WQAQ is on track to have a new transmission tower built in the West Woods parking lot by May 1, enabling its return to the airwaves, people working on the project said.
The university removed the tower from the roof of the student center Aug. 18, 2006. This action has prevented WQAQ disc jockeys from broadcasting over the airwaves. The administrators’ action was criticized by many students, especially WQAQ staff.
A temporary antenna will be installed in the West Woods parking lot for the remainder of this school year and into the summer, said Dean of Students Manuel Carreiro. A permanent antenna, which is being designed and built by two engineering firms, will replace the temporary antenna before the beginning of the fall semester, Carreiro said.
A contract between the university and the Federal Communications Commission requires that an antenna be put back up by May 1 in order for the station to retain its licensing. Paula Raimo, general manager of WQAQ, said that there is a chance that the new antenna could be put in West Woods as early as April 25.
“The university has been cooperative, has helped us, and things have been done on time. My top priority was getting it back faster and that just wasn’t possible,” she said.
Carreiro said that the radio station and other student organizations are a great resource for students. The process of returning WQAQ to the airwaves is going faster than he had planned.
“It went much quicker than I thought it could have,” he said.
WQAQ has undertaken many steps in order to prepare its return to the airwaves, including working with Irwin Krassnow, a lawyer employed for the university who works in Washington D.C. Krassnow has been working to ensure that the entire process has gone smoothly. The staff of WQAQ has also had to get permission from various university administrators, gain approval from the FCC for what is known as “a silence period” and get its permission to keep its frequency, find a new location for the antenna and work with engineers to design and build the antenna.
In addition to Raimo, Carreiro and Krassnow, there are other people working on the project to return the WQAQ transmission tower. They include Grace Levine, a professor of communications and the faculty advisor to WQAQ. Levine is acting as the liaison between WQAQ and Krassnow. Also working on the project are Ed Kovacs, the director of the student center, and Joseph Rubertone, the associate vice president for facilities administration at Quinnipiac.
The impending return of the WQAQ transmission tower would be a victory for student organizations, especially radio station staff. “It’s been on the forefront of everyone’s mind in WQAQ,” Raimo said.
As a guest at the Sept. 20, 2006 meeting with the Student Government Association, Carreiro discussed issues pertaining to the university’s removal of the WQAQ tower. He defended the action as an effort to remove an unsightly structure. In an interview with The Chronicle Jan. 31 Carreiro said the university was working to facilitate the return of a new tower by May 1.
