U.P. radio station had same dial spot for decades until bigger station took frequency

A U.P. high school radio station had its frequency taken by a radio group miles away. And there's nothing they can do to stop it.



Ontonagon High School student Will Immonen logs the song he's about to play during his shift at WOAS 88.5-FM, the school's student-run radio station, inside the Ontonagon Area Schools building in the western Upper Peninsula on Monday, April 24, 2023. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

John Carlisle
Detroit Free Press
Published 6:05 a.m. ET July 13, 2023 | Updated 11:04 a.m. ET July 13, 2023

ONTONAGON — Tiny little radio station WOAS was just sitting at its frequency, minding its own business, when a bigger station came along and took away its spot on the dial. ... “This guy reluctantly sent me an email last April, basically saying, ‘Oh, by the way, we bought up your frequency and you’re gonna have to find a new frequency,’ ” said Ken Raisanen, the 69-year-old manager of WOAS 88.5-FM, the student-run radio station that’s been broadcasting from the Ontonagon High School building in the western Upper Peninsula since 1978. ... WOAS is very small — just 10 watts of broadcasting power, so faint it’ll dissolve into static on a car radio when a driver rounds the hills just outside of town. It’s one of only two radio stations in the village. Funding comes largely from two snack vending machines inside the school. Everyone who works there is a volunteer. And the format is usually whatever that afternoon’s high school DJ or that night’s village resident feels like playing.

By contrast, WHWL 95.7-FM has 10,000 times the broadcasting power of the school station. At 100 kilowatts of strength, and with 10 translator stations that carry its broadcasts even farther across the Upper Peninsula, the Marquette-based station boasts that its signal “covers the straits area and the northern tip of Lower Michigan, and our Sault Ste. Marie transmitter beams the good news of Jesus Christ north into Canada.” It’s funded by donations. And its programming is unvarying. ... “Our format is a combination of Bible-teaching programs and traditional, conservative music,” the station notes. “The blend is a unique one, and has inspired many positive comments from loyal listeners.”

Almost two years ago, WHWL applied to the Federal Communications Commission for construction permits for two more stations — one of which will be in Rockland, right next door to Ontonagon. In February, the FCC approved the request, granting a license for a new station on 88.5 FM, the longtime home of WOAS. Now, the student-run station either needs to find itself a new place on the dial, or else go off the air. ... “They said, ‘By the way, our consultant sent us a list of all these frequencies available for you that you can look at,' ” Raisanen said. “I said, ‘OK, then why are you taking 88.5? Why, when you sent me all the other frequencies that are available, why that one?' ” He said, ‘Our consultant says that’s the best one for us.' ’”



Ken Raisanen, the 69-year-old manager of WOAS 88.5-FM, sits in a room next to the studio inside the Ontonagon Area Schools building on Monday, April 24, 2023. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press



LEFT: The 10-watt transmitter inside WOAS 88.5-FM as seen on Monday, April 24, 2023 inside the radio station's studio, inside the school library, which is located inside the Ontonagon Area Schools building in Ontonagon, in the western Upper Peninsula. RIGHT: CDs and music memorabilia fill the booth at WOAS 88.5-FM, the student-run radio station. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

His station’s size is what made it vulnerable. WOAS is a Class D station, the lowest FCC classification for low-power, noncommercial radio stations, and these are deemed “unprotected” from other broadcasters, which can legally overpower its signal or simply apply to take over the station’s place on the dial. Thanks partly to this system, there are only about a dozen high school stations left in Michigan, and barely 200 nationwide.

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This spring, when he learned they’d lose their frequency, Raisanen mentioned in the local newspaper what happened, and noted that the station could use some donations to help keep it going. There was no official fundraiser. No GoFundMe either. ... But word spread through town. People came up on the streets and handed him $10 or $20 bills. An anonymous resident gave him $1,000. Before long, he raised enough money to buy a new transmitter for the school this summer so the station can boost its signal strength to 100 watts, the minimum required by the FCC for an upgraded license. It would be a ticket out of the unprotected realm of the dial. It should prevent this kind of displacement from happening again. And it just might guarantee that WOAS remains one of the few student-run stations still broadcasting. ... “We’ve got a 45-year legacy, and we’ll be back on the air,” Raisanen said. “And hopefully, 45 years from now, they’ll be talking about this in historical terms like, ‘Hey, remember back when that guy took our frequency?’ ”

John Carlisle writes about Michigan. His stories can be found at freep.com/carlisle. Contact him: jcarlisle@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @_johncarlisle, Facebook at johncarlisle.freep or on Instagram at johncarlislefreep.

ABOUT WOAS

The WOAS FM 88.5 is an educational – community radio station broadcasting from the studio, transmitter, and antenna located at the Ontonagon Area School building. WOAS-FM is owned by the school district and operated by students of the Ontonagon Area Schools and members of the local community. WOAS-FM is licensed by the FCC.