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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994                   TAG: 9402170156
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RADIO STATIONS STRUGGLE TO STAY ON THE AIR

It was a piece of burned-out equipment at the base of the antenna on Luckett Avenue that has caused WJLM (93.5 FM) to be off the air since Saturday afternoon.

"We're chomping at the bit to get back on," said Program Director Rick Leighton.

He said the location of the antenna - many towers are on Poor Mountain - next to the station would not have made any difference to the problems. The equipment blew from the stress of ice on the tower.

The station is awaiting a cable connector that hooks the transmitter to the antenna to arrive via Federal Express from a company in South Carolina. Leighton said he hopes it arrives today so the station can return to the air this afternoon.

In addition to replacing the connector, Station Manager Lloyd Gochenour said he had to drive to Bristol, Tenn., to have the ice coupler, which houses the cable connector, rebuilt.

"We're helpless," Gochenour said. "It's never been off in my 30 years [in radio] this long. . . . Normally you can improvise" and get back on the air.

Until Wednesday, J93's sister station, WRIS (1410 AM) was running without any problems, but the inspirational station had to be cut off while engineers worked on the transmitter, Leighton said.

But J93 was not the only radio station to have problems over the weekend. In Pulaski, country station WPSK (107.1 FM) was off the air from late Friday until 11:40 p.m. Tuesday.

"It's been treacherous," said Station Manager Dave Roederer, who joined the staff at PSK on Monday. "It's been terrible."

Roederer replaced Mike Gummer, who left the station late last year.

When the power went off, it blew up parts of the transmitter. Getting to the tower on Peaks Knob in Pulaski was nearly impossible because of the fallen limbs from trees, he said. The station had to acquire equipment for a generator from Charleston, W.Va., and is still using the generator to function.

Commercials scheduled to run must be rescheduled, Roederer said, but if they were advertising a specific event, the revenue from them is lost. Because of the weather, most events were canceled anyway, and the money can be recouped when the commercials eventually run.

"We hope to make it good to the advertisers," Gochenour said.