OCONTO, Wis. — With a few clicks of a mouse, Larry Kaszynski can begin the process of downloading a batch of more than a dozen radio shows.
He’s the general manager at WOCO, an FM and AM radio station near Oconto, Wis.
“It was 51 programs I downloaded for the next several days,” Kaszynski said. “It took less than 15 minutes to download all 51 programs.”
Before a high-speed connection, he said that would have taken a minimum of two hours.
Located in a rural area between Oconto and Oconto Falls, WOCO connected to broadband through Spectrum two years ago.
“It’s allowed me more time to get out and visit people and to talk to people,” Kaszynski said. “Not only that, it gives me time to go out and visit other organizations to update what this station is doing to change and how we’re changing with the times.”
While much has changed at WOCO over the years, you can still find vintage 45 and LP records in the studio at WOCO.
They’ve been digitized as the radio station has evolved with the times — an evolution that includes high-speed internet.
“It is a matter of survival because right now, in today’s age, you can’t always find employees to help. You see help wanted ads all over,” Kaszynski said. “For the survival of this radio station, it’s allowed me to multitask. I can do three projects at the same time. I can download my programs and then visit people or call people on the phone. It’s allowed me to do multiple things.”
Jayme Sellen of the Oconto County Economic Development Corporation said a lot of work by a number of providers and government agencies has gone into bringing service to people throughout the county.
The need remains critical in some areas, according to Sellen.
“We have some small businesses that would like to take credit cards, but they don’t have the speed to run a credit card within a short period of time,” Sellen said. “Sometimes it takes several minutes for a credit card transaction to go through… During those times when there’s a lot of users, they have to take cash, which then limits the amount they can sell.”
She said much of the work now is focused on reaching areas not yet hooked up.
“We have great backbone fiber that goes through the county, we just need to get to middle-mile and last-mile to really connect businesses and homes to fiber,” Sellen said.
Charter Communications received about $168 million in federal funding administered by the state to extend broadband to rural areas.
The company is also investing an additional $500 million to provide high-speed internet to 140,000 new homes and business across Wisconsin. That includes more than 10,000 locations in Oconto County.
Since 2019, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin said the state used more than $345 million of funding set aside for rural broadband access to reach about 400,000 homes.
Rebecca Valcq is the chairperson of the commission.
“While we have made tremendous progress, we also know there is work that needs to be done,” she said. “Particularly getting to the unserved locations and the underserved locations that remain.”
Valcq said recent Federal Communications Commission figures indicate about 10% of the state remains unserved and about 18% is underserved.
“Our efforts are right now squarely focused on ensuring the expansion happens where it’s needed the most,” she said.
State Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, said consumer cost is also an important part of the conversation.
“The one key factor we need to make sure we put in there is affordable access,” she said. “There are a lot of people who can’t afford $100 or more a month for internet access.”
Charter Communications is the parent company of Spectrum News 1.