November 8, 2000
WTCH dials in on the web
Central High radio station broadcasts online
By JUSTIN CARINCI
Herald staff writer
Through the wonders of the World Wide Web, students in Dan Baker's classroom studio have made themselves heard around the globe.
WTCH, Traverse City Central High School's radio station, has gone online. Broadcasting since last year on a carrier current available only on campus, the station now has the opportunity to reach millions.
WTCH, programmed and run entirely by students, features freeform music programming. Selections may include jazz, reggae, blues, hip-hop, country, rock or anything else the disc jockey feels like playing.
Traverse City Central language arts teacher Dan Baker started the station and helped bring it to the World Wide Web. Baker teaches radio and broadcast communications classes. Only students who have taken these courses may participate in WTCH, Baker said.
Baker majored in journalism and broadcasting at Central Michigan University and received an English degree and teaching certificate from Western Michigan University. He returned to CMU and earned a master's in humanities in 1998.
After working in radio for years, seeing jobs in the field dwindling helped Baker decide to go back to school. "They don't need people anymore," he said. "Everything is automated now" at radio stations.
Baker believes having a student radio station in a high school is an excellent learning tool. "It's what we're trying to do as educators: link technology and learning in a way that's good for the students."
The jump to the web means reaching a different type of audience than the students and teachers in the cafeteria who were the station's only listeners. Going online "gives moms and dads the chance to hear their kids on the radio," Baker noted.
Listeners can visit the Central High School web site at http:/www.tcaps.k12.mi.us/csh/ and click on WTCH.