wausaublog.
Yes, it is not the same as radio, but you can still get your message out to Wausau and the world by podcasting.
October 8, 2006
One hates to have sour grapes, but this email was just sitting there for me to read. I think the focus is the questions that are posed, and think about how they could relate to WNRB…
Next week, there will be two opportunities for employees to take part in NTC’s strategic planning process. You can share their thoughts and opinions at one of two employee forums:
Monday, October 9
4:30 - 5:30 p.m. (Facilitated by President Weyers)
Wausau: Center for Health Sciences Auditorium
Medford: Room M118
Phillips: Room P110
Spencer: Room S108
Antigo: Room T107
Wittenberg: Room W112
Tuesday, October 10
12 noon - 1 p.m.
(NOTE: This forum will be facilitated by Dan Dougherty on my behalf since I will be attending the ACCT Leadership Conference with several NTC Board of Trustees.)
Wausau: Center for Health Sciences Room 2014
Medford: Room M109
Phillips: Room P178.1
Spencer: Room S109
Antigo: Room T105
Wittenberg: Room W114
Discussion will center around the following questions. Please give some thought to these four questions and come ready to share your thoughts. Of course any other comments you wish to offer are welcome.
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- In your view, how can NTC serve communities/businesses best? What might some of the hindrances be?
- How can we as an institution impact students’ lives in the future?
- Why would people choose to work at NTC in the future?
- What might you read or hear in the future that would make you very proud of NTC?
Your comments and those gathered from student and community sessions held in September and October will be used to develop NTC’s strategic plan and re-allocate college resources to best serve our students, district employers, and communities. I hope you’ll make plans to attend.
September 20, 2006
Today Stephanie Smith of NTC met with leaders of the Hmong Association to talk about the progress and course of the license transfer. I was asked to attend the meeting and was just barely able to. Here is a brief summary of the discussion.
Bascially everyone is both working hard and holding their breath on the license transfer. The original LPFM rules say that LPFM licenses cannot be transferred, but there is a proposal to change this rule. Several other stations (besides WNRB) have requested a waiver to those rules so that they can transfer their license. Stephanie reported that she was told, that as of yet, no LPFM licenses have actually been transferred. Of course, our situation is further complicated by the fact that WNRB was operating under a construction permit, not a full license.
The summary of this story is that no one knows yet when or how or even if the license will be transferred. A lawyer recommended by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters apparently feels he can help facilitate the transfer and NTC and the Hmong association have agreed to use his services. Stephanie said she would contact him today, and then basically we all do whatever he says we need to do. Stephanie said that basically, NTC is willing to provide assistance to facilitate the transfer, including possibly putting the station back on the air if NTC needs to do that to license the station before transferring that license to the Hmong Association.
Stephanie also provided the Hmong Association with list of items that would be donated to the Hmong Association if the license is able to be transferred. As part of that transfer process a formal written agreement between NTC and the Hmong Association will be drawn up covering which assets will be transferred under what conditions, if any. We did ask about the current tower location of the antenna, and Stphanie indicated that she did not know the exact arrangement for the transmitting antenna, but will check and see if it is possible to leave the antenna in it’s current location.
The equipment list that was provided did indicate two items that NTC has other uses for and may not be included in the transfer. The phone line codec in the studio has been “redeployed,” but Stehphanie indicated a willingness to provide one if it were necessary to have one to get the station back on the air. The planned studio to transmitter link also has value to to college. This was noted on the equipment list, but the link itself was on the list of items, so it may still be negotiable.
After the meeting we went to the station itself. A quick survey seemed to indicate that all the studio and production room equipment (all of which were on the equipment list to be transferred) was all there.
As mentioned before, probably the wheels will grind a bit slowly now as the FCC tries to decide what to do with this unique case and the lawyers earn their fees.
Stay tuned!
September 14, 2006
While looking for radio graphics I came across these photos and wonder if anyone might want to do up their transportation this way — it would be great publicity!
September 14, 2006
Being that this is now technically a group effort I am a bit hesitant to make too many changes, but as you can see that did not stop me at all. 
I took a first crack at designing something for the site here using the phrase that was thrown out at last night’s meeting “Free People, Free Radio”
I am no graphic artist, so I kept to the color scheme in the graphic that I found. Unfortunately I did steal that from here, so we can’t really use it for publication of any kind, but I think we can get away with it for now on the blog until we come up with something better. I do like the bold colors, although they look kind of southwestern to me, perhaps someone talented could adapt, and improve on this kind of design and make it look more “Wisconsiny.” Also I have noticed that Hmong fabric work is quite fond of bold colors, so maybe something that has that feel to it would be nice.
September 13, 2006
This does not constitute formal meeting notes from tonight, but just a quick update of where things stand.
The Hmong Association had scheduled a meeting with Dr. Weyers at NTC before the station was shut down. The meeting was held last week and at that meeting Dr. Weyers offered to transfer the license for WNRB to the Hmong Association, if this could be worked out with the FCC. The Hmong Association has agreed to accept the license, if it can be transferred. The Hmong Association also agreed to pay some of the associated legal fees to facilitate this transfer.
The Hmong Association agreed to accept the license so that community broadcasting will not be lost in Central Wisconsin. Having the Hmong Association involved in this way makes the possibility of license transfer much better. Hopefully their efforts will indeed save WNRB’s license.
On a related note, it was reported that basically the FCC is trying to figure out what do with WNRB at this point. NTC has put them in a unique position, and the FCC is trying to determine whether the construction permit can returned and transferred. This process may take up to two months according to people at the meeting. Hopefully this process will move along somewhat quickly. It is also fairly safe to assume that the November 21 deadline will also be dealt with in whatever solution the FCC and the various lawyers work out.
NTC has also agreed to donate the radio station hardware, a very gracious offer. Meetings are being held to determine exactly what equipment will be donated.
Our organizational efforts will slow down just a bit as we wait for the wheels to turn at the FCC so that we know that there is a license to save. But a solid foundation is being laid for a group to be able to not only accept that license, but perhaps be back on the airwaves relatively rapidly after the paperwork is all in order.
Stay tuned!
September 13, 2006
It was decided at tonight’s meeting that we needed some webspace to promote and unify our efforts, so I am turning this blog over to everyone involved. What has come before this was my own personal opinion and now, everything will be the personal opinion of whoever wrote the post.
There are many details and issues that need to be dealt with in hopes of returning WNRB to the airwaves, and from now on you will find most of those things here!
Keep checking back!
