Yesterday at 5:01:34 91.5 FM WAWL signed off. They changed calls to WJBP on 11/28/08. Chattanooga State Technical Community College (CSTCC ) sold off the station to Family Life Radio Network.That deal was sealed last May. They are currently dark, FLN is due to launch their satellite fed christian programming January 2nd. This will be their 84th outlet in the U.S. The school sold the license for 1.5 million dollars.University president James L. Catanzaro does not make his salary known to the public. But there has been a trend in University presidents making NBA-level salaries on the backs of students. Many make over half a million dollars a year. It's an MBA-style maneuver: enter the business, overpay yourself, layoff workers, sell off assets, cut corners, over-work staff, award yourself a bonus.. etc. It's all short money moves at the cost of long-term value.
I expect he's written himself a nice bonus this year. Catanzaro has made some sleazy moves in the past. As a political favor he fired a chemistry teacher that made complaints about illegal dumping. That firing earned CSTCC a $400,000 grant. Apparently this is not a new low for Catanzaro. He was fired from his former post at Triton Community College because of criminal charges leveled there.
I present to you here the last moments of WAWL on air. They live on for now as a webcast. (because of Divshare uncertainty I am also posting the audio to download on filebam HERE)
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This is very sad news. In the early 90's I was a student at CSTCC, and worked an air shift at WAWL. Those were fun days. WAWL was an important resource for Chattanooga, and a truly unique spot on the dial. It was also an advertising tool for Chattanooga State. Gone are the days when radio was required as a condition of license to serve the public interest. Now these radio conglomerates can pipe in and voice track anything they want. What a waste! As a publicly funded institution, it's appalling to see CSTCC be allowed to do this. I don't live in Chattanooga anymore (which is why I just now found out about this), but I feel sorry for all the listeners, as well as the students who no longer get to work at a real on-air radio station. I'm looking forward to the day when Internet access is ubiquitous, even in the car. When this happens, these radio conglomerates will quickly become irrelevant and revenge will be at hand.
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