MAY 16th - HIGH SCHOOL RADIO DAY

On May 16th, in just 5 days U.S. high school radio stations in the U.S. will join to inaugurate the first-ever High School Radio Day. So far there are only 28 stations participating, But you must remember how very few such stations still exist. One of the goals of the organizers is to raise a awareness of the ones that still exist.In fact, the date also commemorated the sign-on date of the first high school radio station; WNAS in New Albany, Indiana

Strictly speaking, there are 128 "high school" radio stations in the U.S. but not all of them have even a single high school student at the mic. Only a fraction of those are operated in any way by high school students. Radio stations are licensed only as commercial, and non-commercial. So my designation here is strictly by licensee. But even if you counted all 128 stations, that's 0.9% of the total licensed stations in the U.S. —no matter how you slice it, less than 1% of American radio stations are licensed by high schools. More here.

However, when you go to highschoolradioday.com the first thing you hit is a splash page with a flash script playing a clip of a Rage Against The Machine song that was a single in 1992. While [obviously] I am pro-radio... this is part of the problem. Radio is fighting an uphill branding battle that leaves the platform looking dated next to say...an iPhone. Opening with a 20-year-old single... not helping.

WHHS rises from the grave

The self-proclaimed oldest high school station in the country, WHHS Havertown, PA is back on the air at its new home of 99.9. earlier this year the move-in of WSNJ (now WRNB) forced them off the air. [*note the WRDV repeater on 107.9 was also nixed] Radio One engineer, Steve Hemphill helped them win special temporary authority from the FCC to get back on the air at 99.9 immediately. They are currently waiting for license approval at that frequency to be granted.

This is not the first time they've changed frequencies. In 1992 they moved from 89.3 to 107.9, probably to decrease interference with WRDV in Levitttown. WHHS only has a class D license and can be forced off their frequency at any time. Their current frequency of 99.9 is also occupied by WODE in Allentown, PA. *Radio One is kindly accepting some 2nd adjacent interference to WPHI-FMon 100.1

WHHS is a fairly typical highschool radio station in many respects. Excepting that it produces a large number of radio professionals. Their current yield includes DJs at WMGK, WYSP, WXPN, and many other stations.