STEM education (sometimes broadened to STEAM with an A for Arts) is a way to combine many related disciplines — currently viewed by students and society as independent subjects with little overlap — into a single, integrated program that emphasizes the interdependences among the four disciplines and their applications to everyday life.  Radio Newark’s programming offers support and ideas for how to draw connections across disciplines.  The programming embodies STEAM education for everyone.  Story telling is an art, and Radio Newark’s “A Mind for Science” stories aspire to entertain and educate at the same time.

As a nation, we need well-educated citizens in STEM fields.  Currently, the “T” and “E” in STEM are rarely taught in K–12 settings.  Because of this, few people understand the way in which these fields benefit our society or the variety of careers that support them.  By exposing our listeners to STEM topics and the people engaged with them, Radio Newark can help to deepen everyone’s understanding of the world in which we live.

Radio Newark offers short, STEM-focused stories intended to spark the interest of general audiences.  We will partner with local schools to expose students to science communication and to provide examples of the many fields of study and possible careers that exist under the umbrella of STEM education.  Families can listen together and talk about the topics that interest them.  Our website will carry occasional blog posts that accompany some of our “A Mind for Science” stories with pictures, behind-the-scenes details, and additional resources about the topic.

–Rebecca Stewart

This post covers the Style Guide for our program format and how we got there.

A few years ago, I took stock of “what is wrong with radio,” and came up with this list:

• Block programming — the same programs at the same time every day.
• Same voices — the same people saying the same things every day.
• Same music — country, Christian, hip-hop, AC, urban, whatever…
• Choked with really crappy, locally-produced advertisements.

Sidebar — Does this sound familiar?

“We offer fast, friendly, reliable service at affordable prices.  Our friendly and knowledgeable staff is here Monday to Friday, nine until six, Saturday, ten until four, for your shopping convenience.  Quality and selection — GUARANTEED low prices — are just SOME of the things you can depend on AND TRUST from your locally-owned and operated value center.  Convenient payment plans available, some restrictions apply on limited time offer, so call, drop-in and experience the difference that service, selection, and quality makes.”  (Thank you, Gair Maxwell — yes, I bought his book.)  Radio ads in Delaware just ROT.

Sorry for the sidebar.  Back to the list:

• Bad juvenile humor.  Pick any morning show.  Hey, I’m not against juvenile humor, but when it’s predictable or rude, it’s stupid.  That’s not who I am.  You’ve lost me and most of the people I know.
• Automated, satellite-based music and hosts.  (Hurricane Sandy hits and Bill-FM is still playing “It’s a Beautiful Day.”)
• Super-narrow music playlists generated in New York, Nashville, or Los Angeles.  Yes, Delaware has LOCAL music.
• The left bashing the right, and the right bashing the left — both with their ears stopped up.
• Shows that start just after the news and end about an hour later, or three hours later.
• Same programs in the same markets all across the dial.  It’s like Subway has franchised radio.
• One hundred, three-hour baseball games in every market, every year, all across the entire country.  Come on — can’t you come up with ANYTHING better than that?
• Then there’s what we DON’T hear — medical breakthroughs, scientific achievements, new research, local organizations sponsoring local events and activities, STORIES not just news.  On and on.

Now, before the wrong people start taking this personally (like they’re really going to care what I say anyway…), you need to know that quite a bit of the above DOES NOT APPLY TO WDEL-AM.  This is the one shining ray on Delaware’s radio dial.  WDEL has a great staff, understanding executives, great support from businesses and the community, and a full complement of listeners.  Peter, Mellany, Allan, Al, Rick, and Pete (the boss) really do great radio — day in and day out.

Science Radio Station

As a SCIENCE radio station, Radio Newark takes the above programming guidelines and blows them up.  Wrecks ’em.  Breaks every rule that’s up there.

Except for the common theme of entertainment, education and inspiration, we have no single topic and no real schedule.  News at the top of the hour, and around half-past too, but there is no pattern to the programming in between.

We have no host.  At all.  Not even robotic ones.  (We hope to, soon, though, because we feel this is important.)

We don’t do block programming — we do the opposite.  Our snackable content varies in length from one or two minutes up to ten or twelve on average, but each piece is different from the next.  From a different producer, on a different topic, with a different story to tell.

And we search out every possible program of interest, from whatever network or organization it may be produced.  We have as of August 18, 2014 signed, formal and informal rebroadcast or affiliation agreements with sixty-two networks, producers, and content sources.

Our Style Guide reads like this:

• You are not likely to hear our programming on another radio station anywhere on Earth.  We are unique.
• We broadcast science stories and science news, so we many not be the radio station for you.  In fact, we’re probably aren’t.  We’re OK with that.
• Our segments are short because we’re busy.  Perhaps you’ve got the time to sit and listen to something for hours.  I don’t.  Neither do most of the people I hang out with.  We’ve got stuff going on.
• Because of all that stuff, our M-F schedules are pretty similar.  Breakfast, school, work, home, etc.  I listen to Radio Newark at about the same time every day, but I don’t want to hear the same stuff.  So we play different stuff all the time.
• Spoken word programming, because we get the other kind in different ways.  (Pandora, probably.)
• In addition to entertainment, we want to educate and inspire.  We think those are worthy goals.

This post isn’t finished, yet, but I’m going to make it public anyway.  There’s much more to say on this topic.

Steve Worden, General Manager

Fabulously Overdue Update

There is a huge HOLE in this blog where 10,000 things should go — beginning with thanksgiving for the amount of kindness, financial support, and volunteer effort that has been DONTATED to Radio Newark over these last few months.

I have been remiss in not charting our waypoints here.  Busy on other fronts, but neglecting one’s website is just wrong.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY that wrong is hereby corrected!

—Steve

FM Radio Station for Newark, Delaware

Newark, Delaware — In what seemed to be an impossibly convoluted mess, what with the government shutdown and a second-adjacent channel problem¹ that WOULD NOT GO AWAY we found a way to wedge our station into a perfectly sized window of opportunity.

¹ Radio stations must protect other radio stations on nearby frequencies.  Being in the crowded East Coast media market, this was a very challenging problem to solve.

And when I say “we” I mean an angel in the form of Doug Vernier of V-Soft Communications.

In layman’s terms, Doug is The Bomb.  He literally wrote the software that the broadcast industry uses to solve overcrowded frequency problems like ours.

Doug personally performed the engineering needed, provided charts and tables and diagrams and a summary page of notes sure to bring tears to the eyes of the FCC reviewer.  (It certainly brought tears to mine.)
There were some REAL SURPRISES along the way (trust me), but in the end, we got ‘er done.  The engineering is perfect and our application status is “FILED.”  It’s in the hands of the FCC now.