United Cerebral Palsy Expected To Take Over WTBR Management
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Taconic High School's radio station, WTBR, is expected to be under new management within the next year.
The station's license is owned by Pittsfield Public Schools and operates out of Taconic. But the new building does not include space for it and the tower will have to be removed. For years school administrators have been trying to figure out what to do with the state.
Superintendent Jason McCandless said on Wednesday that he is working on a management agreement with United Cerebral Palsy of Berkshire County, which uses the Taconic tower to simultaneously broadcast the Berkshire Talking Chronicle, to take over operations. The school will still retain ownership of the license, but UCP will manage the station and a new studio will be built in the Clocktower Building on South Church Street.
"We are hopeful that by the middle of the school year next year we are ready to begin executing that agreement. That's driven by the practicality that there is some equipment we have to move over the remaining four or five months," McCandless said.
McCandless envisions the station becoming much more of a community station than it is now. There are few shows on WTBR, but the few that are tend to be very community focused.
"We want to see WTBR really become a community radio station," McCandless said, envisioning new management being able to open up the station for more groups — from the NAACP to Hancock Shaker Village.
"We really see this as an opportunity to have a form and a function of getting people's messages and conversations out."
The build out of a new studio is currently unknown, McCandless said, as he is relying on the expertise of UCP. In fact, the administration's lack of knowledge about the station is why officials have been trying to get away from it for years.
"We can't be in the radio businesses. We have no expertise in the area and we're not particularly wanting to spend money on consultants to advise us as a school district," he said. "We will be working with UCP collaboratively with what we need to do."
In 2014, the district looked to silence the "Brave FM" altogether but it was faced with community backlash. The administration refocused and the new school project pushed the need for a new location forward.
"The talk is becoming very, very real," McCandless said.
The station has had its ups and downs, with most recently being a down. In 2006, radio veteran Larry Kratka had taken over on a mostly volunteer basis and it turned into a successful and well-known station. But when he retired in 2014, students began to lose interest.
A group of dedicated individuals are keeping the station alive, from those who have shows to Brad Lorenz overseeing the station's $6,000 budget. But they don't have the professional expertise and experience that Kratka brought to the table.
McCandless praised the work of Lorenz and the others for keeping the station on air but said it is time for a new chapter. UCP is seen as a way to alleviate the school's responsibilities and bring in the professional management it needs. That, in turn, will help transition WTBR into more of a community, rather than school, radio station. UCP will also continue to operate WRRS-LPFM, Pittsfield 104.3, one of four community radio stations that broadcasts Berkshire Talking Chronicle for the reading impaired.
"We can continue to broadcast both of these radio o stations and really perhaps ramp up the quality of WTBR," McCandless said.
Tags: radio, Taconic High, UCP,
