| City of license | Ontonagon, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | [1] |
| Branding | Community Radio |
| Slogan | "Your Sound Choice!" |
| Frequency | 88.5 MHz |
| First air date | December 15, 1978 |
| Format | Variety; High School Station |
| Power | 10 watts (Non-Directional) |
| Callsign meaning | Ontonagon Area Schools |
| Owner | Ontonagon School District |
| Website | http://www.woas-fm.org/ |
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WOAS (88.5 FM) is a high school radio station broadcasting a variety style music format and serves the greater Ontonagon County (approximately 17 mile radius). The station is owned and licensed to the Ontonagon School Board of Education and is staffed voluntarily by the students of the High School and local community members.
The WOAS Radio Station broadcasts on weekdays (Monday - Friday) from 9:00AM (EST) to 10:00PM (EST) during the academic school year (September through June). The station also does selective broadcasting in August during the Porcupine Mountains Music Festival.
Office hours are on weekdays (Monday - Friday) from 9:00AM (EST) to 3:00PM (EST) during the academic school year and the manager's office can be found by asking the school information office.
In addition to the regular on-air Disc Jockey music, there are a number of syndicated shows that are commonly played including Planetary Radio, Cowpie Radio, Power-Line, and special release media from the Home Grown Music Network.
The variety format allows students and community staff to play a personal preference of genre during their respective on-air shows as long as it appends to the "terms-of-broadcast" concerning profanity and other points. Some shows are also syndicated from school groups and organizations such as the "Spanish Club."
WOAS now features a complete digital media system including three Compact Disc (CD) players, a Computerized Media Processor (CMP) and input jacks for MP3 or headphone based media devices. The only exception to this is a single cassette tape player that is used for syndicate programming.
The station features over 1,500 CDs in the live studio as well as over 1,000 CDs in the recording studio, which range in release dates from 2010 all the way back to the 1940s (format converted). The studio also bears all the historical medias including reel-to-reel tapes, countless cassette tapes, vinyl records and even a few eight-track tapes.
The station is currently in the process of implementing a live feed for broadcast audio as well as live studio web-cam video. The feeds are not yet available for access.
WOAS is operated by voluntary staff members from the local community and students from the High School under the direction of the Station Manager Ken Raisanen. There are typically seven student Disc Jockeys that are on-air during periodic times of the school day and there are also seven local community member Disc Jockeys who are on-air during after school hours.
The first official broadcast of the WOAS radio station started at 8:00 AM on Friday, December 15, 1978. The station was managed by the Ontonagon Area High School librarian Thomas Graham Lee. At the time, the station featured two reel-to-reel players and a vinyl record turntable as well as wiring for remote broadcasting in the cafeteria and gymnasium of the high school building.
Margaret Muskatt succeeded Thomas Lee as manager during the mid-1980s and the appeal of the station began to dwindle due to under-funding and aging equipment (which was donated to begin with), which led to a lull in staff morale. In the mid-1980s, the Community Schools program took over the daily operations under the leadership of Community School Director Mike Bennett. What followed was a decade of growth and operating income for the station and school district as many grants for programs and new equipment were secured.
From 1990 to 1995, WOAS' popularity again bottomed out as the Community Schools budget took massive hits and the radio station program eventually folded. Bennett became the elementary school principal, which left the station nearly dead. In 1997, the station hit its lowest point when a license renewal lapse was about to occur and the station was in serious jeopardy by considerations to not renew the broadcasting license.
It was in the same year (1997) that science teachers Ken Raisanen and Chuck Zelinski made a pitch to the school district superintendent John Peterson to take over station operations and save the dying project. They renewed the broadcasting license and began refurbishing the station's infrastructure. With generous grants from the Ontonagon Area School District (OASD), the Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO), community members and volunteers, the station underwent a major remodeling and equipment replacement.
Ken Raisanen officially assumed the Station Manager position in 1997 and he continues as the Station Manager today (updated January 2010).
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