Where Is WYUR?

During the first two weeks of school, posters were plastered on campus walls and bulletin boards proclaiming that the new voice of Yeshiva could be heard on 530 AM. But what happened to WYUR?

Everything was running smoothly at WYUR for the first few weeks of school. But right before the Sukkot break, the distribution amplifier blew, bringing an end to the radio station's ability to transmit.

But WYUR has had problems from the get go. Even before this incident, students were feeling less than thrilled about the radio station. Students complained of static and others were angry that they could not pick up the station in their apartments.

"I don't understand," said Jonathan Edelstein, an apartment dweller. "Why can I hear Columbia's radio station, but I can't hear my own school's station?" According to sources, there are several reasons why the station uses carrier-current waves instead of broadcasting. First of all, if the station were to broadcast over airwaves, they would incur substantial fees. Another reason is purely pragmatic; this is the way the station is set up, and in order to broadcast on the FM dial the station would require a total infrastructure overhaul. A student council member said that one possible reason for the carrier current mode of transmission is that "YU is very protective about its image, if the station broadcasted, then anyone with a radio would be to hear what the students have to say."

But before the station can even consider anything on a grander scale, they must try to circumvent any other disasters, like future blowouts. But station manager Eli Gurock says that the problems are just about fixed. He says, "we have fixed the broken D.A. and we are in the process of repairing everything else so that we will be back on the air A.S.A.P."

The distribution amp is the piece of equipment that connects the mixing board to the transmitters. The transmitters work via phone line to transmitters at all the undergraduate dormitories. Any room with a phone line, even an unactivated one, should be able to pick up the AM signal on their radios. Strangely enough, this was the second distribution amp to blow in the last four years. The previous one blew, ending the existence of WYUR in 1996. A new amp is supposed to last between fifteen and twenty years.

"The level of incompetence is mind-boggling," said one DJ. "For a school who claims they care about having a student voice there seems to be little effort spent on getting the station up and running again."

But, as the semester rolls on students are feeling less and less optimistic about the station. "At first I was really excited about WYUR," said one junior. "It really made me feel like I was at a real college. But now I'm just really disappointed."

It may be too soon to discount the radio station, though. "We're absolutely dedicated to seeing this through," said co-station manager Lisa Younger. "Even if we can just get it running for the last few weeks of the semester."

"What we would like to see happen now," said Jonathon Mell, YCSC President. "Is to get the station going for three weeks, and then do another major promotion. We assumed that because everything was running smoothly during the summer it would be fine come September, but obviously that wasn't the case."

All setbacks aside, station managers Eli Gurock and Lisa Younger hope to have the station up and running again as soon as possible. So, students should not lose all hope, and before long they will be listening to the music that they want to hear transmitted by the people who sit next to them in class. Hopefully, this time the amp will last a little longer.