The fluorescent lights flicker on as I step into the cave of forgotten memories that is club storage. Moving toward the back of the room, tracing lines through clutter rivaling my grandparents’ basement, I see it: the old radio station equipment. I stare in awe at the studio speakers, audio interfaces and CD player racks, coated a thin film of dust. The entire history of the Paul Smith’s College radio station, here in a pile, condemned as a prisoner of club storage.

Flash back to my senior year of high school. I have a background in running a radio show on my hometown college’s FM station. I’m on a tour of Paul Smith’s and we’re passing through the student center as the guide describes the dining hall, game room and the little office space next door that is WPSA 98.3 FM’s studio. My eyes light up as I ask the guide more about the station. I was so excited about being a part of a radio station at my own college that I glaze over as the guide mentions declining student interest and a minimal listener body. Later in the winter of that year, unbeknownst to me, the college forfeits its FCC license and the station disappears.

The forfeiting of the license was a tough spot to be in for the college. While college radio can be an amazing outlet for students and staff to express ideas and form community ties, the license held by WPSA required broadcasting to occur a minimum number of hours per week. Rumors were that WPSA was not meeting those required hours, and, as a result, the school was in the crosshairs of a major FCC fine. Since interest was dwindling and it seemed that the hours could not be reliably covered, the license was forfeited to avoid the fine.

As a freshman, learning that the station was gone, I immediately began to seek out ways of bringing it back to life, at least in part. But the effort was effectively fruitless; upon forfeiting an FCC license, there is a period of fifteen years during which a new license cannot be obtained. While the option for an online station was possible, it was outside my reach as an individual seeking to revive an entire subculture of Paul Smith’s College. Instead, I chose to cope with a college sans-radio – until this semester began.

Jacob Wright, a professor who teaches change management, helped me pair up with five group members who want to bring about online, student-run radio on the Paul Smith’s campus. The benefit to online radio versus FM radio is that the listening audience can be worldwide, not in a measly two mile radius. Parents who live states away can tune in to their son or daughter’s show through their computers. Prospective students who want an idea of the campus culture can listen from home. And the best part: no FCC license required.

While there is every reason to keep broadcast hours high and keep student involvement consistent, this approach to a radio station doesn’t entail thousands of dollars in fines if the broadcasting waxes and wanes over the years. Additionally, less equipment is needed for an online station, making the start-up cost almost miniscule. The biggest challenge with this effort would be gathering student interest (and keeping it) as the station gets off the ground and re-establishes itself in the Paul Smith’s College community, potentially as soon as this semester.

Initially, the station will have a schedule (updated and changed each semester) of student and even faculty or staff DJs, with news and weather updates interspersed throughout the day’s broadcast. As the station develops, the prospect of interviews with guests, academic lectures and even broadcasting live events on campus becomes possible. The Paul Smith’s online radio station, which has been dubbed Bobcat Radio, is a boundless opportunity waiting to be activated here on campus.

As a senior set to graduate this May, I find myself really pushing for the station’s revival, even if it only means a semester of involvement. Through this experience, I’ve learned the importance of an outlet such as college radio for a student body and college community, and I’ve found that we all have so much more power to change things for the better than it initially seems. While I might be late with my efforts, I can only hope this thing goes through and survives to become a permanent extension of Paul Smith’s College.

(Footnote: for more information on the Bobcat Radio, attend one of the two open forum meetings to form a radio club: 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, and 10:10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7. Both meetings will be held in the conference room of the Student Center. Find Bobcat Radio on Facebook for further updates.)