Student radio station faces challenges

Penn's student-run radio station, WQHS, is used to adversity.

From burglaries and monetary deficits to location problems and weather-inflicted disappointments, WQHS has faced its share of challenges throughout its 30-year history.

Armed with a lineup of 80 deejays, WQHS is still constrained by the inability to actually broadcast over a radio frequency, instead transmitting across the Internet and University television.

Though still attempting to garner increased support on campus and in Philadelphia, WQHS could be entering a new era with this spring's recent budget increase.

"Our budget proposal to [the Student Activities Council for] next year got approved," WQHS Head Music Director Roger Tang says of the approximately $7,000 that WQHS is scheduled to receive. This figure is a huge increase, up from about $3,500 last year.

"In the past, we've barely gotten anything that we've asked for -- we feel really fortunate that it's been different this year," says Tang, a College junior, attributing the increase to a boost in dedication among those involved with the radio station.

The money from SAC, coupled with alumni donations and funds generated from WQHS concerts, will go toward buying new computers, headphones and other equipment that many say is imperative for the station's survival.

"When I'm sitting in the booth, working our CD deck with a paperclip because the button fell off, I get to thinking it would be nice if Penn could throw us some alms," College sophomore and WQHS News Director Spencer Willig says, while noting that in comparison to more serious issues like scholarship funding, WQHS may not seem like a top priority.

But other universities do seem to rank student radio stations high on their agendas and demonstrate this dedication with immense amounts of funding that make Penn's allocations pale in comparison.

New York University's student radio station, WNYU, receives $100,000 a year from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and "reaches all of the tri-state area and around the world," according to Business Manager and NYU senior Trent Wolbe.

Tang also describes Drexel University's WKDU as a "huge, powerful station." In addition, he cites Temple's WHIP and Princeton's WPRB as impressive, which he says is the result of bigger budgets than WQHS has.

"You can get a little bit of an inferiority complex sometimes when you look around at other stations," Tang says.

However, Tang says he continues to remain optimistic, especially as he looks back on previous dismal situations that WQHS has had to confront in the past.

"Until recently, we were dangerously underfunded and pretty deep in debt," he says. "It's kind of like we were on life support, and there was pressure to just pull the plug."

For now, WQHS remains focused on the future -- planning to take on both short- and long-term goals with their newfound monetary funds.

"There's a possibility of us getting back on the actual radio with a low-frequency AM station," College senior and WQHS General Manager Sara FitzSimmons says, noting that the advancement probably would not occur for a few more years. The radio has been confined to Web transfer and background music on Penn's Channel 2 since 2003, when "a storm knocked the transmitting tower off of" Harrison College House, according to FitzSimmons. WQHS used to broadcast at 730 AM.

More immediate WQHS goals include enhancing their Web stream.

"Right now, we're streaming at a really low rate -- we can only get 40 listeners at a time on the Internet," FitzSimmons says. "New computers will allow us to broadcast at a much higher rate to unlimited people."

If equipped with more up-to-date technology, as opposed to the current 1960s-era main control panel that WQHS still uses, the station would be more effective.

With "a more automated programming" system, the station could "use MP3s and things from the computers," FitzSimmons says, noting that WQHS' CD players break frequently, and its turntables also malfunction.

But even if WQHS landed the jackpot of radio station equipment, there would still be a more pressing concern stifling its development.

"We're not sure whether we'll be able to stay in our building" next year, FitzSimmons says, referring to the fact that WXPN --the adult listener-based station that shares the studio with WQHS -- will soon be relocating to revamped facilities at 3025 Walnut St.

"They're building us a new studio in the basement of Stouffer [College House], but that won't be ready until 2006," she says.

WXPN's move-out does not just signify a possible location loss for WQHS -- some fear it may also hinder a long-standing relationship.

"They're kind of like our mentors," FitzSimmons says of the neighboring radio station, noting that the student radio station has been nurtured by the advice of WXPN's assistant technology director, general manager and program director.

After WQHS experienced a burglary last fall, WXPN provided the floundering station with a grant.

"They sort of recouped our losses for us," FitzSimmons says.

Though many other student radio stations at various universities have faculty advisers, WQHS has not received any support from faculty at the Annenberg School for Communication. FitzSimmons also notes the lack of radio-based classes on campus.

"We have one class that has 'radio' in the title, but they don't really talk about how to run a radio station," FitzSimmons says. "We can't fight the fact that Penn's so theory-oriented -- but it would be really nice if they had a practical class."

FitzSimmons would also like to see more coordination between Annenberg and WQHS.

She says that the radio station had tried talking to an Annenberg faculty member, but "he didn't seem too interested in getting involved," which FitzSimmons says was a disappointment to the station's staff.

"I wish that there was a bit more communication between the radio station and the Communication Department," she says.

Peer support for WQHS does seem to be increasing, though.

"They worked very hard to demonstrate that an increase in funding was very necessary," WQHS' SAC liaison Cristina Suroiu says. "We basically realized that the available technology that they had was not enough to sustain an average level of production -- the level that any University radio should have."

Though Suroiu, a College sophomore who sits on the SAC Executive Board, says that SAC "would definitely be very enthusiastic about continuing to support" WQHS, she also cites this year's budget as an exceptional case.

"A lot of the increase this year was due to the fact that a lot of their equipment was not up to speed and needed to be replaced," she says, warning that the high numbers may not be an adequate predictor of future SAC investments.

But for WQHS' numerous staff members, next year's budget requests seem miles away, especially with a promising concert scheduled for April 26.

The station is bringing the indie rock group Magnetic Fields to Irvine Auditorium and is hoping to sell out the 1,249-seat venue.

"We're trying to draw beyond the UPenn crowd," Tang says. "It's going to bring out a different presence for us."

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