Harper Creek Community School’s technology director, Jim Maynard, is pursuing a unique opportunity for the school district and the Harper Creek community. This opportunity is a vision that began twenty-five years ago. “Back in 2000, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created a low-power FM (LPFM) service that organizations could apply for,” Maynard recalled. “At the time, I thought this was a neat concept. I was in college and wasn’t in a position to apply for a station at that time. The process involves initially applying for a construction permit and then, if the application is accepted by the FCC, the work to build or create a station follows.”
Maynard had always had an interest in technology, and the idea of operating a radio station was intriguing. “After I graduated from college, I worked as a technology teacher for a school in Wisconsin and later became a school librarian,” said Maynard. “I really wasn’t in a place to think about starting up a radio station, but still thought it would be something I might want to create and run if there was an opportunity in the future and the timing was right. The FCC offers filing windows to apply for a construction permit. There have been only 3 filing windows since 2000. These windows are open for a week or two.”
Maynard moved his family from Wisconsin to Battle Creek in 2017 when Harper Creek hired him. “As a technology director for a school district, I felt that I was now in a better situation to be able to create and run a radio station,” Maynard explained. “The FCC opened a filing window in December of 2023, and I applied. A few months later, in February of 2024, we were granted a construction permit.”
There are guidelines laid out by the FCC for applying for a construction permit and operating an LPFM radio station. Maynard outlines some of these. “Only a non-profit organization can apply for and be granted a construction permit. From the time a construction permit is granted, the radio station must be up and ready to run no more than three years after the permit has been granted. At a minimum, a transmitter, an emergency alert system decoder, and an installed antenna are necessary for operations to begin.”
Maynard and Harper Creek are approximately halfway into the three-year window to have the radio station up and running, but it’s not as simple as purchasing a transmitter and an emergency alert system and installing an antenna. Maynard gave details about the next steps. “Currently, we are in the fundraising stage to build. At a minimum, we need $15,000 to get it up and running. To add everything I envision for the station, we will need approximately another $ 25,000. My plan is to have things ready to be operational with at least the minimum requirements before the 3-year deadline is reached, and then raise the funds for other components for the radio station to add as we grow.”
The content that will be aired is not set in stone, with endless possibilities. Maynard’s ultimate goal is to utilize the radio station as a way to connect the students and staff of Harper Creek Community Schools with the local community. “My thought is that anyone in our community, not just students and staff, could request to broadcast as long as the content meets the guidelines outlined by the FCC,” Maynard explained, “with priority for broadcasting given to students and staff. It could be a good way to tie the community and school together. I would like the radio station to be known as the voice of Harper Creek. There would be an approximate radius of 4 miles for receiving the radio frequency, with the transmitter and antenna being housed on Harper Creek’s main campus at the corner of Beckley Road and Beadle Lake Drive.”
Beyond initial start-up costs, there are ongoing expenses involved with operating a radio station. We will have things set up to be broadcast 24 hours a day. Beyond content produced locally, music will be played during the hours when local content is not playing, but this music doesn’t necessarily come without a price tag. “Music will be digitally played during these times,” said Maynard. “We can play music that is not under copyright, but non-copyright music is limited, and we would like the availability of a more extensive selection of songs. To be granted access to 95% of copyright music will cost $1200 annually.”
Commercials are not broadcast on FCC radio stations, but Maynard is still seeking sponsorship for the initial and ongoing costs of operations. He explained the logistics of this. “Although we can’t play advertisements under the guidelines outlined by the FCC, we can utilize underwriting to express our appreciation for the businesses and organizations that donate funds. This involves recognizing those businesses and organizations on air, without producing a full-blown commercial. This is similar to what is done with public radio.”
Maynard is open to ideas about what types of content to play on the airways. He has some ideas that he has been thinking about as well. His goal is to maximize student input and participation in daily operations. “The first task that I want to take on when we are operational is to produce a daily newscast,” expressed Maynard. “I would like for this to be a student-produced newscast highlighting the events of the day for our school district as well as the surrounding community. It could be a 30-minute newscast that would air in the morning and afternoon during student pick up and drop off. For example, we could have a Coach’s Corner or a Principal Update. The idea is to inform people in our community of what is going on in our schools and community.” Although there is still a long road ahead in getting things up and running. Maynard has already started a newscast group among high school students, allowing them to practice organizing and creating a newscast.
Beyond the daily newscast, Maynard has more thoughts about what content might be shared over the airways. “We might have students produce radio dramas that tell stories,” Maynard explained. “Another idea is to have students broadcast sporting events live. Although broadcasts of sporting events will be live, most content will be pre-recorded. There are many possibilities.”
More information about this project can be found at whcx.org.
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