THE STUDENT VOICE OF UPEI ==

RADIO STATION OFF THE AIR

THE CAMPUS RA- DIO station CIMN has in- advertantly had it’s cables cut because of construction occuring in Main Build- ng. The station has been

ithout broadcast capabil- ty since demolition of the nterior of Main was com- pleted in late July. The sta- ion has been operating un- ware of the problem since arly September.

CIMN was once located

Main building before

ey moved to their present pcation in the Barn. Ac- ording to John Bentley, echnician at CHTN radio yho also looks after CIMN, ables leading from the ra- io station entered Main uilding’s basement for re- istribution to the Gym, eele hall, and to a trans- itter located in Bernar- e Hall. The transmit- r in Bernardine broadcast MN to the three UPEI sidences.

On Monday, The Gem spected the former loca- bn of the connection in ain to find that the boxes

taining the connections, d even the wall to which Ey were attached, have en removed.

There was another very portant connection lo- ed in Main building as ll. “There was a mod- tor in there for Island blevision,” says Bent- The modulator was the ice that sent CIMN’s padcast to the cable com- hy for broadcast over arlottetown’s cable sys- - “It was worth at least 00,” he says. Bentley icated that the modula- box was probably not royed, but rather re- ed by the contractor g§ the demolition. The olition of the interior of n was carried out by Is- t Coastal Services under Tuctions from the archi- 8, Bergmark and Ham- lund of Charlottetown. “There were a million s in the building,” says

David Bergmark, “and the contractor during the con- struction went in and cut those wires. They were not documented... as to being saved. It was inadvertantly cut”

“Apparently we had notified the contractor con- cerning that particular ca- ble and it was inadvertently cut even so.”, he says.

Apparently it was not the responsibility of CIMN or the Student Union to no- tify the architects about the presence of the radio ca- bles.

“What we tried to do in that building is to know what every single sheath of wires and what every pipe went to,” says Bergmark.

This was a very diffi- cult task for the architects since the wiring in Main was mostly undocumented and in many cases obso- lete wires were not removed when new ones were added.

Bergmark commented, “It was the MAIN build- ing. Everything was run- ning through it... it was pretty: difficult for us to know all the internal work- ings.”

Apparently, though, there was more to CIMN’s connections that just a few wires. John Bent- ley described the wiring as “all disguised, for secu- rity, as just simple electrical boxes... and the equipment was in there.” Bentley says there were two boxes— one for on campus connection and the other the link to Is- land Cablevision.

Despite the removal of the boxes, Bergmark would like to know what can be done to get CIMN back on the air.

“What I would be in- ~

terested in doing is getting that (problem) resolved”, he says. “I don’t know how that resolution would be made, but... it would probably be best to leave Main building out.”

SO how long will it take to get the station back on

~~ Hall.

the air again?

Bentley says, “If all the cables are actually there, the cables leading to (the transmitter in) Bernardine and from the Barn, prop- erly checked out, they could be spliced together at least for a temporary basis and that could feed the trans- mitter with perfect qual- ity sound.” That could take, he says, as little as a week. However, the gym, the cafeteria, and the li- brary would not be able to be connected through a simple splice. Only the transmitter serving the res- idences would be_ recon- nected.

Reconnecting CIMN to the cable service would take a little longer. Bentley ex- pressed an interest in set- ting things up in the Barn to perform that task, but

_there may not be enough

underground cables avail- able for that. One final problem fac-

ing CIMN that has plagued _

them for years now, is the cable feeding Blanchard According to Bent- ley, this cable has also been inadvertantly cut by an-

err DRINKING OR EA i ee eer bose

other department on cam- pus, so Blanchard residents may here only silence even when broadcasting to Mar- ian and Bernardine is re- stored.

CIMN Station Manager Rhonda McLel-

-lan could not be contacted

for comment before press time nor could the student Council member responsi- ble for the station. It is

‘unknown if CIMN will be

shut down until broadcast-

| ing can be restored. There

‘is also the question of ad-

vertising revenues that the station may have been paid for radio ads. It is ex-

. pected that advertisers will

request refunds and it is not known at this time how this will affect the continued op- eration of the station. a

Pillar in basement of Main where CIMN connections MAY have been {ocated.