Financial support for Ohio Majority Radio

Progressive radio is alive and kicking in central Ohio.

The problem is that, with rare exception in Columbus, progressive radio is alive but not broadcasting very much.

The idea of progressive radio is kept alive in Columbus by a committed cadre of individuals who meet under the banner of Ohio Majority Radio.

At a meeting on Thursday evening, Russ Childers, Dave Daulton, Debbie Roberts and five other individuals participated in a discussion of options to bring more progressive programming to central Ohio.

Eugene Beer attended the meeting representing Simply Living’s radio station WCRS-LP. Also at the meeting was Kurt Weiland representing Bexley Public Radio Foundation’s radio station WCRX-LP.

WCRS-LP and WCRX-LP, two local time-sharing community radio stations, are both Pacifica Foundation affiliates.

These two stations are the only LPFM broadcasters licensed by the FCC in a top-fifty American radio market.

WCRX-LP is a community radio station operated by Bexley Public Radio Foundation. It broadcasts programs that reflect the complexity of that community and surrounding neighborhoods.

WCRS-LP is the broadcast operation of Simply Living and offers programming that includes such progressive exemplars as Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now.

Beyond community radio, central Ohio media has pressed the mute button on progressive content.

The Thursday evening meeting began with Russ Childers presenting an overview of the recent history of progressive radio in the Columbus metropolitan area. Dave Daulton and Debbie Roberts offered commentary and additional insight on this history. The discussion covered organizational options and financial needs for an independent progressive radio station. Legal and accounting advice were discussed.

Financial needs and identifying funding sources for Ohio Majority Radio was also discussed.

The availability of progressive programming and the expenses related to the programming were discussed. Examples of programming that received extended attention included shows of Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann.

Hartmann is a New York Times best-selling author. For the last six years he has hosted a national daily progressive radio talk show.

Schultz’s program is distributed through affiliates by satellite and also by the Armed Forces Radio Network. He is also seen as a guest on CNN, Hardball, The O'Reilly Factor, Lou Dobbs, The Situation Room, American Morning and Morning Joe.

Shultz has won three Eric Sevareid Awards and other professional radio honors. As a college football player, Shultz was awarded All-American status. He is a hunter, fisherman and is licensed as a pilot.

Eugene Beer and Kurt Weiland made brief presentations on the arrangements that are necessary to bring the Thom Hartmann program to central Ohio through the broadcast licenses of WCRS-LP and WCRX-LP.

The Ohio Majority Radio meeting was held at the East Broad offices of The Free Press.

If you are interested in progressive programming contact Ohio Majority Radio at www.ohiomajorityradio.com.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Design is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation.

One Year Anniversary WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM. Bexley, Ohio

Friday was the one-year anniversary of regular broadcasts of WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM. The FCC issued the broadcast license to Bexley Public Radio Foundation and WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM began regular broadcasts on March 21, 2007. The foundation was formed in April 2000 to establish a community radio service for the Bexley area. No celebration or other festivities were schedule by the foundation because the radio station anniversary coincided with the solemn commemoration of Good Friday.

Highlights of the first broadcast year for WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM include:

"The Paw Paw Report" on Amy Maurer's Noontime Gardener Report. This feature reported the growth of Paw Paw fruit in Amy's yard from bud and blossom to harvest and baking the fruit into a pie.

Culture correspondent reports from Joanna Tornes in Alaska, Paul Peltier in New Hampshire and David Schwenker in West Virginia.

Other reports came from Cynthia Rosi, briefly the senior reporter for Bexley Public Radio, and also from the ever peripatetic Eugene Beer on a western Ohio bicycle trek and a trip to New England.

Shahyan Ahmed's live report from Karachi, Pakistan during the riots following the December 27 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The report was aired as a live call-in from Karachi during the Joe Contino Show.

Kate Buckley's summer reading of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

Throughout the year, John Manning, station manager, was the regular host of weather and astronomical information from the Old Farmer's Almanac. Additionally, he and Katy Taylor interviewed Capital University professor Reg Dyck about a Gerhold lecture series speaker.

