Frequency battle not new to UW

After broadcasting live for a year, RainyDawg Radio still isn't really a traditional radio station. It has DJs, music and talk shows, but for RainyDawg, the problem isn't about their personnel, it's about reaching their audience.

RainyDawg represents a new wave in broadcasting, by doing so over the Internet, but as station manager Scott Sommers has found, traditional radio broadcasting is a vastly better venue.

"You take it with a grain of salt," said Sommers. "Obviously not having a radio frequency is a huge inhibition."

RainyDawg's staff and management are hoping that the day RainyDawg becomes a traditional radio station is soon.

Earlier this month, Rachel Flynn, ASUW director of organizational relations, proposed a bill that created the radio station Frequency Task Force. The nine-member group will begin to take the necessary steps to get RainyDawg a radio frequency.

However, there are some major obstacles facing the task force.

One major hurdle that Rainy Dawg will be facing is time.

"The window for applications is once every seven years," said Sommers. "It's a two month window when they take applications."

With this timeframe in mind, some are wondering if the ASUW Board of Director's interest in getting RainyDawg a radio frequency might only be a yearlong interest.

"The longer it takes for a frequency to open up, the more difficult it is going to be," said Alexander Bolton of the original taskforce that got RainyDawg on the Internet, "because you are going to have to have someone on the board that understands it and has some power on the board to make sure it comes to fruition."

Bolton, 2000-01 radio station task force chair and current UW student regent, said that his bid to get Rainy Dawg on-air in 2003 was meet with substantial resistance.

"There were a lot of hurdles and there was some political stuff going on to that probably delayed about a year," said Bolton. "We were able to apply to tech fee and SAF (student activity fee) for funding but tech fee ended up rejecting us."

Another major obstacle RainyDawg faces is money. Currently the station is a relatively cheap endeavor; however, according to Flynn it would take at least $100,000 to get RainyDawg on the radio dial. Insurance, equipment and legal fees are all major expenses the station would incur if it gets on the air.

Funding, or the lack of it, was the main problem that forced the UW's former radio stations to flee from campus. KUOW and KCMU (now KEXP) felt the sting of under-funding in the early '80s.

With the state facing a $12 million budget shortfall, higher education was one of the first places politicians looked to cut funding. In 1982, the UW was forced to raise tuition 42 percent.

The University decided that the two radio stations could no longer be supported by the University, and the stations were told to become self-sufficient. The stations, whose budgets were around $21,000 each, were unable to raise enough money to continue to operate on campus and a commercial broadcaster took over the stations.

Sommers said RainyDawg is ready to face the challenge for a frequency.

"We have just as strict guidelines on content as someone on the air would and part of that is so that when we do go on the air we won't have to edit 80,000 songs," said Sommers. "It's going to take a long time. We probably won't be ready in even a year, but you've got to start somewhere. There are so many issues to deal with that six years might be about right."

Bolton is confident that RainyDawg will eventually get on air.

"I do think it will happen. It will take a while and there will be obstacles, but as long as ASUW takes a leadership roll in this, it can happen."