POTTSTOWN PA – A group calling itself the WPAZ Preservation Association, which claims to be interested in buying closed Pottstown PA radio station WPAZ-AM and operating it as a community venture, is actively seeking donations for its cause and has scheduled two different fund-raising events during April at Sunnybrook Ballroom in Sanatoga.

Its now unused satellite dish is the most prominent fixture outside WPAZ-AM's Broadcast Lodge on Maugers Mill Road in Pottstown.

The association, represented in part by local radio broadcast veteran Rick Rodgers, within the past two weeks has set up a Pottstown mailing address, a website and a Facebook fan page that has already attracted 60 members.

It’s been at work behind the scenes even longer. The group reports to have already contacted Mitchell Scott, president of WPAZ license holder Great Scott Broadcasting, about its hopes of purchasing the station. Scott, the group’s web pages say, is “very amenable and supportive,” but is nonetheless interested “in selling the station to the highest and quickest bidder.”

WPAZ-AM abruptly signed off the air Dec. 10 (2009), during mid-morning programming. Scott at the time said his company was shuttering the station, which it started in 1952 as the first in a chain of several radio properties, for financial reasons. It has been silent since, and its offices on Maugers Mill Road, Pottstown PA, are vacant.

Community-supported or -subsidized radio, such as the association proposes to create in WPAZ, is most common among stations affiliated with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, created by the federal government in 1967. Experts say their records of success vary with their financial models, a community’s need for media outlets, and their ability to offer news, information or entertainment not supplied by competitors.

In its current plans, the association says it wants to:

• Operate WPAZ around the clock, with reduced power and reach overnight, relying on “internships, volunteers and a small paid staff;”
• Broadcast about 20 hours of local programming each week, increasing over time up to 90 hours weekly;
• Work with local schools to train students interested in radio and communications; and
• Produce and host local shows, “as well as independent programs from talented people nationally and internationally who you won’t hear on mainstream radio.”

“The new format will be something that hasn’t been tried here yet, but is guaranteed to entertain and educate,” organizers say.

Sunnybrook Chairman Tom Sephakis last week announced the association will sponsor an April 17 (2010) concert by Separate Ways, a cover band of the rock group “Journey,” and an April 24 appearance of Still Surfin, a “Beach Boys” cover band, both to raise money for its effort. Both concerts are scheduled to be held at the ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Pottstown PA.

Those interested in participating can contact Rodgers and fellow organizer Ross Landy by e-mail or at Community Broadcast Group, P. O. Box 1370, Pottstown PA 19464.

Related:

• Group Envisions WPAZ As Community-Funded Venture
• Five Weeks Later, Thundering Silence at ‘PAZ
• Radio Station WPAZ-AM Goes Off Air

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