When Rick Dirck became Portsmouth Community Radio’s program director two years ago, the first thing he did was conduct an “ad hoc” survey in the city. He wanted to find out who was listening, what they were listening to, and what they liked — or didn’t like — about the station.
Instead, he found that “most people did not know who we were,” Dirck says. And, if they did know about the station, “they had mixed reviews.”
The volunteer-run, “people-powered” radio station, which broadcasts as WSCA at 106.1 FM, marked its 10th anniversary in September 2014. As the station enters its second decade, Dirck and other volunteers are working to revitalize the station in ways both large and small. WSCA’s studios, located at 909 Islington St., are in the midst of a major renovation, and earlier this month, the station received Federal Communications Commission approval to erect a new radio tower in Newington that will improve the station’s low-power FM signal.
Other changes are on tap, too, including a renewed emphasis on digital streaming, podcasting, and local public affairs programming. It’s not just a matter of making the station better — it’s a matter of surviving in a field that’s in flux, where satellite radio, streaming services, and commercial radio conglomerates can crowd out local voices.
“We really had to answer (the question), how are people listening today? Because it’s been changing ever since the station started 10 years ago,” Dirck says.
“We want to make the place feel more available for people doing creative things.” — Rick Pickford, WSCA board chair
Raising a station
WSCA went on the air on Sept. 12, 2004, following a three-day “barn raising,” during which volunteers and members of the Prometheus Radio Project, a nonprofit that advocates for community radio stations, erected an antenna, set up the studio, and started broadcasting. This was four years after the FCC established low-power FM stations as a new radio station classification. Low-power stations operate at levels under 100 watts, unlike commercial stations, which transmit at 100 watts or more. Since then, the FCC has issued licenses for 1,415 low-power FM stations across the country, according to an FCC database. WSCA is one of two low-power FM stations in the Seacoast — Dover-based WXGR broadcasts at 103.5 FM.
In the decade that followed WSCA’s launch, the station grew, according to Rick Pickford, chair of the station’s board of trustees. But problems began to pile up. The station’s audience was waning. “When you’d talk to folks around town, the people who you’d think would be listening just weren’t,” Pickford says.
Meanwhile, WNBP, a commercial radio station based in Newburyport, Mass., began broadcasting on 106.1 FM. That caused interference with WSCA’s signal, and because FCC regulations favor commercial stations over low-power FM stations, it meant that WSCA had to find a way to fix the problem.
“Our reach had gotten so bad that we were only a downtown Portsmouth station,” Pickford says. “But really, Portsmouth can extend to Greenland or Kittery or Dover. Everything within two towns of Great Bay has a Portsmouth frame of mind.”
Rick Dirck (second from right) and other WSCA volunteers assemble the station’s new radio tower in May. The tower will soon be erected in Newington, expanding the station’s reach.
Signal boost
Pickford joined the station’s board two years ago. He says he and Dirck and other volunteers have been working on revitalizing the station. The first step was building a new antenna, which Pickford says took a combined effort from volunteers, sponsors, and Portsmouth officials to work out. The new antenna is on a temporary mount on Bean Hill in Newington; Portsmouth owns the property and it’s the location of one of the city’s water tanks.
“It’s allowed us to move our signal two miles inland, so our coverage of Durham, Somersworth, and Dover increases,” Pickford says. He expects the antenna project to be completed some time in December.
That’s also when renovations should wrap up on the station’s studio and office space in the West End. Walk through there now and you’ll see boxes of records and CDs and piles of lumber and building supplies stacked here and there. The project started last summer.
“It’s all volunteer work. People come in a couple hours at night or they’re here on the weekends,” he says.
When the work is finished, though, the station will look drastically different. One major change is the addition of a 55-seat theater, located in the middle of the space. WSCA has always hosted live performances by local musicians and artists — three of the station’s shows, “Audio Theater,” “Writers in the Round,” and “True Tales Radio,” regularly feature live performances. Now, Pickford says, the idea is to create a space for listeners to come in and watch the show.
“We want to make the place feel more available for people doing creative things,” he says.
The renovation also includes transforming the former music library into a space for audio editing and podcasting. The station has partnered with Public Radio Exchange, a nonprofit that distributes independent radio programming, to share content. In the future, you could listen to a live performance on WSCA in the studio, on the radio, or on a digital stream, or listen later when it’s released as a podcast.
Local first
One of the station’s most important assets is its local public affairs programs, Pickford says. Shows like “Seacoast Currents,” hosted by Kathy Somssich and Larry Drake, and “Don’t Dis My Ability,” hosted by Ronnie Tomanio, Pamela Sollenberger, and Lee Harvey, make WSCA a truly local radio station, Pickford says. “Don’t Dis My Ability” is a program for and about people with disabilities.
“You’d be hard pressed to find another station that’s broadcasting a show about people with disabilities and not have it be just a room full of doctors. That’s original stuff, and it’s not the kind of thing broadcast radio stations can put on,” he says.
Like any nonprofit community organization, WSCA also faces the usual funding challenges. Donations have helped cover the new antenna and station renovations, but Pickford says the next project is to increase the number of station members and underwriters, who will in turn provide the funding WSCA needs to keep growing.
“When you’re a low-power FM station with a limited broadcast reach, if you don’t want to be totally beholden to one organization funding you … how do you keep that going?” he says.
The last year’s worth of efforts are already paying off, according to Pickford. He’s got plenty of anecdotes about strangers around Portsmouth who, unprompted, have told him that WSCA is one of their favorite radio stations. It’s a big change from Dirck’s informal surveys two years ago.
“We’re this little community radio station that has this boundless creative energy,” Pickford says. “I think there’s vast potential there.”