The Quadrangle

Issue date: 3/30/05 Section: Features

The current offices of the WRCM radio station, which remain out of comission

Aside from a brief few days of broadcasts at the beginning of the semester Manhattan's perpetually on-the-rise radio station WRCM, has been silent from its limited airwaves. The absence is the result of a failed attempt to overhaul the tight surroundings that the staff has found itself in. The proposed renovations center on the knocking down of a wall that currently separates the two offices and would result in one conjoined studio.

In the planning stages since before the current staff was in charge, the plans were near finalized at the end of last semester and WRCM was essentially dismantled in preparation for the work. Student Activities had been working with the station to facilitate the work but as of yet the wall is still in place and the radio has remained unable to broadcast. No palpable reasons have been given for the excessive lapse, but the originally proposed time for the work to be done had been during the first week of February. This did not occur because of the excessive amount of traffic Student Activities was seeing due to the incident involving David Segal.

This has been only one step in a larger plan to revitalize Manhattan College's radio and bring it the level of accessibility that a Student Run Organization should have to the Manhattan College Community. The proposal was to expand WRCM's range via internet broadcasting and the equipment to do so is on hand and ready for use but is simply being stored in the office as it currently stands. As is the case right now WRCM can only broadcast throughout Thomas Hall and while students have occasionally heard it in Locke's Loft, last semester it was turned off in Dante's Den it has never been turned on in Plato's Cave.

The futility of the station's current endeavors is felt by the General Manager of the Station, Sophomore Dina Rego, "No one takes us seriously in that dump. We're trying so hard to improve ourselves, but it seems like we are the only ones working for it." The radio station's woes stretch back a bit farther than a poorly placed wall.

The studio upgrade, along with the purchase of more modern equipment, were attempts taken to raise the level of professionalism that WRCM could work with. These were presented through the formal channels of the budgeting process and were mostly all accepted. This came on the heels of the WRCM crew having physically drawn up the plans of what they needed done. With regards to the matter at hand the staff was told that Student Activities would facilitate the renovation and that the matter was to be taken out of the hands of those actually running WRCM.

Continued...

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