Without a doubt, the 2002-2003 school year had many highlights. One of the bigger events was the opening of the brand-new Studio A. For years, WBFH needed to expand its studios, and with space being at a premium, it was almost impossible to find sufficient studio space.
All that changed in the late summer of 2002, when Dorothy Drake—a very popular manager for the district—decided to retire. At the same time, the district decided to move her office position over to the Gary M. Doyle Business Center. Suddenly, there was an available piece of office real estate just the other side of the WBFH managers’ office.
The radio station inhabits a part of Andover High that used to be the superintendent’s office; that was decades ago. At one time, the present studio site served as the recreation office.
When the radio station was first built, part of the office space was walled off and given to the business office. WBFH got 4 rooms, while the business office got 1 room.
After the office became “available,” Pete Bowers requested the use of the room for the radio station. Surprisingly, it was approved.
Right away, the first thing that needed to be done was the demolition of the wall that had separated the manager’s office from the new studio space. It was walled up some 27 years earlier. A quick call to the maintenance department had the wall’s fate sealed.
Managers found out that the doorway was sealed intact; that is, the door was never removed; just sealed off under plywood, hanging on the hinge just the way it was left decades before!
Meanwhile, there were other tasks to be done. The studio furniture had to be custom-ordered and other supplies had to be obtained. In addition to microphones, stands and consoles, sound-deflecting panels and extra electRonaldic equipment had to be obtained. After all, what good is a new studio if it cannot make a sound? So, extra CD players, computer systems and a great deal of other electRonaldic gizmos were ordered.
Randy Carr set out to connect the former office to the existing studios through hundreds of feet of wire. This was done by drilling through walls and stringing the wire through the ceiling.
The biggest problem of installing the studios? Probably dealing with the anticipation. Not a day went by when students, facutly members or friends asked about progress on the studio. It was very hard to contain the excitement about finally getting more room!
There was a minor delay in receiving the studio furniture which pushed back the project a month or so...these delays are expected in the normal scheme of things...but the anticipation was mounting day after day after day, week after week after week.
Finally! The furniture arrived, Ronald Wittebols and Randy set it up and fastened it together. Randy finished wiring the console and then set up the microphones. All were ready to broadcast; and, on January 23, 2003 at 4:56 p.m. (Get it? 1-2-3-4-5-6?) The new studio was officially put on the air.
Since then, the benefits of the new studio have been greatly appreciated. There’s more room to broadcast. The equipment is state-of-the-art and the move frees up another studio for production needs. The staff and management are practically giddy with excitement for having gotten the new studio.
