Wow FM destroyed in arson attack
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Radio station devastated by fire bombing
The manager of an Adelaide community radio station that was fire bombed
early this morning says a number of threats have been made against the
broadcaster in the past few weeks.
The studios of Wow FM at Semaphore were badly damaged when a molotov
cocktail was thrown through the station's window.
Station manager David Thalbourne says in the past month, announcers'
car tyres have been slashed and numerous threats made.
He says most of the station's equipment has been destroyed in the fire,
forcing it off the air indefinitely.
"We don't have a lot of money, we are a volunteer organisation and it's
going to be extremely difficult to get up and running again, but
nevertheless we don't hopefully aim to let it beat us," he said.
Police are urging anyone with information about the fire to contact
Crime Stoppers.
Wombat Lover
From reading that article, it sounds like the anger of slashing tires and
throwing bombs through the window must have been triggered by something.
What was said on air that might have made people angry? Or was this just a
plain old attack from someone who wants to be a hero amoungst his or her
friends?
All the best to Wow FM on the recovery
--
From Robert | Wombat Lover | Melbourne | http://www.surfnetvic.cjb.net |
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
have attacked the station at a time when the person or thing was on
site. Then again, they might have just aimed the attack at night so it
would be harder to get caught. Either way, you said it Robert, it is
terrible.
This is extremely sad news, I hope Wow FM are able to get back on their
feet soon, and the offender(s) get their comeuppance.
I suppose this is a danger of running on automation, if somebody had
been in the studio at the time they may have been able to put out the
fire before it did much damage, then again you can't expect a community
station (or a lot of commercial stations for that matter) to employ
people overnight, and ultimately, this event shouldn't have happened in
the first place.
Sorry, but this event sickened me, and I'm going to stop now before I
say something defamatory towards the offender(s).
Wombat Lover
time and hopefully these idiots get what they dished out.
It would take a person to plan such a thing, when they know automation was
running. For instance...Does Wow FM have a website? Do they take programming
from ComRadSat after midnight? If they knew that, then the rest is
elementory.
This is why radio stations across the country need to sound more like they
are local and most importantly LIVE after middawn. Even with what Yarra
Valley FM used to do, that is use a VCR tape, whack on a 6 hour show, or 2x3
hour show and play it after midnight. (VCR on LP on a 3hour tape = 6hours)
and you should be covered.
Clever ways of beating these people needs to be thought of, pre-recorded
shifts or voice tracking could work also
CrowdedHouse
> running. For instance...Does Wow FM have a website? Do they take programming
> from ComRadSat after midnight? If they knew that, then the rest is
> elementory.
They have a seperate computer there for automation when there are no
announcers live - mainly overnight, but they have a guy on a couple
nights of the week doing mid-dawns.
I know cause I went and toured their small studios when I was in
Adelaide earlier this year.
They have a small little building on the edge of a park in Semaphore,
which stand by itself, so it could easily be subject to vandalism.
Plus they have on the window facing the street corner their program
guide of who is on when, so anyone could figure out when there is
no-one there.
Shame for it to happen to them, they do struggle that little station
and really need a hand.
CrowdedHouse (nearly joined Wow FM - but moved back to Melbourne)