“GOODNIGHT LANSING” WLNZ IS GOING OFF THE AIR • SY COLEMAN, FOUNDER OF KAJX, DIES AT AGE 77

The management of WLNZ in Lansing, Michigan, has announced that the station will cease broadcast as of June 30, 2020. According to a story posted on Radio Insight [link], The decision to sign off was made because Lansing Community College, the licensee of WLNZ, will stop funding the station as of July 1^st.

WLMZ has never been self-supporting. Around 70% of the station’s revenue came from Lansing Community College. WLNZ had a small audience. According to Nielsen Audio, WLNZ had 5,000 estimated weekly listeners in Fall 2018.  During the same period NPR News/Talk Michigan Radio had 60,700 weekly listeners and dual format WKAR-FM had 50,600 weekly listeners.

Daedalian Lowry

Station Manager Daedalian Lowry told TV station WITL [link] that it isn’t clear when or if WLNZ would resume broadcasting.  

Lowry said in a post onWLNZ’s website [link]: 

"At this time, we are not sure when normal operations will resume, but rest assured, when the college has decided to return to normal operations, your favorite LCC Radio programs will return as well."

Lowry and the rest of the paid staff will be furloughed as of July 1^st. Volunteers hosted most of the on-air shifts and specialty shows. One of WLNZ's volunteers posted a "goodbye letter" on WLNZ’s social media pages:

“I’ve had a great ride for 23 years being a volunteer at WLNZ, 89.7FM. Use all the clichés you want - a dream come true, a kid in “For 23 year I’ve produced and hosted The Vinyl Side of Midnight Sunday nights from 9-midnight.

“Eventually I found my audience or they found me and it’s been a great dance. What a thrill to meet so many of my favorite artists and play their music on air. I want to thank the folks at the station who gave me a shot: Dave Downing, Lynn Pereino, Daedalian Lowry, Karen Nuttall Love.”

“And special thanks to my listening audience: Greg Graham most of all, for being the first and longest lasting listener.”

“Greg, I never got you on air. [That is] my only regret. Goodnight Lansing!”

KEN SAYS: The lesson for stations is to become self-sustaining and don’t depend on a single funding source.

SY COLEMAN, THE PERSON WHO BROUGHT PUBLIC RADIO TO ASPEN, DIES AT AGE 77

Sy Coleman (left) and Tammy Terwelp

Sy Coleman, was from Public Radio’s Greatest Generation – the men and women who built the stations that are now part of the public radio system. 

Coleman died on June 15^th from a heart attack. He was at his home in Cusco, Peru where he lived much of the year. 

Coleman moved to Aspen in 1978 after several years managing KUWR in Laramie, Wyoming. His mission was to bring public radio to the Roaring Fork Valley. In 1981, Coleman and small group of volunteers were granted a permit to build 91.5 FM in Aspen.

Money was tight, so Coleman used a chain of mountain-top-to-mountain-top translators to repeat KUWR’s programming. Coleman’s method was viewed as an innovation at time and since has been used by dozen’s of public radio stations.

After five years of the simulcast, KAJX began adding local programs to the mix. According to Coleman’s obituary in The Aspen Daily News [link], the first locally produced show on KAJX featured Coleman by ordering a pizza live on the air.

Coleman and other pioneers of Aspen Public Radio were interviewed in 2013 by KAJX. You can listen to these often-hilarious interviews here.

Coleman remained the leader of Aspen Public Radio until 1995 when he left amidst a programming dispute involving members of the station’s board.

Coleman preferred freeform radio and didn’t like “format focusing.”

He vocally disagreed when Aspen Public Radio’s Executive Director, Tammy Terwelp, announced programming changes earlier this year that included eliminating volunteer DJs. In a letter by Coleman to The Daily News, he said:

 “I’m afraid that if Aspen Public Radio’s decision to eliminate volunteers and music is allowed to stand, the community will have forever lost yet another piece of its soul. The founding principle of the station was to combine programs of global origin with the creative expression of community members who choose to live and work in this unique place.”

Terwelp paid tribute to Coleman in The Daily News:

“We are honored by the work that Coleman did to bring public broadcasting to Aspen. I am saddened to learn of Sy's passing. He persevered until it became a reality.”

“We are here today because of Sy Coleman."