WFCR to expand in Springfield

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on July 04, 2008

Construction will start Monday on a new WFCR studio in the Springfield building that houses television channel WGBY/57, a change the radio station expects will bring expanded programming and new listeners.

WFCR, at 88.5 on the FM dial, will keep its main studio on the University of Massachusetts campus. The new Springfield studio will enable the station to cover Hampden County better, and may spark more collaboration between the region's two public broadcasting outlets, said Martin Miller, WFCR's general manager.

"Having those facilities will allow us to do more programming, and listeners will notice the difference," he said. "And that's the point of this, not just to have a new place but to have production facilities to do programming."

An estimated 45 percent of WFCR's listeners live in Hampden County or Connecticut.

The original plan was for a new WFCR building near UMass, but the money didn't materialize, Miller said. The new plan is to renovate the longtime WFCR space in Hampshire House on the campus and to build the new Springfield studio.

"We need more space to do our production work and fulfill our mission to the community," Miller said.

WFCR will lease 1,145 square feet on the second floor of the WGBY building, starting around October. There will be a fully equipped control room, a studio large enough for interviews, and space for two staff members and two interns, Miller said.

"Our goal for next year is to have at least one reporter in Springfield every day," he said.

The station plans to hire a Spanish-speaking reporter for the Springfield bureau, Miller said. WFCR is also planning a pilot for a daily or weekly news-culture-public affairs show this fall, he said.

The two public broadcasting stations have already collaborated in a training project for Latino youth from Springfield and Holyoke and on the "My Source" branding and outreach campaign. A WFCR news reporter hosts a talk show that appears on Channel 57.

In the future, there could be more collaboration. "Just being there will open the dialogue some more on things we're planning on doing," Miller said.

"With WFCR's new Springfield studio, our organizations will be able to take these public media partnerships to a whole new level of service," said Russell Peotter, WGBY's vice president and general manager, in a press release.

WFCR has undertaken a $4 million capital campaign to pay for these and other improvements. So far, it has raised about $1.3 million, chiefly from UMass and the local colleges, Miller said.

In the last year, WFCR has added listeners through programming on WNNZ (640AM), its digital station WFCR HD-2, and five translators in Berkshire County.

Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe@gazettenet.com.