volume #77, issue 8
monday, December 14, 2015
You’ll wish you weren’t so naughty
Video game of the year Page 3
Page 5
No tobacco, no problem?
UR
Terrorism has no faith
VIEW
Page 6
Page 7
student body avoids stress with pickup dodgeball game
Tenesha Blair flashes a smile at her opponent during a game of dodgeball hosted by Student and Civic Engagement on Dec. 9, 2015. The game offered a break for students who were studying for final exams. (Delta Collegiate/Josephine Norris)
View the extended gallery online at www.DeltaCollegiate.com
up in the airwaves
Delta moves to participate in FCC auction of Q-TV greg horner
Facts
Q-TV has 12 employees, two of which work at Delta’s radio station Q-90.1. The station has the ability to reach an audience of 1.4 million people in the mid-Michigan area. Delta College multi-streams four separate, 24-hour a day channels – Q-TV, Q-TV MHz Worldview, Q-TV Create and Q-TV Kid. In recent years, Q-TV has received more than 40 state and national awards for broadcasting excellence.
Dates of interest
1964: On Oct. 12, WUCM-TV 19 goes on the air for the first time. The first program aired is a children’s show called “What’s New.” It only plays 15 hours of programming a week, including classes for English, Spanish, economics, and nursing students. 1971: “Day-By-Day,” a daily show hosted by Andy Rapp, premieres. After 3,203 episodes, the show would be replaced by “The Weekly with Andy Rapp” and, eventually, “Currently Speaking.” 1974: WUCM broadcasts in color for the first time. 1989: Delta Broadcasting adds a public radio station, WUCX-FM 90.1, operated jointly between Delta College and Central Michigan University. 1996: The premiere of “Dateline Delta,” the oldest original local program still airing on Q-TV. 2003: Q-TV becomes the first public TV station in Michigan to transmit a 100 percent digital signal, allowing it to offer multiple channels, including an HD channel, for the first time. Analog broadcasts continue as well. 2009: Q-TV broadcasts in analog for the last time. The station is now entirely digital. Resources: Deltabroadcasting.org
After 51 years of public service, Q-TV might go off the air to make room for broadband providers. The Federal Communications Commission is moving forward with its unprecedented auction to purchase broadcast spectrum from television stations. Since Delta owns and operates WDCQ-TV, the college is in a difficult position in deciding how to move forward. In an effort to encourage local broadcasters to participate in the auction the FCC has announced starting bid valuations for stations across the country. The federal agency values WDCQ-TV at $166 million. “It’s wonderful to have a public broadcasting station. There are only two dozen community colleges in the country that have public TV stations and we’re one of them, so we think we’re a pretty innovative place for having that,” says Pam Clark, executive director of institutional advancement. “But you have to weigh that with other value propositions – there’s been a lot of handwringing over it.” While the FCC has assigned every station an opening bid price it’s unlikely that any of the broadcasters would receive that actual amount. Participating stations in each market will have to compete in a reverse auction to offer their spectrum rights at the lowest bid. How low that price could go is dependent on how many stations choose to participate and how much spectrum the FCC intends to purchase—information the agency is closely guarding. The issue is complex, but in simple terms, spectrum is the range of frequencies used by all forms of wireless communication whether it’s television, radio, broadband internet and even RC cars. Everything wireless uses frequency somewhere on the spectrum and there is only so much bandwidth available to use. Broadband providers have been pushing for the FCC to clear up space on UHF (Ultra High Frequency) channels, which is used for broadcast television, to make room for 4G and 5G broadband. The FCC is now asking television stations across the country to decide by Jan. 12 whether they’ll participate—the federal agency will then purchase the spectrum rights from television stations and auction the rights to broadband companies. The college Board of Trustees has granted President Jean Goodnow, Board Chair Mike Rowley and Pam Clark authority to take all action necessary to participate on behalf of Delta’s WDCQTV. “This has been a difficult issue to deal with, mainly because it’s so complex,” says Goodnow, citing the technical aspects and legal requirements in dealing with the FCC. “The Board of Trustees has to look at their financial and fiduciary responsibilities to the college, [with] the wonderful reputation that public broadcasting has throughout our region, the great support we’ve received from the community and the number of children who have grown up with Delta College and Big Bird.” WDCQ-TV has been operated by Delta College for 51 years and is a part of the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City market which includes eight other local television stations including WNEM-TV and
DCGregHorner WCMU-TV. “The FCC really has broadcasters by the balls,” says Jim Gleason, electronic media program coordinator. “Let’s say six stations enter the auction and the FCC only wants spectrum from four of them, then they take the four lowest bids. But if the FCC wants spectrum from six then they’ll take all six stations -- and when you commit fully to the auction there’s no going back.” Gleason says that, except for losing the opportunity to work with a public broadcaster, it’s unlikely that the EM program would be affected regardless of what happens to Q-TV in the future.The auction would also have little impact on Delta’s radio station. “I don’t envy the decision that has to be made,” says Gleason. “Do you give up an institution that has been here for over 50 years and is an important part of the community or take a big pocketful of money which would do a lot of good for college and its mission.” Clark says that staff working for Q-TV were consulted about the decision, but that a public forum hasn’t been considered. “The station is very well thought of so if we had a forum, I can’t imagine anyone would step forward and say anything bad—I think they [the board] thought ‘how are we going to get balanced comments?’ if everyone thinks we’re going to shut it down.” President Goodnow says the board first heard about the auction in August and didn’t have the full details until October; she says that a community meeting isn’t possible with the amount of time the FCC has given. “We had to move as quickly as we could,” says Goodnow. “We did have the open meeting where a consultant came in and the community certainly could’ve come to it any time...we always have on our agenda the opportunity for public comment.” The Board of Trustees held a special board meeting on Dec. 3 to discuss the situation. The agenda meeting states, “Presentation on the mandatory, regulatory changes being dictated by the FCC, which could affect Delta College’s WDCQ-TV public broadcasting station. Per the WDCQ-TV audited financial statements of June 30, 2015, this is a complex issue.” After the Jan. deadline, the FCC will impose a mandatory quiet period to prevent collusion between participating stations. Once this period takes effect, those tasked with negotiating for their respective stations will not be able to disclose information. “We’re not avoiding the press or the media—we’ve been told ‘you can not talk about it’,” says Goodnow. “My understanding is that it will be sometime in late 2016, when the auction has concluded, when the quiet period will end.” Just because the college has decided to participate does not necessarily mean that WDCQ-TV will be sold or even go to auction. The college has until March 29 to decide what type of bid it’s going to make.
Read the rest on Page 2...
What makes you feel nostalgic? Bailey Schaefer 18, Bay City
When I watch sports on TV it reminds me of when I was younger and played them.
Carmulita Bender 37, saginaw Christmas decorating. M a k i ng C h r i st m a s cookies and past things that unwound me, and we would do with my mom and my siblings; things that we would do as kids and are carrying on those traditions.
Savannah Krupp 18, bay city Old photos or certain songs are usually what make me nostalgic. “Sunday Morning,” for example, by Maroon 5 reminds me of an old friend.
Austin Dunn 21, Saginaw I would say music. Just listening to certain music from certain time periods makes me feel nostalgic from like early childhood to early 2000s, the music in my developing years.