As the nation goes digital, KSPC, the College’s radio station, is struggling to keep up with the latest trend in radio– web broadcasting. Due to insufficient funds and difficulties with OIT(Office of Informational Technologies), it may take awhile before any progress is made. "It’s a very common thing these days to have web broadcasts for college radio stations," Director of College Radio Erica Tyron said. "We are certainly chasing the bandwagon."

The idea of putting the station on-line first came to Tyron a few years ago after a company did a promotion offering free digital encoding machines. Although she heard about the deal after it had ended, it interested her enough to contact the head of the company. "We talked to the owner and he wanted to help us out because he had heard of our station and thought it was pretty good," Tyron said.

"When we talked to OIT to see if we could get the required band-width they were very hesitant about it because they didn’t want it bogging down the network," Tyron said. The project was subsequently dropped as OIT made it evident that it would not be a feasible option.

However, over the next few years, it became increasingly common for colleges and universities to offer broadcasts over the web as a service to alumni. Tyron finds this very valuable, and estimates that well over half of the nation’s college radio stations are now available via the web.

"It’s like the missing piece," Tyron said. "Sure, we can tell you all about our station online, but if you can’t listen to it and see what we do for yourself, then it’s really not very useful for the average person. Plus, by broadcasting on the web, we can broadcast to the world instead of just our area. It’s probably the most cost-effective way to expand."

Earlier this year, another company, Web-Radio, came out with a similar promotion that would provide a free server for broadcasting to stations, with the only catch being that the station would have to somehow link up with the outside server. To do this, KSPC asked OIT to allow it to establish the connection.

After reviewing the proposal, Director of Information Technologies Terris Wolff estimated that OIT would need to charge KSPC around $3000 per year. According to Wolff, OIT has a policy that it will charge for server use if the project is deemed non-academic or non-administrative. The reason for this policy is that OIT has to pay a certain fee that corresponds to the school’s band-width usage.

"Due to costs, our intent is to keep total traffic within a reasonable amount," Wolff explained. "By broadcasting we could possibly be taking away from potential academic use."

The $3000 per year fee would only be part of the necessary funds; it would also take significant time and technical equipment to get the project started. "We can’t afford that price," Tyron explained. "If we did use our own money for it, we would have to dip into our equipment money. We have a line item in our budget right now for anything that is above and beyond the norm."

Tyron says that she does understand OIT’s decision to charge because of the nature of the project. However, she does feel that although not directly related to academic use, the web broadcasts could help the academic programs.

"It’s a pretty attractive admissions tool when you think about it," Tyron said. "Prospective students can listen in and find out about us as well as what’s going on around the school."

Because the station has its mind set on getting web broadcasts up and running, several students including Adam Graham-Silverman ’00, and ASPC Communications Director Emeka Okereke ’00, are working to find a cost effective solution. Okereke is upset by OIT’s refusal to pay any fees incurred by KSPC. He cites other schools such as USC for a greater willingness to sponsor projects such as this.

Wolff says that OIT doesn’t have enough extra band-width to deal with a high volume of traffic devoted to KSPC. He recommended that they look into getting a DSL connection, provided by GTE, in order to establish the connection to the outside server.

Okereke has a hard time believing that the radio station would create that much traffic. "I really doubt that it would make a noticeable difference in traffic," Okereke said. "We have students running MP3 servers from their rooms all of the time and that for sure makes a bigger difference."

Although he too can understand the reasoning behind the cost, Okereke thinks that OIT should lower the cost. "We don’t need their support to help setup, we don’t even need their servicing, all we need from them is the band-width to get our connection," Okereke said.

However, as OIT’s policy is unlikely to change, other options have to be pursued. The possibility of using a DSL cable was looked into. However, GTE, the only provider of the cable, said that it was unable to wire it where KSPC wanted it.

Because the setup and up-keep would be done by Okereke and other volunteers, the only thing standing in the way of the station going on-line is funding for the connection. President Stanley was recently informed of the situation and was asked to see if he would support funding for the project.

If funding can be found, it would only be a matter of weeks before the broadcasts would be up.

"I completely understand that we don’t have the budget to do it right now," Tyron said. "However, even though we are co-curricular, we are a part of the college. We are a resource. So, I think something needs to be changed. This will require more effort on everyone’s part."