WRFA Celebrates 5 Years

WRFA-LP is celebrating its 5th year of being on the air in Jamestown today. Station Manager Dennis Drew is celebrating by being live on the air under the Reg Lenna Studio marquee on East Third Street in downtown Jamestown. He's pictured here with Mayor Teresi, who presented a proclamation declaring it "WRFA Day" in the city.

I love that I've been a part of this station from just about the very beginning. In April 2004, when I saw an article about the Arts Council wanting to start a community radio station, I went in and asked how I could help. At those beginning meetings, we talked about content, looked over sources of free radio content, talked about fundraising, and laughed. One of my favorite moments is when Steve Shulman and Dennis Drew started joking about having a morning show like feature called "Snooze Button" where we could jolt listeners awake every nine minutes with some loud music before going back to something more soothing. It's one idea that has materialized, at least in name, to lead into morning programming on the station.

Three years later, I decided to make the switch from reading news for a commercial station to doing it for a non-commercial station.. I couldn't be happier. It's a great group of people who volunteer their time to the station who are led by a couple easy going guys who truly love radio. That's the best part of it. We're all in it, and doing it for nothing in most cases, because we love radio and this community. So congratulations WRFA! May there be many more years of Radio For The Arts in Jamestown.