Company wants time on school radio stations
Districts, students unhappy with Texas broadcaster's effort
November 12, 2004
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/hsradio12e_20041112.htm
BY LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Drive through Southfield, flip the FM radio dial to 88.3 and chances
are the sound you'll hear is a distinct mix of hip-hop and rap.
But for how long?
That depends on how successful a Texas company with religious ties is.
From nearly 1,300 miles away, that company, R B Schools, is making
waves through Michigan's community of high school radio stations by
trying to horn in on the air time of a handful of stations. It has done
so by filing an application with the Federal Communications Commission
that would force students to share their section of the radio dial.
It's a situation that has school officials scratching their heads. Some
are hiring broadcast attorneys and fighting back.
"This is all new territory to me," said Peter Bowers, station manager
at WBHF-FM (88.1), the radio station at Andover High School in
Bloomfield Hills.
His school's station is one of those targeted. So are Southfield High
School's WSHJ (88.3) and Plymouth-Canton Educational Park's WSDP
(88.1), as well as high school stations in Flint and Saginaw.
The company wants the schools to agree to share their airwaves. If R B
Schools' attempts to negotiate an agreement fail, the company wants the
FCC to intervene.
Officials from R B Schools, based in Keene, Texas, did not return calls
seeking comment. Nor did Donald Martin, the Falls Church, Va., attorney
who represents the company.
The company's filing with the FCC indicates it intends to broadcast
educational programming on topics such as literature, history, social
sciences, health, hygiene, nutrition, child development, interpersonal
relationships and civics.
But the company's president, Linda de Romanett, is also president and
director of several companies that operate radio stations that have
religious programming, including WBAJ (890), an AM station in
Blythewood, S.C., that boasts on its Web site: "We broadcast about
Jesus!"
"What this market doesn't need is another religious radio station,"
said Dick Kernen, vice president at Specs Howard School of Broadcast
Arts in Southfield.
Ryan Fishman, a junior at Andover High School and operations director
for WBHF, says the issue is broader than one of having to share time
with another company.
"This is a high school radio station. Our purpose is to broadcast
educational programming," Fishman said. "To put on a religious program,
after a student signs off the airwaves, seems like a conflict between
the separation of church and state." R B Schools cites FCC policy that
requires noncommercial educational FM stations to operate a minimum of
12 hours a day or be subject to a time-sharing agreement.
Automated technology allows the Southfield and Bloomfield Hills
stations to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
"Someone at R B Schools didn't do their homework," Bowers said.
The Plymouth-Canton station operates from 6:45 a.m. to 10 p.m., five
days a week, though it had plans to go all day long before R B Schools
showed interest, said Patricia Brand, assistant superintendent of
business for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools. The expansion of hours
will happen in the next month or so.
The schools say they believe they already meet the minimum hours rules.
And they say R B Schools didn't file its applications in time. But
there is still concern, because the FCC is reviewing their license
renewals. They also worry that the company will target other schools.
"I don't want to be too comfortable. You never know what can happen,"
said Julea Ward, director of the Southfield High station.
The Southfield district recently responded to R B Schools, telling
Martin -- the company's lawyer -- that it has no interest in sharing
time.
There are 16 operating high school radio stations in Michigan,
according to the Michigan Association of Educational Broadcasters.
The stations give students an opportunity to learn all aspects of the
radio industry, from behind-the-scenes work in production to crafting
on-air personas.
In Southfield, the radio station gives up-and-coming rappers like
Tiffany Lindsay, a senior, a forum for displaying their music.
On Tuesday, Brittany Johnson sat in Studio C of the school's radio
station, listening to three cuts from Tiffany's CD, checking for
anything inappropriate. The same occurs for any music the station
plays.
Tiffany, who goes by T-313, says it's weird to hear her work on the
radio.
"I'm my worst critic. I critique myself to the fullest. But it's good,
though," she said.
Down the hall in the station's main studio, Caleb Foster, 17, a senior,
was working with several other students to program what listeners will
hear this weekend.
Caleb said he understands why R B Schools might see the station's
airwaves as attractive, "but I don't necessarily agree with it," he
said.
Neither does Kyle Covington, a 16-year-old junior and the station's
production manager whose on-air name is Young Masta. High school radio
stations spend years creating an identity that is special to their
school and community. That identity must be preserved, he and others
say.
"People rely on 88.3 being a particular style. It would go against what
we stand for," Covington said.
Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or higgins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx