A Roxbury police car plays 91.3FM on its speakers outside the WIOX FM headquarters during the radio station's grand opening last August. Photo by Julia Reischel.
In the 10 months since it launched, WIOX 91.3 FM, a full-power radio station, has been the pride and joy of the little town of Roxbury. But although the town owns the station, houses its equipment, and fronts it money for its operating costs, the town’s leaders don't have much say in how it is run.
According to a Catskill Mountain News article, town councilor Allen Hinkley raised concerns about oversight of the radio station at a Roxbury town board meeting on Monday:
“There's stuff in the highway department. The transmitter. All of the equipment that operates that radio station is town insured. It’s actually officially owned by the town. It’s been kind of loose and free and originally it was donated equipment. I don’t want to see us getting into trouble with the comptroller’s office because we’re not following procedures and stuff.”
It’s not surprising that Hinkley raised questions -- that night, the town board voted to approve a $55,000 payment to the radio station.
That rather large chunk of money came out of the town’s coffers, but the town will be reimbursed for it out of a $129,712 grant awarded last year to the radio station from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
“The town doesn’t give WIOX any money,” Joe Piasek, the radio station’s consulting manager, told the Watershed Post yesterday. “The grant is a reimbursement-based grant. The town doesn’t pay for anything -- it only floats half of [the station’s expenses] until it is reimbursed, which is about a 30-day turnaround.”
The grant has been matched by funds raised by the station, Piasek said. It pays for equipment and $500-per-month stipends for four WIOX management staff members: an office manager, a production manager, an operations manager and a business manager.
Piasek, who oversees the management team as the station’s management consultant, does not receive money for his work, he said.
“My donation has been two years of consistent work and developing the station at no cost,” he said.
Dozens of volunteers donate their time to the station as hosts and on-air talent. Some of them have a say in the station’s management by serving on a managing committee.
Several other committees also oversee WIOX. Piasek serves on the board of the Greater Roxbury Learning Initiative Corporation (GRLIC), a local nonprofit foundation which, he said, maintains a radio committee that oversees WIOX's “funding and operations.”
Representatives from the MARK Project, the Roxbury Arts Group, and the town of Roxbury have seats on a separate station advisory committee, Piasek said. He added that town councilors have yet to participate in that advisory committee.
Despite the fact that the town owns WIOX, there is no contract between the town and the radio station, according to town attorney Kevin Young. Instead, Young explained, the town has a contractual relationship with the Appalachian Regional Commission through the grant.
“ We have obligations under that grant to make sure that the money is spent appropriately," Young said. "And what the one board member was suggesting is that we may need more due diligence just to make sure that the money is being spent appropriately."
Young said that he was looking into making a contract between the town and the station.
"As the grant fades out, we need to make sure that [the station] is self-sufficient,” he said.
Hinkley told the Watershed Post that he is a big supporter of WIOX, and that his suggestion at the meeting was not intended as criticism.
"We weren’t at all criticizing," he said. "I think we were just making sure that everything is set up the way it should be in the event that there’s a problem down the road. We’ve had the radio station for a year now, and it has evolved a lot since it was first launched last year. We’re all very proud of how it’s worked out and where it’s gone. With all that, as things grow, they get bigger, and you have to review [them]."
Full disclosure: The Watershed Post is currently working on some potential partnership ideas with WIOX, and we're hoping to collaborate with the station on ways to bring more coverage of news and events to the region. --Ed.
