PLANNING FOR GROWTH IN YEARS OF RESTRICTED RESOURCES

CLASSROOMEMAILING THE NEWS: RADIONEWSGATHERING ON A REGIONALCAMPUSKenneth R. Collins, Ohio Universitycollins@ohio.eduThanks to the Internet, students with an interest in radio journalism at regionalcampuses can be easily integrated into radio news operations based on the university’smain campus. Such has been the case at Ohio University’s Zanesville (OUZ) campussince early 2001, as OUZ students have been able to contribute to newscasts aired onthe university’s WOUB Network.Five FM stations comprise the WOUB Radio Network, with four of the stationsfunctioning as satellite stations for WOUB-FM programming originating in Athens.One of those satellite stations, WOUZ-FM, serves Zanesville and the surrounding area.The WOUB Network has a strong commitment to local news. With transmittersscattered across southeastern Ohio, “local” covers quite a bit of ground. On-the-scenenews gathering in Zanesville presents a challenge for reporters based on the Athenscampus, who face at least three hours of travel on winding Appalachian roads in orderto get to their destination and return. With this in mind, WOUB news director TimSharp approached OUZ Electronic Media Department Coordinator Rick Shriver andme for news gathering assistance.In response, we created a Zanesville “news bureau” with students assigned to covernews events in Zanesville and surrounding counties on behalf of the WOUB Network.When our student reporters return with their stories and sound recordings, we have theoption of feeding audio from Zanesville to Athens using an existing microwave link.However, this approach depends upon the availability of both the system and studiooperators, one in Athens to record the feed while another in Zanesville sends. Instead,we have usually chosen a more flexible approach, one inspired by Clear Channel radionews rooms.As an long-time employee of Newsradio 610-WTVN, Columbus, Ohio, I have hadthe opportunity to witness firsthand the increased use of digital technology within thestation, particularly in the aftermath of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Whenthe Act eliminated ownership limits for radio stations, first Jacor, then Clear Channelsnapped up 610-WTVN along with other stations in the Columbus market andelsewhere.Under Jacor, radio newsrooms were reorganized to function more efficiently. TheWTVN newsroom, for example, became the news hub for all five Jacor radio stationsin the Columbus market, as well as Jacor stations in Toledo and Lima, Ohio. TheWTVN news staff of about a dozen reporters began to provide complete, localsoundingnewscasts for all three markets, using ISDN audio lines for live out-of-town21Feedback September 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 4)