WVCP
Encyclopedia
WVCP is the college radio station
of Volunteer State Community College
("Vol State") in Gallatin
, Tennessee
, broadcasting at 88.5 MHz on the FM
dial. It falls under the oversight of the Department of Humanities and is managed by longtime faculty member Howard Espravnik. Students and volunteers make up the airstaff. The station plays a mix of music, ranging from soft adult contemporary to hard rock
.
Its studios on the second floor of Noble Caudill Hall were directly in the path of a large tornado that struck the college and killed nine people across the city of Gallatin on April 7, 2006 during the April 6-8, 2006 Tornado Outbreak
. Part of the building collapsed, and WVCP's studios were a near-total loss. Equipment that was not destroyed by the storm sustained heavy water damage.
The station was knocked off the air the moment the storm struck, but returned to the air on April 13, 2006 in a limited capacity. The station is currently automating from a computer located at the transmitter site. During the Spring 2007 semester, WVCP again began operating at full capacity from a newly-constructed studio in the Ramer Administration Building.
Ironically, a few years earlier, strong straight-line winds caused the station's tower north of Gallatin to topple, forcing WVCP off the air for several weeks before the station relaunched on a new tower in a different location.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
of Volunteer State Community College
Volunteer State Community College
Volunteer State Community College is a publicly-supported two-year community college located in Gallatin, Tennessee and operated under the auspices of the Tennessee Board of Regents....
("Vol State") in Gallatin
Gallatin, Tennessee
Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, along a navigable tributary of the Cumberland River. The population was 23,230 at the 2000 census. Named for U.S...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, broadcasting at 88.5 MHz on the FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
dial. It falls under the oversight of the Department of Humanities and is managed by longtime faculty member Howard Espravnik. Students and volunteers make up the airstaff. The station plays a mix of music, ranging from soft adult contemporary to hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
.
Storm damage
April 6-8, 2006 Tornado Outbreak
The April 6-8, 2006 Tornado Outbreak was a major tornado outbreak in the Central and parts of the Southern United States that began on April 6, 2006 in the Great Plains and continued until April 8 in South Carolina, with most of the activity on April 7. The hardest-hit area was Middle Tennessee...
. Part of the building collapsed, and WVCP's studios were a near-total loss. Equipment that was not destroyed by the storm sustained heavy water damage.
The station was knocked off the air the moment the storm struck, but returned to the air on April 13, 2006 in a limited capacity. The station is currently automating from a computer located at the transmitter site. During the Spring 2007 semester, WVCP again began operating at full capacity from a newly-constructed studio in the Ramer Administration Building.
Ironically, a few years earlier, strong straight-line winds caused the station's tower north of Gallatin to topple, forcing WVCP off the air for several weeks before the station relaunched on a new tower in a different location.