WYAP-LP - Located in downtown Clay, W.Va.
Community Service Is Key for Clay Radio Station
By Erin Timony for the State Journal
According to WYAP-LP Station Manager Andy Waddell (right) the biggest accomplishment of WYAP is that "we're still here."
In the beginning, a common critique was, "That will never work. It'll be dead in six weeks."
And while the station has come close, Waddell said somehow the doors have stayed open.
The station has been on the air for about 12 years and began "when a group of us sat around the table 15 years ago or longer and knew we had no communications in Clay County," Waddell said.
These days, an additional station serves the southern end of the county and a third station has been licensed for the northern end of the county. It's expected to be set up in a fire department hopefully sometime this year. Each station reaches out six to eight miles in any direction in a county of 342 square miles and 9,600 people. With all three stations, Waddell said most of the county will be covered.
 The station itself is a completely volunteer-run and nonprofit organization; it has a board of directors consisting of five active volunteers.
Waddell said the business model is 33-33-33 â that is, 33 percent grants, 33 percent membership and 33 percent on-air sponsors.
"We are a membership-supported station," he said. "We can have no calls to action."
"The people that are our sponsors are more benevolent than getting a big benefit out of it."
The goal of the station is twofold: to inform Clay County with local news and to engage the people. During election seasons, Waddell said every candidate is invited to come in and submit to questions. WYAP airs it, tapes it and then replays all the interviews the day before the election. In 2015, the station began broadcasting public meetings â county commission meetings, schools board meetings, town council meetings.
When it comes to community engagement, Waddell said people come in with their guitars, banjos and harmonicas and perform live on the air. Senior citizens come in to learn how to take a shot at broadcasting, and the youngest station broadcaster started at age 13. WYAP also works with the state's youthful offenders program as well as the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
"For the youthful offenders, we've had a dozen come through here," Waddell said. "Some are back in prison. Some are ... close to being back in prison, but we've had successes and I think the experience they got here with public speaking, doing it on their own, a work ethic ... I think that has helped youthful offenders."
Waddell said many people who come in to work through DHHR don't know anyone with a job and the work is a whole new experience for them. The partnership is good for everyone involved, he said â it helps keep fresh voices on the radio and it instills work ethic in those who participate. In September, the local high school started a broadcast journalism class.
By Christmas, the six seniors were putting out five minute broadcasts on high school and county news on a weekly basis. During football season, WYAP's halftime shows were the students' podcasts.
Each day showcases a particular genre of music: jazz, blues, Celtic and Native American, bluegrass and country. Friday is West Virginia music, Saturday is doo-wop and Sunday is gospel. Because it broadcasts on the Internet, Waddell said the station has worldwide listeners.
Waddell's day job is with the local newspaper. He said no one had any background in radio and there are plenty of stumbles and goof-ups along the way.
"We're real people," he said. "We regularly stumble, stutter, hit the wrong button and kill the whole darn station. It's community radio. It's not polished."
Waddell said he stays busy, but fulfilled.
"I like it when a newbie comes in to get on the radio and to steer them through that process and then get them trained up and get them on," he said. "We want to be a part of the community footprint."
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