Volume 67, Issue 3  

The Green Blackout:
New Costs Delay WYUR Broadcasting
by Avi Zohar

Internet radio has become an increasingly popular phenomenon on college radio stations across the country.  The payoff is obvious: radio stations can now broadcast to much broader audiences, well beyond the confines of local area broadband.  But the pay-off is dwarfed by the new mandatory payout: a per-person, per-song governmental copyright fee payout.  Indeed, Clemson University, Swarthmore College, and New York University are just a few of the schools that have terminated web casting due to the new fees.   Yeshiva’s very own WYUR, a station still has high hopes of broadcasting this year, has recently encountered the same problem and is being put on hold.  Undergraduate Dean of Students David Himber estimates the fee to be in the ballpark of $75,000, a figure that presupposes that the entire student body will be tuning in for the duration of every broadcast.

Contrary to Himber’s evaluation, Yeshiva College senior Josh Younger asserts that the costs will not be more than $1,000, as he expects no more than ten percent of the student body to be tuning in at all times.  He also said, “Stations should be paying a flat rate instead of the per-person, per-song extravagance.”  The vast discrepancy notwithstanding, the radio station is still fighting to procure the necessary funds to get on the air.  

Although no resolution has to date been reached, Himber claims that the current state of affairs is not permanent. “Things just need to be clarified,” he said. Having a radio station is a “great experience,” and it has simply “been placed on hold until the issues can be straightened out.”

The “clarification” will need to come from Yeshiva attorneys, as they are responsible for calculating the costs of Internet broadcasting and for deciding whether to urge administrators to support the station. This clarification is, in part, dependent upon pending Congressional action, which will concern certain legislation proposed in the House of Representatives sometime in July.

The House bill exempted small businesses from paying the per-person, per-song fee. In an article written in The Chronicle of Higher Education on August 16, 2002, Will Rodebee, vice chairman of the Collegiate Broadcasters Inc., said that he would ask the lawmakers to amend the bill to include colleges in the exemption.

Sources close to The Commentator, however, have alleged that students and administrators are close to reaching a deal.  Details of the resolution, however, have not yet been hammered out.  

In the past, funding for WYUR has come from the Student Union, after Yeshiva paid for the initial cost of licensing when the station first started. A number of years ago, in fact, even the President’s Circle contributed. But the amount of money in question could keep WYUR from ever reopening its doors. According to an unnamed source, radio officials estimated that approximately fifty thousand dollars would be needed just to bring the station up to speed and to modernize all the equipment. Now, on top of that, additional fees are a distinct possibility.

Adam Cohen, a recent Yeshiva College graduate who was involved in WYUR, responded to the latest setback irately.  “They are up to [number] forty [in the recent US News and World Report college rankings],” he said.” YU should have a radio station that works properly. If it’s working, WYUR can really impact student life.”

Despite last year’s temporary optimism, the once-acclaimed station appears headed for at least several more months of off-air status. “It’s a horrible thing, because that was student expression, which is being curtailed,” lamented YC Junior Motti Schleider. “I’ve been here for three years and they’ve been on for two weeks. They should either tear it down or give us our radio station.”

Shauli Zacks, a Sy Syms Junior and member of the WYUR team, however, is confident in the station’s ability to begin broadcasting again soon. But he added, “Yeshiva and Stern students are very frustrated that nothing is happening. WYUR generally helps to raise the morale of the school.”

These financial problems notwithstanding, Yeshiva College senior Josh Younger, who was a key organizer in the effort that briefly brought back Yeshiva’s troubled radio station on-air last spring, maintained that “WYUR will be up.” Although Younger declined to estimate a date, his confidence in the station’s rebirth remained solid.

The Office of Student Services shared Younger’s enthusiasm. Dr. Efrem Nulman, University Dean of Students, insisted that his office stands behind the station. “Student Services supports and advocates WYUR,” he explained. “We want to see this happen.”

What do you think? Click here to send a letter to the editors.
All content is copyright © Yeshiva University Commentator.