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Empowering Youth Through FM Radio

Youth--Operating Community College FM Station in MS River Delta at Coahoma Community College

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Empowering Youth Through FM Radio

Empowering Youth Through FM Radio

Empowering Youth Through FM Radio

Empowering Youth Through FM Radio

Empowering Youth Through FM Radio

Youth--Operating Community College FM Station in MS River Delta at Coahoma Community College

Youth--Operating Community College FM Station in MS River Delta at Coahoma Community College

Youth--Operating Community College FM Station in MS River Delta at Coahoma Community College

Youth--Operating Community College FM Station in MS River Delta at Coahoma Community College

Sen. Robert L. Jackson
Sen. Robert L. Jackson
Sen. Robert L. Jackson
Sen. Robert L. Jackson
2 Campaigns |
Clarksdale, United States
$100 USD 1 backers
0% of $100,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Highlights
Mountain Filled 2 Projects Mountain Filled 2 Projects

Student based 50KW Community Radio Station WCQC 

“The New Power of the Mississippi Delta”

In a classroom setting students will gain the tools to operate and manage a
student-based radio station located on the campus of Coahoma Community College, a historically African-American college in the impoverished
Mississippi Delta.

Photo Credit: Larry Binz

B.B. King visits Clarksdale, MS. The young man on the right is Omar Gordon. Omar is a graduate of The Delta Blues Museum's after-school music program. Today Omar has used his love for music as a young guitarist, entertainer and teacher in the Delta. 

"B.B. King has always been one of my music idols. His music has always been special to me.I remember as a youth growing up that my grandfather had an old acoustic guitar and he would sing the blues...One of the great ambassadors of the state of Mississippi, will be 89 in September.", Jimmie E. Gates, "The Clarion-Ledger." July 2014 

Who we are

Coahoma Community Collegeis located inCoahoma County, in theU.S., StateofMississippi, approximately four miles north of the city of Clarksdale. The 99-acre campus lies in an agrarian setting along Clarksdale-Friars Point Road near theMississippi River. Establishing Coahoma County Agricultural High School in 1924, Coahoma County became the first county in Mississippi to provide an agricultural high school for African-Americans under the then existing “separate but equal” doctrine for education. The junior college curriculum was added in 1949, and the name of the institution was changed to Coahoma Junior College and Agricultural High School. In the spring of 1995, after many years of not having an official district, a bill was introduced into and passed by the Mississippi Legislature and signed by the governor granting Coahoma Community College a district. Effective July 1, 1995, the Coahoma Community College district included Bolivar, Coahoma, Quitman, Tallahatchie, and Tunica Counties.

Radio and Television

Coahoma Community College currently offers an associate’s degree in Radio and Film. Operating and managing a radio station will be integrated into this curriculum. The Radio and Film sequence is a program that focuses on the theories, methods, and techniques used to plan, produce, and distribute audio and video programs and messages. It also prepares individuals to function as staff, which may include producers, directors, and managers of radio and television shows and media organizations:  includes instruction in media aesthetics, planning, scheduling, and production, writing and editing, performing and directing, personnel and facilities management, marketing and distribution; media regulations, law, and policy; and principles of broadcast technology. Operating an on-campus station will give students hands-on experience which will give them a better opportunity for employment.

If we are successful in raising the needed funds necessary to get the initial engineering and other planning work done, the on-campus station will be operational by fall semester 2015.  We need your help to raise the initial planning money to do the groundwork to bring this economic development project and educational tool to fruition.

During the past 10 years, we have witnessed the demise and disappearance of local community radio stations. They have been replaced by syndicated content from outside the market or formulaic approaches that do not serve the interests of the community for which they hold a license. The {Radio and Television coursework} will enable students of the Mississippi Delta to have more chances for better employment.


Students will learn do the following:

·  Present music, news, sports, weather, the time, and commercials

·  Interview guests and moderate panels or discussions on their shows

·  Announce station programming information, such as program schedules and station breaks for commercials, and public service announcement (PSA) information

·  Research topics for comments and discussion during shows

·  Read prepared scripts on radio or television shows

·  Comment on important news stories

·  Provide commentary for the audience during sporting events, parades and on other occasions

·  Select program content

·  Make promotional appearances at public and private events

·  Experience working with Radio and television announcers with a variety of studio equipment.

The Impact

In a June 8, 2013, article in The Economist, “Scratching a living; A shocking rate of depopulation in the rural South”, David Jordan, a state senator from neighboring Greenwood said, “In the long run, education must improve dramatically for the Delta to regain its footing. But struggling Delta counties and cities, with small tax bases, find it hard to raise money for schools. Mississippi spends less per student on education than all but four other states.”

It has a law, he said, that directs extra funds to schools in poor counties, but has not complied with it, shortchanging the neediest spots by a billion dollars over the past four years. In all the states of the region and at the federal level, Mississippi budgets for education and development have been getting skimpier.

According to the Bureau and Labor Statistics in 2013 job prospects for radio announcers have improved within the past 10 years.


Quick Facts: Announcers

2012 Median Pay

$27,750 per year
$13.34 per hour

Entry-Level Education

Yes

Work Experience in a Related Occupation

None

On-the-job Training

Yes

Number of Jobs, 2012

52,000

Job Outlook, 2012-22

25%

Why do we need funding?

Funding requested will help us to cover the costs of applying for a full time 5-year FM radio license, as well as the hiring of technicians and installing the FM equipment at the College. The FCC has reserved call letters WCQC for the station.

Coined the Home of the Blues, Coahoma County is rich in musical history. The famous “Crossroads”, presumed to be the place where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to get famous playing the blues is located in Clarksdale. We know there are many passionate young individuals out there who want to get involved with radio and we want to give them access to a radio school, provide them with training and allow them access to broadcast their own radio show. Many, who are international, who have visited the Mississippi Delta, lovers of the blues, can help to preserve this genre of music. This is your opportunity to help promote and increase its popularity in the world of music.


