I am the Operations Manager for one of the best college radio stations in America! 90.5 WERG, at Gannon University in Erie, PA.
We play Alternative Rock during the week with Super Soul Saturday and community programming to round-out the weekend. Gannon students are placed in charge of day-to-day operations: such as executing airshifts, scheduling program logs, compiling and reading newscasts, maintaining the station website, planning and running promotions, recording promos and PSA's, and all the other duties that make-up a successful broadcast operation.
On the administrative side, my responsibilities include developing and executing successful budget plans each fiscal year; integrating station operations and programming with a marketing focus on the university and the community at-large, while also teaching and delegating responsibilities to this end; accruing supplementary funding through contributions and grant applications; attending and speaking at broadcasting conferences; and the myriad other legal and institutional duties that crop-up daily.
In 2005 I implemented our move up the dial to 90.5-FM, culminating a decade-long capital improvement effort. The new antenna location effectively quadrupled station reception in the tri-state region.
In 2008 and 2009 I secured the necessary funding to augment two major technical improvements to WERG: the purchase of a WheatStone D7512 studio audio console, and the transition to Google Radio Automation Systems (now WideOrbit) master control system. These enhancements have significantly increased the quality of our technical sound and continue to enable our students to gain practical experience with industry-standard equipment.
90.5 WERG moved into our new home in the Center for Communication and the Arts in 2014, the same time the station and our students were becoming nationally-known for content creation.
Affiliations with Erie News Now and NBC NewsRadio, starting in 2019, have augmented the journalism component of our program as students now have access to the resources of bona fide news operations.
In 2022, $30,000 in gifts and grants were utilized to enhance 90.5 WERG's technical infrastructure: new computer control systems from Wide Orbit, a GatesAir studio-transmitter link, and an Omnia Volt audio processor.
Specialties:
• Planning, executing, and achieving strategic and tactical budgetary goals;
• Digital editing (proficient in SoundForge and Adobe Audition);
• Utilization of scheduling software (Selector and PowerGold);
• Programming and maintenance of studio computer systems (DigiLink, AudioVault and Google Air/WideOrbit Automation);
• Fluency with FCC broadcast law and procedures;
• Leading a student and volunteer airstaff of approximately sixty (60) individuals
In 2014, 90.5 WERG was named Best College Station in the Nation, and presented with the Abraham & Borst Award from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System.
WERG's two-fold mission has always been to 1) serve the Gannon and Erie communities with diverse alternative programming choices; and 2) serve as a learning laboratory with station structure and operation as consistent as possible to the operation of a professional radio station.
I met my wife, Elisa, at the Gannon Christmas party in 2006; she is a professor in Gannon's biology department. We enjoy traveling, science fiction, and baseball.
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