To measure local economic conditions, WCRX-LP developed the Bexley Consumer Price Index. Laura Franks did the organizational and analytical work for this measure of retail prices in Bexley. She also wrote the report for the Bexley CPI as to prices for the fourth quarter 2007 and first quarter 2008.

Stock broker Frank Ingwerson gave regular Monday though Thursday Wall Street updates. Chris Johns also assisted Frank in these reports. On Fridays, investment advisor Kevin Kale gave "end of the the week" overview on Wall Street activity.

With a refreshing breath of cynicism, the editorial page of WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM was sold to the highest bidders at charity auctions conducted to benefit the St. Catharine parish, Columbus School for Girls and Temple Beth Shalom.

The WCRX-LP community calendar, for most of the year read by Leah Edmondson, featured information on more than five hundred Bexley area cultural events. Additional calendar items were provided by Carol Betts of Bexley United Methodist Church and Laura Franks of Christ Lutheran Church. Kris Galloway of the Jewish Community Center of Central Ohio developed and produced a regular feature about upcoming events at the JCC.

A certificate of deposit interest rate report from the eight banks of the Bexley Financial District was developed. For the final six weeks of the first year of broadcast, the report was read by Jack Schultz with production assistance from Ron Allan of Big Voice Productions.

Kurt Weiland produced a regular report on the auction marketplace. The report covered charity auctions, estate and consignment auctions, and auctions conducted to benefit public agencies or ordered by public agencies. Knowledgeable Bexley residents, such as Tony Dunleavy of the Bexley boutique "Etc." provided comment on various lots offered for sale at auction.

During February, black history month, Kurt's report included extended coverage of an important auction sale at Swann Galleries in New York City. The sale included major works by African-American artists. Selected auction lots included works by such important American masters as Jacob Lawrence, Hartwell Yeargans, Aaron Douglas, Elizabeth Catlett, Faith Ringgold, Hale Woodruff and Henry Ossawa Tanner.

Throughout the year, local news reports were provided Bexley News, The New Standard, Eastside Messenger, The Catholic Times and the Bexley High School Torch.

In October, WCRX-LP recorded and rebroadcast several times, the mayoral candidates forum organized by the Bexley area chamber of commerce and held at the Bexley public library. Interviews of elected officials during the year included Representative Jim McGreger of the Ohio House of Representatives and Bexley City Councilmen Ben Kessler and Matt Lampke.

Sophisticated reports on Bexley area sports were provided by Brian Inglis of Bexley News on the Joe Contino Show.

Students who received broadcast experience behind the microphones at WCRX-LP included Abby Margulies, Jack Shultz, Jared Margulies, Lucy Frecchia, Molly Margulies, Robert Morse, Tim Nassau, Victoria Chou and Zachary Fries.

Contact us.
WCRX-LP Editorial Collective
Bexley Public Radio Foundation operating as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com


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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation.

[where: 43209]

Bexley, Ohio. No WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM broadcasts until Tuesday October 30,2007.

WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio begins installation of transmitter equipment software improvements on Thursday October 24, 2007.

During the installation and testing, there will be no regular schedule of programming on the radio station.

WCRX-LP has been featuring rebroadcasts of the public forum of the eight candidates for the Bexley mayoral job. The forum was sponsored by the Bexley Area Chamber of Commerce and was heald Thursday ctober 11 at the auditorium of the Bexley Public Library.

Once transmissions resume, WCRX-LP will continue featuring the candidates forum until election day November

Engineer Eugene Beer is installing and testing software that he is developing that permits the rebooting of the transmitter computer from a studio location.

The purpose if the new application is to increase reliability of transmission.

WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio is the broadcast radio service of Bexley Public Radio Foundation.

Contact us.
WCRX-LP Editorial Collective
Bexley Public Radio Foundation operating as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Near Worthington, Ohio. Campaign 2008. The WCRX-LP Editorial Collective sends its first production team to a Campaign 2008 event.

HOW WILL A SPECK OF A RADIO STATION COVER AN ELECTION?

