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Long-bereft baseball fanatics in Brooklyn are rediscovering Coney Island, the new home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, and listening to WKRB radio, Kingsborough Community College’s FM station.

The arrival of a new stadium-by-the-sea for this New York Mets farm team has also been a bonanza for newly-minted Cyclones fan Chenell Moore. An East New York native and a second-year broadcast technology major at Kingsborough, Moore combined her love of baseball this summer with professional broadcasting experience. “I became interested in WKRB as a hobby, “ she said. “Now broadcasting is going to be my career. I’ve gained hands-on experience this summer.”
Under KCC professor Greg Sutton, station general manager, Moore and other students engineered, produced interview segments, and assisted with technical support for the Cyclone’s professional announcers. “They see the project up close in every way from beginning to end,” said Sutton. “They work closely with a real organization and get real work experience.”

Kingsborough President Byron McClenney demonstrating ball control to a big bird; at right, he is seen with CUNY radio station staffers at the Brooklyn Cyclones’ ballpark.

CUNY boasts three 10-watt FM stations, each professionally managed and staffed by students, who develop programming in the service of their communities. The three stations have a potential reach of 5 million listeners in the five boroughs.

The College of Staten Island’s WSIA-FM has a similar baseball arrangement with the Staten Island Yankees, a farm team of the Bronx Bombers. CSI students also announced the games.
WKRB’s Sutton is hopeful the station will shortly create its own web site and join its sister stations at CSI and City College’s WHCR-FM on the Web. Both SCI and City College are making streaming audio available on their web sites. To access streaming audio, visit www.cuny.edu/radio.