If all goes as planned Rushville Consolidated High School will have its own radio station before the first snow falls later this year.
RCHS principal Matt Vance and Telecommunications instructor Ed Small approached the local school board Tuesday evening asking for permission to proceed with a plan to set up and operate a 24-hour per day, seven day a week radio station to be housed at the local high school.
“This is a great opportunity for students to get hands-on experience from the ground up,” Vance said. “Our plan is to broadcast basketball and football games, other sporting events, school programs like graduation and our Awards Day program and community events like the Fourth of July.”
The station would also broadcast local news and weather every hour and feature a mix of popular music.
“We’d stay away from rap and hip hop, but I want music the kids will like because I want them to listen,” Vance said. “I envision playing the kind of music that would be appropriate for local businesses to have turned on and playing during the day.”
Small said this concept isn’t new, noting that the idea dates back to Jeff Hufford’s days of teaching radio at RCHS.
Small explained that the station would feature 225 watts of power and reach approximately 5,500 people in central Rush County.
The coverage area would be from roughly Mays to Milroy and near Arlington to Glenwood.
The permit and broadcast license involved, which has already been approved by the FCC, currently is owned by Miami University of Ohio. Small said they are willing to sell it to RCHS for $2,000.
The new station would broadcast at 91.9 and the approved call letters are WMUI; Small said the call letters could be changed to something else, citing WRCS as an example.
The station would operate as a non-commercial entity with no commercials in the traditional sense, though local businesses would have the opportunity to underwrite programing in much the same way they do on public television.
“With your approval, and if everything goes our way, we can be up and running in 60 to 90 days,” Small said.
Board member Paul Barada made a motion authorizing Vance and Small to “proceed with all dispatch” with respect to continuing their efforts to secure the license and get the station on the air.
Board president John Wilson asked that Vance and Small report back to the board as soon as possible with their findings regarding a number of unanswered questions and details that have yet to be worked out.
They are expected to do so at the board’s next meeting.
Kevin L. Green can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 ext. 108 or via e-mail at kevin.green@indianamediagroup.com. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.
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