The news last week that Chattanooga State would be selling the license for WAWLFM 91.5 and converting to an online version was not met with universal approval.

“I can’t listen online in my car,” was the common complaint I heard.

Some also took issue with at least part of Dr. Jim Catanzaro’s reasoning for selling the station. Callers and e-mailers pointed out that there is no government mandate to convert radio to digital (there is for television), as was stated in last week’s article.

I should say first that I erred in not fact-checking Dr. Catanzaro’s statement. In a follow-up conversation with him this week, he said he could have been clearer in his comments.

The miscommunication does not alter the plans for the station, he said.

“I believe it (a digital radio mandate) is coming, but also we are dedicated to doing things right, and for a radio station that plays music that would mean going digital,” he said.

Converting would be expensive, and he said the main issue at hand is still education. When he looks at the overall needs of the campus, he said, “There is no way that radio with 23 students was going to win out when you compare it to the vital needs of the nursing program, for instance.”

By selling the radio license for $1.5 million and moving to a Web-based format, he said, the school can integrate the television and radio classes into the old WTCI building and involve more students and create more learning opportunities.

Instructor Will McDonald said the goal of “The WAWL” over the last several months has been to get the students and Chattanooga State out into the public via live remotes. He said several pieces of equipment have been installed to meet that end.

“You can still do that online, but it’s not the same,” he said. “It’s not the same when you tell people to come on down and see us.”

McDonald said he doesn’t see much difference in the way a student will be taught to be a disc jockey but sees some advantages to an online version.

“The ability to stream video is great, but being able to archive and retrieve shows should be better for the student.”

Still, he’s a radio guy, he said.

“There is a tuner in every car. The more people you have listening to you, the greater the desire to raise the bar,” he said.

I asked Dr. Catanzaro if keeping the station and creating an enhanced Web version was possible.

“I would love to have (done that),” he said. “The difference is the $1.5 million.”

* Wilfred Middlebrooks, a Chattanooga native who played bass with Ella Fitzgerald’s band, died March 13 in Pasadena, Calif. He was 74.

At age 11, Middlebrooks was studying with the principal bassist for the Chattanooga Symphony, and at 15 he was traveling with a vaudeville troupe.

Middlebrooks was known as a rock-solid timekeeper on the bass and for his “walking” or “running” technique on the double bass.

Middlebrooks had returned to Chattanooga in 2001 to live and volunteered his time teaching music at the Chattanooga African American Museum.