Bexley Public Radio began reading “The Torch” in January on their daily broadcasts, adding another feature to their show.
The station is broadcast on week days from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., co-founder Kurt Weiland said.
Weiland, who helped to construct the station, said that getting it on the air was a bumpy road.
“We started the application process in early 2000, and everything seemed to go smoothly,” Weiland said. “But then the commercial stations started to lobby against us, and the application process just stopped.”
However, this setback did not stop Weiland and others from pushing to get the station on the air, Weiland said.
“In 2003, the lobbying stopped and the application process started again only to find that four other stations wanted the same frequency,” Weiland said. “The FCC told us we could choose or share, and we all decided to share.”
Weiland said that one of the main purposes of the station is to get students involved in the community and, more importantly, in radio.
Senior Tim Nassau, who works at the station, said that he got involved after his government teacher Nancy Mallory announced that Weiland was looking for volunteers.
“She told us that we could do it for a community service project, but I’m a big fan of public radio anyway, so I went,” Nassau said. “He put me on the air immediately, and I was a little surprised.”
Weiland said that student involvement is very important.
“I have found that most students who come to the station have never been on the air, even those who have worked in radio before,” Weiland said. “The funny thing is that generally the reason people want to become involved in radio in the first place is to go on the air.”
Nassau said that his first project was to get the copyright license to read “The Torch” on the air.
“When I have been on the air, I read stories of interest.” Nassau said. “On the snow day (in February), I read a story about what weather conditions it takes to get a snow day.”
Weiland said that they read other papers including “The Bexley News” and “The Eastside Messenger.”
“We do our own news elements, and we also read papers from all around the community,” Weiland said.
Weiland added that Bexley Public Radio does more than just report the news.
“We have segments for all different people,” Weiland said. “Amy Maurer does something called ‘The Noontime Gardener,’ and she covers different gardens and gardeners throughout Bexley.”
Weiland said that one purpose of the station is to promote a sense of community in Bexley.
“It got to the point where we just wanted a place to bring this community together on yet another level,” Weiland said.
Nassau enjoyed his time so much on the station that he molded his senior project around a job at the station. “I had a lot of fun working with everyone,” Nassau said.