Inside WFWM Radio and Radio as a Mass Medium
By Rainier Ramos
Frostburg, MD, May 1st, 2018
Located on the third
floor of the Center for Communications and Information Technology is Frostburg
State University’s Radio Station, 91.9 WFWM. WFWM is a public radio station
that is an affiliate of NPR (National Public Radio).
Many of the new
generations of mankind retrieve their “daily scoop” of information from
electronic applications such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc. But,
electronic applications such as the ones mentioned cover topics on the national
and global scale for the most part. WFWM works to serve the public, providing
them with local information along with quality radio programming for the local
area.
“We (WFWM) have multiple
missions, but in the grand scheme of things it comes down to supporting the
communities. Supporting the local community, supporting the campus community,
supporting the student community”, said Chuck Dicken, Station Director and
Program Manager at WFWM.
The station was first
created in 1984 when it became an FM station, it existed prior but did not have
the WFWM call letters. At first, the station was a carrier current station
which meant that the signal was carried through the electric systems in the
building where headquarters was located.
Towards the end of 1984,
the call letters of WFWM were given to the station. WFWM as an FM station
started in May of 1988. The station used to be on a different frequency in its
earlier days; 91.7 exactly.
“We were also on a
different frequency back then, it was 91.7 and sometime around ’96, somewhere
in that time frame we got a power boost in our transmitter signal and as a
result we had to move to 91.9”, Dicken explained.
Staffing for the radio
station consists of two paid staff members, Chuck Dicken and Jeff Rosedale,
about 12 volunteers, with an advisory board of seven people. Jeff Rosedale is
the station’s music director, and supervises XFSR, the student-run radio
station. WFWM’s advisory board consists of members from both the University and
local community, serving to provide advice on how the station should function.
There are a variety of
formats that WFWM uses during their broadcast. Roots music, Americana,
bluegrass, early country music, Keltic folk music, traditional music, swing era
jazz are many of the genres that the station plays.
The reason for WFWM’s
format choices is that they are supplying the local area with music that aren’t
provided by the commercial stations. In commercial radio, stations must play
what the people want to maintain stability.
“They’re not gonna be
able to play classical around here and make money off of it and continue.
They’re not gonna play jazz because there’s not as many people listening to
that as listening to contemporary country music for instance. But we can,
because our mission isn’t to make money our mission is to play quality music
that isn’t available elsewhere”, Dicken explained.
Station Director and
Program Manager Chuck Dicken has been working with WFWM longer than any other
staff member at the station. Dicken became an employee in 1998, making May 2018
his 20th anniversary. But, Dicken has been involved with the station
since October of 1990.
Before working for the
station, Dicken volunteered as both a student and community volunteer eight
years prior to receiving a subordinate position. Dicken has since then moved
his way up from a student volunteer, all the way to the top as Station Director
and Program Manager.
Graduating with a degree
in history, Dicken found that his love for music inspired him to work in radio.
Dicken describes himself as a “music fanatic”, and he is highly interested in
news. Public radio specifically caught Dicken’s interest since he was able to
play the music he wanted to do on a community radio station.
“I got into radio because
of my love for music, but I got on a community radio station because they were
the ones that would let me come on and play the music I wanted to do. But also,
because it’s public radio it’s literally there not to make a profit for anybody,
but to provide quality music and entertainment”, Dicken said.
Jeff Rosedale, Music
Director at WFWM, also has a heavy interest in music as equally as Dicken.
Rosedale volunteered in the station as a student in 2000, and was then offered
a job as a contractual employee in 2002. Rosedale has now been a full-time,
state employee for almost 10 years.
Radio fascinated Rosedale
early growing up, it was his connection to what was going on outside of his
local area. Rosedale sought out to find new music and genres by performing a
trick that he had heard to get distant stations.
“When I was young, I
heard that you could take your television cable and connect it to your FM
receiver so you could get stations further away. I spliced my parents TV cable,
ran one up to my bedroom, and connected it to my TV. I was getting stations in
the DC area that I had never had access to before, a whole new world of music,
like totally different”, Rosedale explained.
Being able to be
constantly surrounded by the world of music, music enthusiasts Chuck Dicken and
Jeff Rosedale love their jobs.
Dicken very much enjoys doing on-air shows,
putting on concerts in the community, and generally working with the community.
For the past 28 years, Dicken has been working with WFWM developing connections
and proudly serving the public.
“The people that I work
with, the people I’ve gotten to know over the years, the personal relationships
you develop, that’s a big part of it as well in the sense that you’ve
accomplished something, that there’s a lot of respect for the radio station and
what we do in the community”, Dicken said.
Rosedale, who oversees
the student radio XFSR, enjoys being able to get to work with younger people. Originally,
Rosedale was on his path to becoming a teacher in college but went into radio
instead. Rosedale still has a passion to educate and inform students with his
knowledge, especially enjoying being around those who seek intelligence.