The WCRX-LP Editorial Collective has had a few discussions on the topic of covering the 2008 elections.

Discussions that were desultory. Conversations that were inconclusive. Just ideas anticipating the inexorable reality of politics.

The former Boy Scout in the Collective says “Be prepared.” The former Girl Scout comments inappositely “An ounce of prevention is worth…” and then lets the sentence expire incomplete.

What might she have been thinking?

WCRX-LP is a community radio station. Should the station even mention Campaign 2008? It is a national election and WCRX-LP is the soul of localism.

On the other hand, primaries will come in March and there might be local issues on that ballot. There also will be local offices and issues in the November general election. Campaign 2008 is not entirely national.

The Editorial Collective makes no decision and tables the issue.

And then the inexorable march of politics makes the question a practical matter.

REALITY KNOCKS ON THE DOOR.

A telephone rings at the WCRX-LP office. It is a call to the radio station from the Obama campaign organization in Ohio.

A staffer takes the call. The campaign organizer proposes that the radio station gives some coverage to a meeting at the Ohio Hispanic Coalition.

The meeting is a presentation on immigration legal matters and also voter registrations.

The Obama campaign has been given the chance to show a campaign video before and after the meeting.

The WCRX-LP staffer proposes to learn if WCRX-LP will give some coverage to the event or to just add it to a community calendar.

After making this proposal the staffer has some second thoughts because the event is not obviously related to the Bexley community. He calls some of the Bexley Public Radio Foundation board members who refer him to the Editorial Collective.

The staffer calls some of the members of the Editorial Collective. After some discussion, the Editorial Collective members give the staffer loose reigns, very loose reigns.

The opportunity will be used as a training exercise to figure out how to create the boundary on partisan programming that the FCC requires.

THE EVENT AS REPORTED BACK TO THE EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE BY THE STAFFER.

The following are the notes that the staffer provided to the Editorial Collective:

The Ohio Hispanic Coalition, was hosting a citizenship and voting event at its conference room at 6161 Busch Boulevard. The location is north of SR 161, just west of the Continent shopping center and apartment complex.

Obama Now Ohio was scheduled to show a campaign DVD before and after the citizenship and voting presentations.

WCRX-LP was invited to cover the event (or events) by DD who is the director of Obana Now Ohio campaign organization.


DD had been referred to WCRX-LP by BL. BL has provided advice to WCRX-LP from time to time on programming, staffing, finance and organizational matters.

When DD first contacted me, she assumed that WCRX-LP was part of Simply Living. I briefly described the time-share agreement and how Simply Living and Bexley Public Radio Foundation are separate operations that cooperate from time to time.

Also in our first discussion, I explained to DD that WCRX-LP is a start-up station with a small audience. I also explained that the WCRX-LP license limits the station's ability to broadcast partisan campaign programming. I also explained that the evening broadcast time slot was allocated to Simply Living and that I would contact Simply Living about co-producing a live broadcast with that group.

DD was agreeable to these limitations and also to the possibility of a co-produced live broadcast by Simply Living and Bexley Public Radio Foundation.

I contacted MW and EB, both of Simply Living, and proposed a co-production. MB was agreeable to a co-production subject to the availability of EB to provide the technical work. Unfortunately, EB had prior commitments.

I told MW and DD that WCRX-LP was still interested in recording the event for later broadcast. MW expressed continued interest in the possibility of a co-production.

I also proposed the production to RA to consider as an MC opportunity for him. He said he was booked solid for that day but if he got work done quicker and opened up some time he would try to make the event. I also offered some post-production editing work to RA.

To free up some WCRX-LP broadcast time, I contacted LE. LE is on disability leave but has been calling in short broadcasts from her home on Tuesdays and Thursday. She said that it is okay to broadcast the materials during her usual time slot on Tuesday August 28 and Thursday August 30, next week.

On the day of the event(s), I prepared a quarter page handout information card offering the details for listening to the broadcasts. I called MW to learn if she wanted some reference to Simply Living as co-producer on the card. She declined.

