Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 15, 1993                   TAG: 9311160251
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Mellanie Hatter
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STUDENTS GO BY SATELLITE

Recently, four students from Addison Aerospace Magnet School participated in a live satellite telecast from the Virginia Aviation Museum, a division of the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond. The hour-long show, called "Wild Blue Yonder," was aimed at middle school students. It gave some history of the museum and explained the fundamentals of flight through experiments that students could do in class.

Jennifer Carter, a sixth-grader; Zachary Stoner, who is in the seventh grade; and Brad Scaggs and Jennifer Staten, both eighth-graders, traveled to Richmond with teacher Jane Turner.

Along with students from Henrico County, they were able to explain to the viewers why they were interested in aeronautics. Meanwhile, pupils at schools including Botetourt Intermediate and Garden City Elementary gathered to watch the broadcast and call in questions.

The broadcast was part of Science By Satellite, a 2-year-old program developed by the science museum as a way to reach students across the state and nation, said Barry Hayes, audiovisual director at the Richmond museum.

A second telecast, "A Whale of a Time," will be aired in March highlighting a whale exhibit at the museum.

Cox Cable Roanoke helped underwrite the aerospace project and aired the show on public access channel 9. Cox will also air the whale show in March.

"This is the latest way to reach out to the schools," said Linda Pharis, education coordinator at Cox Cable. And it's a component of the information highway, she said.

Last month, Cox Cable aired a similar telecast, "Students' View '93: The New Navy," which showed how the Navy operates during peacetime. It was sponsored by the Navy, Cox Cable and CNN Newsroom and aired live from Navy facilities at Hampton Roads.

Pharis said Cox Cable plans to participate in more telecasts. "If teachers want it, then we try to get it," she said.

\ In radio news, WVTF (89.1 FM) surpassed its goal of $193,000 by about $1,000 last month during its fall fund drive, which ended a day and a half early.

The money is put toward the station's annual budget of slightly more than $1 million and helps pay for day-to-day operating expenses, including salaries, rent, lighting and heating bills, said station manager Steve Mills.

If the station doesn't make its goal it has to cut something out of the budget, Mills said. He runs a fairly conservative ship, he said. "If I go out and squander it on something unnecessary, then we pay the price because we have to go on the air and beg for it." Because the staff is responsible for raising money for the station, it adds a level of hustle and accountability, he said.

In addition, the fund drive raised $1,700 toward paying off the transmitter the station erected in Marion two years ago, Mills said. WVTF borrowed money from the Virginia Tech Foundation to help put the transmitter in place and agreed to pay back $16,800 each year for a period of five years. Mills wants to pay off the loan early.