Westfield Media Systems Specialist Peter Cowles in the studio at Westfield Technical Academy.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
WESTFIELD — A new FM radio station is coming to Westfield. Westfield programming at WSKB is moving to WSFD-LP at 107.5 FM at the beginning of July.
Westfield Media Specialist Peter Cowles said in late 2023, the Federal Communications Commission opened a one-month filing period for a low power FM station for the first time in a decade. Cowles received permission from Mayor Mike McCabe to apply as a public safety entity and jumped on it, he said. Westfield was one of two applicants out of eight that were selected.
Cowles said Westfield had an original partnership with the Westfield State University student station WSKB, but the students at the university have been wanting it back.
WSFD will be city-owned, with students at Westfield Technical Academy, where the studio is located, as the primary technicians on the station. He said it will also be open to the community at large for programming. The city is licensed with all three businesses, ASCAP, BMI and CESAC to play music. The station will also broadcast all emergency alerts in the city.
On May 12, the Finance Committee voted to recommend a transfer of $20,222 from the PEG Undesignated fiscal year 2025 account to the PEG Additional/Capital Equipment Account to purchase equipment for the station to finish off a 300 watt transmitter chain for the emergency Services alarm system. Cowles said they already have the computer, audio board and mics.
Information Technology Manager Lenore Bernashe was able to get additional savings from Westfield Gas & Electric, who will increase the 80-foot tower located at the Water Department by adding 20 feet. Cowles said there are public safety receivers on it now that were put in six to seven years ago, and have a good range.
Cowles said the 100-watt LPV station will reach Springfield and Northampton. “That’s why this site was perfect, and it’s backed up on a mountain in Granby,” he said, adding that they will transition over on July 1 when the work is done.
The new station is only one of the changes going on in the studio.
On April 14, the City Council approved an expenditure of $296,915 from the PEG Undesignated Account, which is an enterprise fund, for a Mobile Sprinter Van. The van will cost $80,000 with $217,000 for customization and equipment including a 40-foot mast and camera, and will be used as a mobile television unit, able to cover city meetings and sporting events, and also able to be used as a short-term mobile command post as needed by the Police Department.
Also in the works is a Chapter 74 certification for digital media, formerly called television and radio, as another career technical education program under graphic arts at WTA. “I think it’s a huge advantage for the program,” Cowles said. He said students will be able to run the radio programming and staff the vehicle, with a lot of opportunities to use the equipment and to train.
He said they are presently rewriting the frameworks for the program. The school will be meeting with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in the next two weeks for the final word on Chapter 74, and have already toured the television station at WTA and made suggestions. Cowles said all in all they were impressed by the setup at the school. “I can’t believe what you did in such a small space — that’s a quote from DESE,” he said.
He said next year when the students return to school, the radio station WSFD will be up and running, and the mobile production unit will be on its way. “A lot of changes happening all at once,” Cowles said.