Rosedale has found that he hasn’t had to seek music anymore, music is
constantly coming to him because it’s part of his job.
“Being at a University
you’re with people who are looking for intelligence. They’re looking for
knowledge, they’re looking to get smarter and I’m all about that”, Rosedale
said.
Rosedale is the host of
“Radio Rosedale”, a two-hour show playing hits from the world of independent
alternative rock. You can tune into Rosedale’s show on Thursdays from 10 p.m.
to midnight.
Radio as a mass medium
has changed dramatically as time has passed. Live performance used to be the
only way that music and programs could be aired on the radio in its early
stages. For example, if music was playing on the station the musicians were in
the studio playing it. The introduction of Television as a mass medium impacted
radio as talent on the radio transferred to television.
With television “stealing
the show”, Rock and Roll became the savior of radio. Radio appealed to the
younger demographic with rock and roll, which prevented it from dying out.
FM has become more
dominant since music quality is better through it, but AM consists of news
talks and sports because voice sounds better through it.
Technology has had a
significant impact on staffing in the radio industry, automation systems
specifically. Automation systems have decreased the number of jobs in radio
since there is not a need for someone to be in a station to actually play
something.
“As a result (of
automation) you have less people that are involved in radio, and you have less
people coming up from the ranks that know how to do it which is so vital for us
teaching students how to do radio because they can be the next generation of
people that come up behind me”, Dicken explained.
Digital services have
been emerging increasingly such as streaming and electronic forms. Music is now
easier than ever to find, and services such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple have
been extremely successful.
According to variety.com,
“traditional radio has failed to engage with Generation Z – people born after
1995 – and that its influence and relevance will continue to be subsumed by
digital services unless it upgrades.”
As more generations are
created, consumption of traditional radio gets lower in each generation which
impacts its chances of being able to keep up with other mediums.
Some have said that radio
is in a large decline, but Dr. Sheri Whalen, a Mass Communications Professor at
Frostburg State University has said otherwise.
“Terrestrial Radio isn’t
as much in decline as some have forecasted it to be. In some ways it has
declined, a decrease in AM/FM. Still really important, it will play a role. The
strongest will survive if they can adapt to online extensions”, Whalen
explained.
Even though traditional
radio seems as if there is no way for it to grow, it still has a chance by
transferring to digital platforms. Rosedale used a pie analogy to illustrate
how radio has changed over time. The “piece of the pie” refers to radio as a
medium.
“Piece of the pie is a
little smaller but there’s still a piece”, said Rosedale.
Dr. Jennifer Browne,
English Professor at Frostburg State University and WFWM Advisory Board member has
predicted that traditional radio is soon to be on its way out.
“Traditional radio is
probably dying. Most people are probably getting audio through streaming
online. Radio doesn’t maintain a serial narrative like podcasts do. It’s
probably on its way out, like cable television”, Browne said.
Even though Browne
believes radio is on the decline, she is an avid radio listener. Every day
Browne is woken up by her radio alarm clack that is tuned to 91.9 WFWM. She
even listens to the radio during dinner as its much a part of her daily life.
Browne has noticed that
there is a huge vibrancy of radio stations as she drives through major cities
on her way to Tennessee. Also, Browne has noticed that the Conservative and
religious broadcasts are still booming when she visits Tennessee.
Dr. John Lombardi, Mass
Communications Professor at Frostburg State University voiced his input on
radio as a mass medium.
“Unfortunately, it’s
(radio) undervalued. Seems to me that more and more people are losing sight of
the value of local radio, it keeps the local community tied together”, Lombardi
said.
According to Lombardi, on
demand content is what consumers are attracted to the most. Young people such
as millennials feel better off on electronic platforms since they have access
to a data base to practically any song they want to find.
“Consumers want much more
on demand content, radio isn’t designed for on demand”, Lombardi explained.
Also, Lombardi said that
radio has become “more recorded…losing its localness”. Traditional radio has
become more centralized airing pre-recorded broadcasts that are aimed to be on
multiple stations around the country.
Radio has not been as big
of a deal as other mass mediums, but still it does serve a major role in
national emergencies. If an area is devastated by a natural disaster, radio
stations are much easier to get back on air versus visual sources.
In national crises or
disasters, radio can provide people with the information that they need about
an event without visually presenting it to them. For example, news footage of
9/11 was very disturbing as the planes could be seen crashing into the building
along with people jumping out of the burning buildings. Some of the images
shown on the news were overwhelming, so radio served to provide facts without
repeatedly viewing the horrendous events that unfolded.
There is still a chance
for traditional radio to survive as long as it transfers to the online
platforms that have been dominating mass media. Newspaper companies have
transferred to online platforms and have rendered successful, showing there is
a chance for survival.
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