Fayetteville Public Radio Station Remains Off the Air; Antenna Problem Discovered

The only sound WFSS listeners hear is static, as the public radio station remains off the air.

"We don't want to lose our listeners and the longer we stay off the air, the more difficult it's going to be for us to bring them back," says station manager Joe Ross.

Since January, 91.9 has been operating on a weak signal that reached just 5 miles. The problem was with a transmission line damaged in the snow. As crews went to repair the line, they found damage to the antenna too.

Engineers are now waiting for a temporary antenna. They hope that will hold them over until a new antenna can be purchased and installed.

FSU Professor Jon Young uses information fromNational Public Radioin his critical thinking classes.

This latest problem has left him unable to listen, even though he is just a building away from the radio station. He now relies on NPR Online.

Station employees are waiting too, using the off-air time to catch up on work.

And until the signal is strong again, more than 900 members of the blind community are without a valuable service. Volunteers at The Radio Reading Service use the WFSS signal to read newspapers to the blind.

WRAL-TV donated $30,000 to get the transmission line fixed. It is unclear where the money will come from to buy a new antenna.