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By BRUCE SHERMAN•--.Many • private boarding schools throughout New England have student radio station* and the majority of these aim their broadcasts at the limited audiences of their school community. This Is art so at the Portsmouth Abbey School : .Under the direction of a faculty' ’member, die Rev. Geoffrey Chase, students at the Abbey have recently opened a radio station they hope will become an integral part of everyday life on Aquklneck Island.The call letters of the station, WJHD, represent the initials of John H, Dtman. “Be was an educator in the first sense, strangely up to date and strangely attiaed to the needs of the people and to educating,”Father. Chase said. Dimanfounded thrte schools in the area: St. George’s, PortsmouthPriory, •- and the DimanVocational School ih Fall River; The Abbey school feels that with WJHD it has a unique vehicle to express the ideals cf Diman.■ In; founding three'schools, Durian proved that Us outlook was more broadly based than that of the average educator. ■ like .him, WJHD hopes to.expand its awareness' beyond toetraditional boundaries of theNew England prep school In establishing, itself as a newscutlet, WJHD must keep up a dialogue with the community.In programming, toe stationhopes to fiD an educational gap in the Island area.For the students at the Abbey, .the station will have a Very, clear educational value. By the nature cf the medium, a discipline is imposed on the student without a teacher ■ standing over him and setting rules- and strict guidelines. Even toe equipment has to be operated In a specific way, “and if you try to talk normally when you're on toe air, it just doesn't come off, sgid Father Chase.Eric Sarideen,' manager of the station and an instructor at the Abbey, said that the station also would give the. students the opportunity to experiment with creative, broadcast writing. Such experiments would provide them with a real ratherthan a classroom audience.- For gathering national news, WJHD has joined the PressAssociation Incorporated,which has provided them with the Associated Press . wire service. The staff-foresees'a need for community support for locai news, the boys have limited time off campy*, and asa notKummefda] station, they cannot afford to hire a reporting staff,.As they attempt to understand toe broadcast needs of Newport County, they hcpe their listeners will return the contribution and phone in Items cf local interest.■ Ucai dote support has already started. With (he help of several anonymous gifts, WJHD started operatic** with equipment valued at. about £.010. Though they had to improvise on . some cf their radio gear, they fed that the sound quality of their broadcasts a good, better than any other now available to Island radio listeners. They will be transmitting at 90.7 kilocycles on the fmborid',',.. In planning their broadcast schedule, officials at the stationhope to provide the listener withmore genres of music than , toestandard fm station. Programs' . cf ethnic, soul, folk ihusic and - opera are in the making, andSandeen mentioned the puabiliiy cf having children’s stories read over the air. They also hope to have programs in. more specific educational areas such as language training.Ha ving gone through all of the , trials and tribulations of getting a building permit, assembling all of their equipment, - and gaining final approval from' toe FCC, WJHD has gotten off to a' gocd start. They have a solid staff with one first class, one second class and 18 third class broadcast licenses,- Island support Is all that is needed from now cn. . ■ t,Listeners with good quality fm receivers should have:no. trouble receiving the brood:, caste; tut those with leak, expensive ' models may have difficulty picking them up in txtremft partsof thieIsland.AL preseat, the station is only broadcasting after 4 p.m. Their schedule starts with a program of Light music ending at 5:15 and followed by news, weather and• m ■‘ •Idealssports highlights', The station goes off the air from 5:30 until their major programs begin later in.the evening.The bite schedule is:. 7:30-8 - The Spoken Word, taped material, reading aloud, ete.W:05 - Short news, spots and weather.8:10-0. — Classical Music ' “A: shorter material, usually .‘baroque with regular material and new releases.‘. 00:30—News Rauftiup: keal and national news arid weather.. 9:30-10:30 (approx,) —Classical Music “B: theevening’s major worki 10:30 (approx.) — iknimite. . news'recap with a brief weather summary. Sign-.off and . description, of Station. WJHD, Ending theme music. 'The time of this sign off willbe accommodated to the lengthof the major work played In. Classical Musk “B.” Music B” will be played through withoutinteruptioaDoily Now*, Wodnetdoy, March 1, )9T7 21New Radio On IslandFaculty director of WJHD (K.7 fm) toe Rev. Geoffrey Chiee goes over news from Associated Press with student announcer, Christopher Christian. Christian ■ is senior at Portsmouth Abbey. School where new station recently started broadcasting to Island area.
Newspaper Details
Newport Daily News
Newport, Rhode Island, US
Wed, Mar 01, 1972
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 22 Aug 2021
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