BEACH DENIES WOFM REQUEST TO BUILD TOWER SUPPORTERS, STAFF PLEADED FOR SITE TO BOOST POWER

Published: Tuesday, May 15, 1990
Section: LOCAL , page D1
Correction appears at end of story
Source: By Roberta Thisdell, Staff writer

© 1990 Landmark Communications Inc.

A struggling alternative radio station hit a sour note in its quest for power Monday when City Council denied its request to build a 400-foot tower in rural Pungo.

``I feel kind of empty right now,'' WOFM-92 co-owner Jim Hunt said after the vote. ``I feel like we gave it our best shot. The people have spoken. We may not like it, but hallelujah for the system.'

WOFM-92 staffers spent two months rallying their listeners in a ``Power to the Tower'' campaign, urging them to make their voices known in the plan to boost the station's signal from a weak 3,000 watts to 25,000 watts.

On Monday, City Council chambers was filled with an array of supporters as eclectic as the music that the Chesapeake-based station offers. There were teenagers getting their first look at city government and musicians and station staffers.

``Contemplate what would bring so many uncomfortably dressed young people out,'' said Richard Grimes, a 23-year-old Tidewater Community College student. ``This station is something we take pride in.''

``You look very handsome today,'' Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf replied.

The Council responded with a 9-1 vote against the request, with Councilman John A. Baum asking that it be delayed for further study. Oberndorf abstained, citing her part-time job as co-host of a WNIS-AM talk show as a conflict of interest.

To listeners, it was a battle for artistic freedom. For council members, it was one more tower being built where residents did not want one.

``This is obviously a very good station,'' Council member Barbara M. Henley said. ``Obviously, it needs a tower. Obviously, the station has a number of very fine listeners. I can appreciate all these points. The issue is a land-use issue, and whether this is the right site for the tower.''

Frederick Quayle, WOFM-92 attorney, said that at 3,000 watts, the station does not reach much of Hampton Roads and therefore cannot compete for advertisers.

All other stations have 50,000 watts, and two operate with 100,0000 watts.

As a result of Federal Communications Commissions requirements regulating the placement of a tower, the single best site left for WOFM was on Gum Spring Road near Pungo, Quayle argued.

WOFM fans took the Power to the Tower request personally. Oberndorf's office received more than 300 letters supporting the station, and the Council was presented with petitions bearing about 14,600 names.

A group of those listeners waited for five hours, through council discussion of Laborfest, budgets and a new discount store. When it came time to be heard, they spoke out.

Michael Rau, a board member of the Natchel' Blues Network, a group that promotes local blues music, said: ``This is a tremendous artistic asset to the city, and by denying the permit you'll drive them out of business.''

Regina Jones, who lives across from the proposed site, had more practical concerns. The tower, she said, would be ugly, and would cause her property values to drop.

``Instead of a land-use issue, this has become a battle for a rock station,'' Jones said. ``I assure you, no matter what kind of station it would be, we would oppose it.''

Cecil Nichols, a NASA engineer, rolled out statistics linking various cancers and the presence of high-wattage FM radio towers. ``There are too many connections between the incidence of brain tumors and FM radio towers to dismiss it,'' he said.

Correction: *****************************************************************

A story Tuesday on the Virginia Beach City Council's refusal to grant radio station WOFM a permit for a transmitting tower in Pungo erroneously reported that Blackwater Borough Councilman John A. Baum asked the council to delay a vote for further study. The request was made by Bayside Councilman John L. Perry. Correction published Thursday, May 17, 1990. *****************************************************************