Creating and maintaining a new Radio station is a costly venture. The following is an estimate of what the FCC approves for costs. 

Production Control Room and Associated Studio (Radio)

QTY

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

1

Analog or digital audio console

$36,000

1

Non-linear editing system

30,000

4

Speakers

2,000

2

Monitor amplifiers

1,000

2

Audio limiters @ $600

1,200

6

Microphones with stands

2,000

2

Broadcast quality CD players

2,000

2

Direct-drive turntables @ $750

1,500

2

Stereo turntable preamps @ $395

790

2

Turntable arms @ $120

240

2

Stereo cartridges for turntables @ $50

100

1

Custom cabinet for audio console and turntables

6,000

1

6' equipment rack with side panels

1,500

4

Jack panels w/cords

4,800

2

Headphones @ $150

300

1 lot

Miscellaneous wire, ground strap, and installation materials

5,000

1 lot

Labor for installation of production control room

10,000

TOTAL     $104,430.00

Cell Tower Lease

In addition to campus Control Room expenses, we will need to lease space on a nearby radio tower. The average cell tower rent averages between $19,000 per year ($1,583/month) and $36,000 per year ($3,000/month).

What happens if we don't reach our target?

We have set a fixed funding goal. If we do not reach our funding goal, we won’t be able to expand our project further, due to the high costs involved in applying and installation of such equipment.  Going forward once installed won’t be as difficult, but getting started is the hardest to do.

Ways you can help

We would be more than appreciative of your financial help, but would also be delighted if you will help us spread the word about our new and exciting project!  We need to raise at least $100,000. All funds raised will go towards this project, ANY amount will help.  In today's world we need to learn to work together on a community basis to make a better place for all, especially our children.  Our community has started that work and this locally based radio station will help us continue and expand on that goal.

Other Ways You Can Help

The best way to help is to tell others about this exciting project. Share our story.

Your Contributions are Tax Deductible

The Quitman County Development Organization (QCDO), 501 (c)(3), has been a persistent force for the well-being of children and families in the Mississippi Delta by offering financial services that have led to increased saving among local citizens and the creation of businesses that feed the local economy, provide jobs and sustain area residents through education and economic development.

Why we care

The Mississippi Delta is known as the poorest corner of the poorest state in America. And what little economic opportunity the region does hold is just a few factory closures away from collapse, reports the BBC's Paul Adams.

With Coahoma Community College’s radio station, we believe we can give students tools and skills to express their ideas, giving them a springboard to a world of wider opportunities. In the Delta, the means to that end is radio. It is the technology that is most popular and accessible. 

Teaming up with CCC and Quitman County Development Organization, we believe we can Empower Youth Through FM Radio, by providing the necessary training, expertise, and support to ensure that the school’s station is successful for students and teachers. It will encourage them to participate, learn, share, and engage in a new career path. Working closely with a variety of partners, WQQC will be a well-designed youth media project that will, through the immediacy of gainful employment, will confer a college degree to teach them about other paths and possibilities, other than poverty. 

As we seek to inspire students of the Mississippi Delta we need your help. 

The Mississippi Delta has long been a byword for hard times. The region is the home of the blues, and it has never quite managed to shake off its reputation as a place of misery, poverty and racial inequality. Today, Nationwide, 14.3% of Americans lived in poverty in 2009. In some counties in the Delta, it was 48%.

As the poorest region of the poorest state, the Delta illustrates the huge income disparity in the world's richest nation. The region is historically considered to be one of the most economically and educationally deprived areas of the nation. Only 61.6 percent of adults in the region have a high school diploma, compared to 80.4 percent nationwide. Adults in Mississippi have the highest rate of low literacy in the nation, with 30 percent scoring as "Level 1" on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 2003. Level 1 literacy is generally defined as less than fifth-grade reading and comprehension skills. Giving these students the opportunities will drastically help to reduce those percentages.

According to Kids Count, in my district alone, Congressional District 2, 30,000 persons 18-24 live in poverty, that’s 47 percent of youth.  Yet the area is rich in Music, History and Culture. The Delta is the birthplace of the Blues, arguably America’s first art form. Dr. Edgar Smith, an African American who grew up in a juke joint community, ultimately became the Provost of the University of Massachusetts system because he was given a chance.  We want to give our students that chance.


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Choose your Perk

Bronze Level Support

$100 USD
Free T-Shirt---Specially designed T-Shirt to commemorate this historic and momentous event. "I helped build WCQC FM 91.3 at CCC"
0 out of 250 of claimed

Silver Level Support

$500 USD
Promote your Country/Locale ----When a person or entity donates $500 or more, the radio station, once up and operational, will produce a 30 minute program to promote your particular country, state or locale on-the-air and invite you to call in for an on-the-air interview.
0 out of 50 of claimed

Gold Level Support

$1,000 USD
You will receive an 8 x 10 sized gold plaque to be installed and exhibited on the Wall of Supporters in the lobby of the radio station on Coahoma Community College Campus in Clarksdale Mississippi as a supporter who helped launch this historic Delta Blues/Religious station. Additionally you will receive the Silver level support gift as well.
0 out of 25 of claimed

Platinum Level Support

$10,000 USD
You will be given an all expense paid weekend trip for two (coach) from anywhere in the continental United States to visit Clarksdale, MS and the radio station, dinner and entertainment for two at world famous restaurant Ground Zero, owned by actor, Morgan Freeman and a canoeing package down the mighty and majestic Mississippi River provided by Qaupaw Canoeing Company.
0 out of 5 of claimed

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