I forgot to ask Signa Tour Studio if they wanted reference on the card for providing the recording equipment.

I called RA about attending the event as MC. He too had to decline. While he had freed up time, he forgot that he was having car repairs for a family vacation, and needed to pick up the car when the event was scheduled. RA and I agreed that he had his priorities in order. Vacation is always more important than lectures by lawyers.

David and I arrived at the Busch Boulevard location at 5:30. Dave began to set up his equipment.

Already in attendance were DD, JD, SB and PM. I think they are all volunteers for Obana Now Ohio although I didn’t confirm that information.

JV was also in attendance. I think he is executive director of Ohio Hispanic Coalition although I didn’t confirm that either.

Thereafter, immigration attorney MP-H and her husband arrived. HH, community outreach coordinator of the Franklin County Board of Elections arrived. He had an assistant whose name I did not get. HH also brought one of the new voting machines for display.

SB and DD were putting campaign materials on the conference room table. An interesting mix of materials. The usual union label “Obama 2008” sticker, campaign buttons and position papers on health care, labor and education. One position paper was in Spanish language. Also, there were handmade book marks, a new addition to campaign giveaways, and Life Saver candies, individually-wrapped and stickered with a campaign slogan.

Two additional people arrived for the event. One was a woman (probably from Chile) who had been naturalized as a U.S. citizen earlier in the day.

The event was in a windowless basement room. But the room was well-appointed. The seating was appropriately arranged for the presentation.

Some surprising omissions: No coin drop jar for donations for the campaign bumper stickers and campaign buttons. No welcome sign or direction sign in the lobby of the building or at the elevators.

Same kind of omissions in the production work for WCRX-LP. I didn’t brief DD about use of microphone and asking audience members to use the microphone when asking questions. Similarly, when I introduced myself to the attorney I didn’t give her a brief introduction to the use of the equipment.

I also should have asked for DD to provide a little information about WCRX-LP in her introduction and welcoming remarks.

Nothing unusual occurred in the citizenship presentation by attorney MP-H nor in the voting presentation of HH.

We recorded the sound of the Obama presentation so we could consider whether it was partisan and if so, not suitable for broadcast.

What is interesting is that the most of the bare text of the DVD is not partisan. It is simply a collection of policy statements on issues of public interest. Nonetheless, my recommendation is that the sound of the DVD text not be used in the broadcasts for two reasons. First, there are sound bites from unidentified individuals expressing support for the candidate. Second, the material is prepared and offered as campaign material. For these reasons, I’ve asked Dave to edit out this material before we broadcast.

I am leaving in DD and JD’s identification of themselves as involved in the Obama campaign. My judgment on this is that those are simply factual statements that describe the context of the presentations that the evening. I may reconsider this analysis after I review more material about the FCC limits.

The audience (including myself) asked many questions to the immigration attorney. I’m not certain if I should have asked the questions. Too much intrusion??? Some of my questions were just to add contextual detail to the recording, e.g. Where are the USCIS offices that serve Ohio? The answer is Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The presentations lasted about an hour longer than DD’s original estimate.

The session ended at 8:15 p.m.

Dave and I tore down the equipment, loaded it, expressed our appreciation to DD for the assignment and departed.

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS TO THE WCRX-LP STAFFER.

I called the WCRX-LP staffer for a little more detail about the campaign workers.

In response to my question he described the four individuals whom he thought were involved in the campaign. Young, energetic, aggressive. Mature, intellectual, calm but enthusiastic, well-organized. Quiet, calm, dedicated, well-organized. Smart, strong, active, sharp.

As a group, some had experience in political campaigns but not as professionals. Willing to make mistakes to learn the ropes. No one dominated the organization. All were helpful and cooperative with each other.

For the Editorial Collective, the experience will help to define what kind of attention the radio station has to give to the next election and the limitations of what we can do.

As importantly, the program will help to learn what campaign coverage is important to the WCRX-LP audience.

Contact us.
WCRX-LP Editorial Collective
Bexley Public Radio Foundation operating as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com