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Radio firm seeks airtime from schools
4 area high schools and Franklin College fighting Greenfield man's petition to the FCC.
By Jon Murray
jon.murray@indystar.com
September 13, 2004
A Greenfield man is trying to force five student-run radio stations in the Indianapolis area to share their airtime.
But the rare move feels like an ambush to station managers and school officials, and they're in no mood to share.
Hoosier Public Radio Corp. petitioned the Federal Communications Commission under a seldom-invoked rule that can compel educational stations to share airtime unless they broadcast at least 12 hours a day.
Its director, Marty Hensley, selected seven noncommercial stations in Indiana and Kentucky. They include student-run stations at Franklin College and four high schools.
If the FCC agrees, Hensley said, his nonprofit company will fill airtime outside school hours with community affairs, music and possibly religious programming. If the agency dismisses the requests, as many station managers and school officials anticipate, the schools still could be out thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Hensley and others expect it will take the FCC years to rule on his separate requests, which he filed in July and August.
Station managers were caught by surprise when Hensley's notices arrived -- especially since many already broadcast 24 hours a day, thanks to automated programming.
"We were one of the first high school radio stations in the state to operate with an automation system," said Tom Schoeller, general manager of WHJE-FM (91.3) at Carmel High School. "The reason we did that (in 1980) was so we'd never have to share our frequency with anybody. We felt it was too important to our students and our school corporation."
Schoeller contends Carmel's station is not eligible for time-sharing, as do officials at several other targeted stations.
But Hensley chose Carmel anyway. This summer he also has challenged student-run stations at Ben Davis High School, Franklin Central High School and Pendleton Heights High School as they renewed their FCC licenses.
Outside Central Indiana, he filed time-share petitions against a religious station, WATI-FM (89.9), in Vincennes; and WKPB-FM (89.5), a station in Henderson and Owensboro, Ky., that simulcasts Western Kentucky University's National Public Radio flagship station 24 hours a day.
Radio ventures
Hensley, 43, started Hoosier Public Radio in 1998 with his wife, Jennifer. They registered it as a nonprofit domestic corporation; it does not own or operate any radio stations.
But the Hensleys are involved in other radio ventures.
In 2000, the couple founded a contemporary Christian station, WJCF-FM (88.1), that broadcasts from their Greenfield home. Its call letters stand for "Where Jesus Comes First." The station's license is in Jennifer Hensley's name, and she also is president of its parent company, Indiana Community Radio Corp.
Marty Hensley also is a board member of Hoosier Broadcasting Corp., which owns a few area noncommercial stations.
If Hoosier Public Radio were to gain access to any of the seven stations' airtime, Hensley said, religious programming would be a possibility -- but not a priority.
"If there were Christian programming," he said, "that is covered by the FCC the same as educational programming. We do have a lot of interest from people who would support a gospel station in the Indianapolis area."
His intent is not hostile, Hensley said. He would prefer to share facilities, he said, but that would not be mandatory.
He said he'd use the stations for public service announcements, promoting community events and "to draw awareness to social concerns -- things like drunk driving, teen pregnancy, the homeless."
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