WSTB

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WSTB

Broadcast area	Streetsboro, Ohio
Branding	The AlterNation
First air date	March 23, 1972
Frequency	88.9 (MHz)
Format	Alternative rock
ERP	680 watts
Class	A
Callsign meaning	STreetsBoro
Owner	Streetsboro City Schools
Website	www.rock889.com

WSTB (88.9 FM) is a radio station in Streetsboro, Ohio. It is programmed in an Alternative Rock radio format and is almost entirely locally produced. The station is owned by the Streetsboro City Schools.

1 History
2 External links

[edit] History

[edit] NPR years

On July 8, 1971, the Streetsboro City Schools Board of Education, under the leadership of then-superintendent Lowell Meyers, authorized an application to the FCC for a broadcast license at 91.5 MHz. The FCC approved the application on March 23, 1972, and WSTB began broadcasting with an effective radiated power of 330 watts. Broadcasting from the Streetsboro Junior High School, WSTB signed on at 8 a.m. and signed off at 6 p.m. It began as an NPR member station and was primarily programmed in a classical music radio format.

[edit] Student-run operation

In the fall of 1976, WSTB dropped all pre-recorded and imported programming and became an entirely student-run operation. The station also switched formats, programming in a variety of formats, including MOR, country music, Top 40, and AOR. News was also a student-run operation, with all sports being directed and announced by then-senior Vince Koza. Koza is now the Sports Director at NBC affiliate WLIO television in Lima, Ohio.

At the beginning of 1977, WSTB moved to an all Top 40 format. This was short-lived, as the next semester the station began programming in an oldies format. In 1982, WSTB returned to Top 40 radio, which it then kept until 1991. In 1985 the station began a phased move to Streetsboro High School, with studios moved first from the junior high school and the transmitter and antenna moved a year later.

[edit] V-Rock

On August 27, 1991, WSTB again changed format, this time to what would prove to be their most successful format to date. Mimicking the famed (and infamous) Z Rock network, which had recently left the nearby Cleveland market, WSTB branded as V-ROCK, and programmed in a classic rock and metal format. Due to listener response, the station went all metal the following year, just as its Z Rock predecessors had played.

A student at the controls in 1994 during the V-ROCK era

Up until 1993, WSTB had broadcasted only during the academic year. This changed that summer, when WSTB decided to stay on the air after classes at Streetsboro High School had ended in early June. Also, for the first time since 1976, WSTB broadcasted without local high school students, as legal liabilities made it impossible for students to attend to the station that summer. Instead, students and recent graduates from local colleges (including Kent State University) staffed the station.

On May 9, 1995, the FCC granted WSTB a construction permit to broadcast at 88.9 MHz with 1,000 watts of power. With the increased coverage area, V-ROCK began to build a small but growing metal music listener base in the suburbs of Cleveland and Akron. The station sponsored concerts which were quickly sold out in club-level venues in both cities.

[edit] Sunday Oldies Jukebox

In 1997, WSTB expanded its broadcasts from six to seven days a week. Management decided that the new day, Sunday, should be a different format than the rest of the broadcast week. The Sunday Oldies Jukebox was created, playing pop songs from the 50s through the 70s. Most of the air personalities and programmers for this show are adult volunteers from the area, rather than students.

[edit] Tragedy brings fear, change

In 1999, V-ROCK sought and received school board approval for a major concert on the campus of Streetsboro High School. The concert, called Spring Mosh ‘99, was planned for late in the 1998-1999 school year, and received approval in October 1998. The following January, as word spread about the upcoming concert, some local churches began a campaign of protest against the concert and against V-ROCK. The campaign received a great amount of media attention, not only in the Cleveland-Akron area, but also nationally as Jay Leno mentioned the protest on his late night talk show.

Still, plans for the concert proceeded as scheduled, until April 20, 1999. On that day, at Columbine High School near Denver and Littleton, Colorado, two teenage students went on a shooting rampage, murdering twelve students and one teacher before killing themselves. As the United States reacted to the murders, a "culture of violence" was blamed by some for the tragedy. This included the kind of metal music for which V-ROCK was becoming well known. Additionally, police in Portage and Summit counties were besieged by calls threatening copycat killings at several high schools around Streetsboro. On Friday, April 23, 1999, Spring Mosh '99 was cancelled following a day of meetings with school officials.

This was also the beginning of the end for V-ROCK. A task force was formed in the wake of the Columbine tragedy and Spring Mosh '99 debacle "to study the V-ROCK format and recommend any necessary changes. The task force included members of the school administration, radio station staff members, high school student council members, community representatives as well as the local religious leaders who were originally opposed to the concert and now the radio station’s format."[1] Before the task force could meet, however, General Manager Bob Long and student Operations Manager David Pastiva met to discuss a format change that would allow the station to remain in operation, and more importantly, to retain its student-run nature.

[edit] The Alter-Nation is born

Earlier that year, WENZ had ceased programming in the alternative rock format which had served that station throughout the 1990s. As WENZ returned to the urban format of its predecessor (WPHR, "Power 108"), the Cleveland-Akron radio market was left without a station for modern and alternative rock. Just as it had at the beginning of the decade, WSTB saw a niche market to fill. On June 29, 1999, it was decided that WSTB would reprogram as an alternative rock station.

And so, on July 10 of that year, V-ROCK signed off the air. The previous night, a concert had been performed in Cleveland to try to raise support for the station. However, this was to be the last bash for V-ROCK, as the money raised in the concert was returned to the bands performing.

Returning to the airwaves that fall, WSTB signed back on the air on August 30 as 88.9/The Alter-Nation. Not only did the station adopt a new format, but in September they obtained a new automation system allowing the station to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Alter-Nation began broadcasting full-time on September 23, 1999.

[edit] WSTB today

In 2003, WKSU-FM leased its tertiary tower on the campus of Kent State University to WSTB. This new broadcast tower, nearly three times the height of the old Streetsboro tower, allowed The Alter-Nation to be heard throughout Northeastern Ohio. Additionally, the station webcasts via its website, bringing The Alter-Nation to the world. But despite this technology, WSTB continues its nearly 30 year tradition of being produced primarily by students at Streetsboro High School in Streetsboro, Ohio. The Current 2007 Line up goes as followed: George Szuhay- Operations Manager. Jason Genaro- Music Director. Grace Gotchall- Asst. Music Director. Ryan Klutcharouski- Promotions. Ryan Stainbrooke- Asst. Promotions. Timothy Wade- Traffic and Continuity. Kevin Wilson- Production. Erik Pinkerman- Lead DJ.