The Town of Maynard

A sense of context is helpful when looking at an organization like WAVM, because the surroundings define and influence the station. In other words, WAVM is a reflection and part of two larger entities, namely the Town of Maynard and Maynard High School.

Maynard is located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, twenty miles to the northwest of Boston. The suburban community is quite small in land area, officially being 5.24 square miles. However, the populated area is considerably less since a portion of the town was annexed by the U.S. Government prior to World War II. In this reduced area--approximately 2-by-2 1/2-miles--a little less than 10,000 people live.

Historically, Maynard is a mill town, which prospered along the Assabet River. In the 1800's, the river provided cheap power for several of these mills that made textiles or explosives. One of Maynard's factories, built and operated by the American Woolen Company, was once upon a time the largest and most modern mill in the world. Thousands of people from Finland, Russia, Ireland, Poland, and other countries immigrated to the town, helping it thrive with a multi-cultural flavor. That's why you may notice that the station members' names range in ethnicity from Brown to Cutaia to Maria to Dzerkacz and that some of the programming has been Polka or Irish Folk music.

By 1952, the American Woolen Company's mill had closed, and Maynard went into a recession. The town was hard hit, but over the years, small businesses took up residence in the expansive mill. One small company leasing two rooms in the 1960's was Digital Equipment Corporation. By the Seventies, D.E.C. was well on its way to becoming one of the largest computer companies in the world, and they bought the whole mill.

For the next three decades, Digital brought a lot of business and people into Maynard. The community flourished, and Digital became a great benefactor to the station and community making many generous donations. Even more importantly, the people who came to work in the mill helped the station and Maynard High School.

Maynard High School is the home of the Tigers, the name for all of the athletic teams. That makes WAVM the "Voice of Tigertown," because the station is destined to walk hand-in-hand with the school's events.

Maynard High School was built in 1962 and designed for a population of 800 students. However, the school has never reached that number. In fact, beginning in the mid-1980's, class populations steadily declined to 100 students or less each year, with the school once reaching the lowpoint of 270 for five grades. Currently, grades 8-12 now attend the high school, and the school's population is roughly 350. In short, M.H.S. is a place where everyone knows your name.

In a way, this situation has been a boon and a problem the Maynard School System. On the plus side, the small classes give the school an intimate feel and the students a greater chance to work one-on-one with the faculty. However, the low student population makes participation in numerous after-school activities difficult.

As soon as the students finish basketball practice, they may have a radio show at WAVM; and then band rehearsal. All the while, the kids still have their homework to do before the evening ends. In result, each activity group at the High School has had to coordinate their schedules more closely in order to avoid time conflicts with each other. Furthermore, many activities have been scaled back or cancelled because of the school's low population.

Fortunately, WAVM has been one of the activities to steadily flourish, maintaining, on average, 125 members. The students in the Maynard School System seem to want to be a part of the station, and the community seems to want the town to have the station. Funding for 91.7 is in part through corporate sponsorships by local businesses, who have been generous. After 25-years, WAVM is still going and going strong. The people must like something about it.

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