WNRL-LP, Indiana Historic Radio Museum

Thanks to: the [Stubblefield] e-mail list & pete tridish at http://prometheusradio.org/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: pete tridish
Date: 2009/11/25
Subject: [Stubblefield] Indiana Historic Radio Museum
To: stubblefield@xxxx.prometheusradio.org


In doing a bit of research for the upcoming work on the Senate bill,  I learned of the passing of  Fred Schultz. Fred  and his daughter Marcella started the Indiana Historic Radio Museum, and WNRL-LP. Marcella had  passed away a few years before.  This father-daughter team were one of my greatest inspirations in low power radio.

WNRL-LP is  a lovely radio station that was founded by the one room museum of radios in ligonier indiana. They put the actual studio in the local high school a few hours away.  Fred was a retired state trooper with a wry sense of humor, amazing stamina and an incredible love for old fashioned radios.  Marcella was a pitbull of an activist and all around go-getter who was  more or less singlehandedly responsible for forcing the FCC to act on the "appendix B applications," which were eligible for LPFMs under the original rules but cut out by Congress.  After calling non-stop to her Senator, Evan Bayh, and educating the staff on the issue, Bayhs office took an interest and followed up with the FCC to insist that they process the Appendix B applications and give them an opportunity to modify their applications. WNRL- LP and dozens of other stations were eventually granted as a result of her tenacity.

For people that think low power radio is just a bunch of radicals, check out this youtube video of WNRL and see what community radio is like in a small town in Northeast Indiana... The beauty of low power radio is that it reflects the people of a place, and the people who start stations are often people who just love their communities.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7flOYzr2YM

The station seems to have survived the transition well, and is now owned by the school district of West Noble, Indiana. They are webcasting now, and seem to have a lot of  high school students and some community members involved. And the schedule says that they still have some old-time radio on the air...

thanks,
pete tridish