News Article from the October 5, 2003 Lebanon Daily News
Tower of Power
FM license signals new era for Omega
FM license signals new era for Omega By JOHN LATIMER Staff Writer
Here's a fun little test to try while you're driving around Lebanon.
Set your radio to FM
and press "seek." Eventually, your dial is bound to land on 93.1, where
you will be greeted by the unmistakable rhythms of Latin music
broadcast by Radio Omega, the area's only Spanish-language radio
station.
There is little doubt
your radio will pick up the station; its signal is one of the strongest
in the area for the simple reason that it originates from high atop a
tower in the 200 block of East Mifflin Street.
Radio Omega began
broadcasting with a 100-watt FM signal about three weeks ago in the
last steps in its three-year effort to receive a low-powered FM license
from the Federal Communications Commission, said station owners Dalila
and Doug Neatrour. The LP in the station's call letters, WOMA-LP,
designate its low-powered status.
While listeners can
already hear pre-programmed music on the station 24 hours a day, it is
still not operating with live disc jockeys, news and other programming,
all of which will begin after a testing period is concluded in the next
week or two when the station receives its license, Dalila Neatrour said.
The recent
improvements add to the $40,000 the Neatrours say they have invested in
the station since it went on the air in 1995. That was two years after
the couple moved to the area from Panama, where they met and fell in
love while Doug was on an Army Reserve military assignment.
They started the station, Dalila said, because she missed the sounds of her native country.
"When I got here from
Panama in 1993 I was homesick," the 33-year-old mother of two recalled.
"There was no TV, no radio and no newspapers. I thought, 'How come
there is nothing around here? You certainly see a lot of Hispanics.'"
Two heads, one brain
Starting a
Spanish-language radio station may have been Dalila's idea, but it was
Doug who had the knowledge to do it. The 52-year-old has in the radio
business since high school, both behind the microphone and in
management. Owning a station was always a dream, he said.
"We are kind of like
two heads with one brain," Dalila said. "He has the radio experience,
and I have the language and cultural knowledge."
Because Reading has a
larger Latino population than Lebanon does, the couple thought it made
better business sense to broadcast there in the station's early days.
They named it Radio Omega after Dalila's favorite Panama radio station.
The commercial
station was popular, she said, but after three years of driving back
and forth to Reading, balancing the demands of jobs she is a senior
teller for Waypoint Bank, and he is an information specialist in the
public-affairs office at Fort Indiantown Gap and a family became too
much. It also bothered her that she still couldn't hear Latin music
from the family's West Lebanon Township home. So the couple decided to
move the station to Lebanon.
With small
transmitters placed at three strategic locations in the eastern,
western and central parts of the city in 1998, Radio Omega created a
signal at 1610 AM that reached listeners in Lebanon but not much
beyond, Dalila said.
For a short time, the
station was located on Crowell Street, but it soon moved to its current
studio in the 300 block of North Ninth Street.
A wide appeal
Since coming to
Lebanon, Dalila said, Radio Omega has tried to appeal to all tastes,
ages and ethnic groups by offering a mix of Latin music styles from
mambo to merengue, cumbia to salsa. It also plays music from popular
Latino artists like Shakira and Enrique Iglesias.
But the station does
not limit itself to music. The Neatrours have also made serving the
Latino community a priority by offering informative programming on
health, current events and social issues.
In recognition of
Radio Omega's help in reaching the community during the 2000 Census,
the station received a certificate from the U.S. Department of
Commerce, which the Neatrours have hung proudly on the office wall.
"People are so happy
to have a station like ours," Dalila said. "They are always coming up
to me on the street and telling me about something they heard on it."
In 2000, when the FCC
decided to make frequencies available for low-power, local programming,
the Neatrours decided to apply for a license. The licenses were
distributed on a lottery basis, and Pennsylvania was in the group to be
selected last, Doug said.
While the couple
waited for the FCC, another opportunity developed when a radio tower in
Elizabethtown became available, one that could spread the station's
signal beyond Lebanon to York, Lancaster and Harrisburg an area that is
home to about 60,000 Latinos.
More power
The station made the
switch to the new tower in 2001. While the station was well received,
the Neatrours were not interested in the time demands and financial
investment required to make a commercial enterprise successful.
When Radio Omega
received the permit to start an FM station that would only cover
Lebanon County, the Neatrours gladly pulled the plug on the AM station
on May 31 and started preparing for the conversion to FM.
"We still get calls from people over there who say they miss the station," Dalila said.
Part of the
requirement of receiving the low-power FM license is that the station
be nonprofit and operate much like local public station WITF-FM. That
will mean having annual fund-raisers and soliciting corporate
sponsorship, she said.
Frederick's
Supermarket of Cars, Keller Insurance Agency and McDonald's have long
advertised on the AM station and have indicated they will remain
sponsors, she said.
"We will be serving
the Latino community in Lebanon and the county," Doug explained. "We
are happy to do that. There is enough growth in the local area to
warrant enough sponsors and underwriting to pay the bills."
Radio Omega is also
looking for volunteers who would like to help at the station. A lot of
work lies ahead because a new studio will soon be constructed in the
700 block of Willow Street, Dalila said. But there are also on-air
opportunities for volunteers. Experience is helpful but not required.
"I know we are going
to make a tremendous change in the community," she said. "People are
going to be a little more informed and educated. We want them to become
involved. It is their station."
To learn more about volunteer opportunities with Radio Omega, call the station at 270-6651.
