New Radio Station to Provide UB Travel, Weather Advisories

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo has received FCC licensing to operate UBAlert, its own low-power campus advisory and parking radio station to broadcast commuter, safety, weather, traffic directions/detours and event information.

The station, WQAU 473, 1620-AM, provides on-campus travelers with traffic advisories designed to improve the flow of day-to-day and event-driven traffic, as well as emergency- or weather-closing information.

Receivable throughout an approximately five-mile radius around both UB campuses, the message system allows the university to broadcast in a continuous loop as many as 14 minutes of information.

In general, parking and travel alerts will be broadcast for events that are expected to draw a significant and unusually large population to the campus, such as opening weekend, family weekend, commencement, football and basketball games, concerts, major conferences and sports camps.

The campus advisory and parking radio system also will be used to broadcast city, county or town weather-related emergencies affecting the UB community. The UBAlert radio broadcast, will complement, but does not replace 645-NEWS, UB's primary mechanism for communicating weather-related closings to the campus community.

To ensure that FCC guidelines are strictly adhered to, the Department of Public Safety will manage the selection, recording and broadcast of all messages on UBAlert. Requests for alerts must be made at least two weeks in advance, except in the case of emergencies.

Any campus unit or department may request broadcast of a campus-wide message by contacting John Grela, director of public safety, at . Proposed messages must be submitted in writing two weeks in advance of an event. Messages may not be commercial or promotional in nature. Acceptable messages would include emergency notifications, general parking and transportation information, special events that impact traveling or parking, road repairs or lot repairs and campus closures or early dismissals.