Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Unwanted radio keeps on playing

I wrote this paper two years ago concerning radio frequency interference emanating from the tower on Swanson Road near Tyrone. The problem first started in October 2001 when WHTA 107.9 began broadcasting from the tower, and amazingly the problem continues two years later despite a “commitment” from the culprits to rectify the situation.

What this means is that our community, schools on Jenkins Road, churches and a daycare center have continued to hear unwanted intrusions of radio broadcasts onto home and school computers, televisions, radios, telephones and other electrical devices.

To make matters worse, the station chooses to play music with suggestive and violent lyrics, and allows their disc jockeys to engage in similar conversations and dialogue. I respect free speech, but their right to broadcast ends when I cannot turn it off my electronics or when my kids are hearing suggestive condom ads when trying to do their homework on the computer.

I think the station should be careful given the recent fines handed down by the FCC; and yes, the FCC should be held accountable as well.

Parents of students at Burch, Flat Rock, and Sandy Creek, beware: Several weeks ago during a children’s reading event at Burch, the PA system was turned on and the station could be heard plainly through the speakers.

Who knows what the kids are hearing during the school day? Who knows if the electronics at Patriot Hall (being built at Sandy Creek) will be affected as well? So far, electronic filters and shields and even their attempt at raising the signal off our houses by raising the tower have so far not done anything to solve the problem. In some cases it is even worse.

Thanks to the Fayette zoning board variance vote, we now have an even taller tower that is an even bigger eyesore and has not solved a thing. Oh, and by the way, our subdivision pre-dates the tower.

So now we are only getting lip service from WHTA. We have in some instances been offered “buy-outs” on some electronics. This ploy only serves to pacify us for a short term. Even if we could find alternate electronic devices that were somehow immune to the effects of the interference, WHTA is only liable for problems one year from the date of any changes to their broadcast pattern. Therefore any problems encountered after September of this year are no longer their problem.

The bottom line is this: We are once again petitioning the FCC in order to file another formal complaint and are expecting WHTA and their parent company Radio One to make a definitive move.

IF they are “committed” to helping us, then they will solve the problem. I would hope they would not hide behind what the FCC allows them to do. We have already been threatened by their engineer that “many communities have to live with this problem.”

We say otherwise: WHTA and Radio One, do the right thing. Do what is right by people even if it means moving off the tower and relocating. I cannot believe you would continue to subject us and in particular, children, to these unwanted intrusions.

Fayette Board of Education, are you doing everything you can in this instance to protect our children and maintain a safe learning environment? Please do not settle for Band-Aid solutions.

Wes Wilkins

Tyrone, Ga.