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Show A History of 91.9 MHz KPCW fm stereo When KPCW hits the air on Wednesday, the Great God Aether and our 1947 transmitter willing, it will be because of the energy and generosity of the hundreds of Park City residents who believed in this project. From the City Council and Chamber of Commerce, to the people who pounded nails at the studio, Park City residents have a right to be proud of themselves and their community. No other community in Utah has ever come together to build its own radio station. Park City people did the paperwork, raised the money and built the station.. .Now, Park City residents will program it and make sure it operates in the best interests of the community. It's a hell of an accomplishment, accomplish-ment, and everyone who attended a fundraiser, pounded a nail, carried equipment, donated five bucks, donated goods or services, offered encouragement and volunteered to be on the air should know that it wouldn't have happened hap-pened without them. It's not possible, in these few paragraphs, to note each contribution con-tribution or thank everyone who contributed during the last two years, but a few special kudos are in order. The idea for KPCW was, like many other foolish notions, born in a bar. Five Park City residents got together the summer of 1978 at what is now Sneakers and decided what the town needed was a radio station. This conclusion wasn't surprising, since the five, Tom Bock, Jay Meehan, Blair Feulner, Dan Wilcox and Rebecca Widenhouse, had a collective 60 years of radio experience between them. What was surprising is that they decided to build a noncommercial non-commercial station, since none of them had ever worked in nonprofit non-profit radio. The concensus was, however, that what the city needed was a daily form of mass communications, not dependent on advertising. And besides, someone noted in the alcoholic haze of the evening, all of them had at one time worked for station's whose checks had bounced, boun-ced, ergo: they had some notion of what non-profit radio was all about. Time passed. By August of 1978 the group had, courtesy of the legal work of attorney attor-ney Robert Schick, incorporated as a non-profit corporation. They had also traveled to Telluride, Colorado to check out KOTO, one of the most successful community stations in the country. Time continued to pass. The groups expanded the corporation's cor-poration's Board of Trustees to include representation from all segments of the community. It is to the everlasting credit of Mary Lehmer, Jim Lynn, Sydney Reed, Daryl Garnas, Darrell LaFranier, Franci Eisenberg, Steve Dering and Anne Clark that they had the vision to get involved. In September of 1978 the "Station Creation" went public, by announcing its plans at the Park City Council and asking the Council for its support. Not only did the council give its support, but also room in the Memorial Building for the station's studios. It is likely that, without this early support by the city, the project would have never gotten off the ground. More time passed. With the help of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters Broad-casters in Washington D.C. and staff member Nan Rubin, the preliminary work was done to determine that it was, indeed, possible to build a radio station in Park City... The only thing standing stan-ding between Wireless and making application to the Federal Communications Commission for a frequency was a small matter of the $1,500 it would cost to prepare the lengthy application. What happened next was another turning point. With nothing more than the promise of a radio station, and the idea of building a "community station", over 200 residents turned out for a Wireless fundraiser at the Car 19. It is fair to say that it was the enthusiasm en-thusiasm and donations of those who attended that party which really put the station on the road to being a reality. Not only did the party raise the necessary money to complete the station's application, ap-plication, but it put Wireless on notice that the residents of Park City were ready to support and participate in a radio station. To Don Millecam, then owner of the Car 19, goes the distinction of throwing the fundraiser that made possible the application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Next came the hard part, the stage that most fledgling stations never get past, as Wireless got down to the mind boggling task of preparing the hundreds of pages of paperwork required for an FCC applfcation. With the assistance of consulting engineers Robert Chamberlin and Dennis Silver the engineering sections were completed. A lengthy "community ascertainment" survey was undertaken to determine deter-mine what the station should program. Then the question of money came up again, as the FCC wanted want-ed to be assured that Wireless had the money to build the station. The community owes a debt of gratitude to Jim Lynn and Mary Lehmer for putting their credit on the line by guaranteeing the financial parts of the application. If they hadn't, KPCW might still be a dream. It took five months to prepare the application. When finished, it weighed in at 250 pages and about the thickness of the Salt Lake telephone directory. Blair Feulner, Jay Meehan and Rebecca Rebec-ca Widenhouse may be excused if they held a small celebration in the bar at the Salt Lake airport the night the application, tour copies each, was air freighted to Washington on May 7th. The celebration, however, was premature. What followed was ten months of soul crunching, heart rending wait as the FCC misplaced parts of the application, ap-plication, requested further information, in-formation, changed its own rules and regulations and reorganized itself twice. Since Wireless was unable to afford a Washington attorney to "bird dog" the application ap-plication through the Commission, Com-mission, the application was becalmed in the sea of paperwork that deluges the Federal government. gover-nment. Meanwhile, back in Park City, the station creation continued. Faced with the task of raising $10,000 to build the station, the Board of Trustees held more than its share of late night meetings during the summer and fall of 1979. As fate would have it, the first light at the end of the equipment -"v "Pue" Rogers helps raise the KPCW Antenna June 8. Thursday July 3, 1980 Page 3 |