WHAV Completes City Hall High-Fidelity Sound Overhaul

(WHAV News file photograph by Jay Saulnier.)

Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. City Council Chambers in City Hall. (WHAV News photograph.)

Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.

When 97.9 WHAV FM broadcasts the Haverhill City Council meeting live Tuesday night, listeners can expect high-fidelity sound.

WHAV recently installed state-of-the-art audio transmission equipment in the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. City Council Chambers in City Hall. Efforts to secure permission to restore WHAV’s live broadcasts from City Hall were spearheaded by William Gould, chairman of the city’s Cable Television Advisory Committee.

“Broadcasts of long form community interest programs such as the city council and school committee meetings are exactly the things that a community-based radio station such as WHAV is designed to do,” said Gould, a former WHAV station manager. “I’m glad we were able to put this together and hope WHAV can expand on these programs in the future.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, city councilors are expected to discuss public graffiti, the body’s own rules—including public participation—which has been a source of tension between councilors, and parking signs and enforcement near Harbor Place on Merrimack Street.

While the original WHAV AM installed broadcasting equipment in City Hall in 1973, it was based on the technology of the day—equalized telephone lines between the building and WHAV’s studios. Today’s equipment uses advanced audio over IP technology.

WHAV has tested and finetuned the equipment over the last several weeks, delivering both the City Council and School Committee meetings. Haverhill High School senior Sean Cokely joined WHAV as a board operator recently to oversee the live broadcasts.

Besides Gould, others playing key roles in the retrofit of City Hall were Mayor James J. Fiorentini, Council President John A. Michitson, Council Secretary Barbara Arthur, Haverhill Network Systems Manager Ed English, WHAV’s Marc Lemay and HC Media’s Darlene Beal and Matt Belfiore.