There was supposed to be a scramble - not a void.

When Cleveland's alternative radio mainstay, 107.9 WENZ, changed to an urban format in May 1999, somebody was supposed to pick up that niche. For seven years, The End had thrown bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins from the airwaves at the end of the dial. Rumors of the change had wrought petitions and letter-writing campaigns.

Popular support was strong. Somebody was supposed to recognize that. Somebody ended up being a 1,000-watt station run by students at Streetsboro High School.

The station, which covers Summit and Portage counties, is the only one dedicated to alternative/modern rock music in northeastern Ohio's broadcast airwaves.

Streetsboro High, a school of about 450 students, doesn't look big enough to have its own radio station, much less be the main provider of alternative music in the northeastern Ohio area.

Inside the main entrance, a left turn moves you down a concrete-block hallway that smells like Windex. Pictures of past high school classes hang over rows of lockers. Wide, neat and antiseptic, it makes you long for a little chaos.

The chaos is at the end of the hallway, beyond the hand-painted fluorescent green and black sign announcing the home of 88.9 WSTB, The AlterNation.

Inside, beige dividers crowd a narrow hallway. It channels past two small rooms, labeled with plastic "On Air" signs. There isn't any mistaking this is a student-run operation, with stickers bearing band names plastered everywhere, camouflaging the occasional algebra or chemistry book.

Students sign up for a variety of reasons, says Bob Long, a teacher and WSTB's general manager and weatherman. Some are interested in broadcast careers and look to the station, which has moved several graduates into the professional ranks, as a way to get valuable experience. Others sign up, Long says, because it's fun and a "neat technology thing."

"Coming from commercial radio an being in college radio, I can't imagine being a junior in high school, for example, and talking to tens of thousands of people," Long says. "You don't even know who these people are, and they're calling you. You go out, and you have these moments where they go, 'Oh, I listen to you.' And don't even know who they are. That's got to be such a high - a natural one - for a high school student."

To be considered for the station, which has been in place since 1972, students have to take an introductory course, meet attendance qualifications and pass a test on Federal Communications Commission rules and station policies. When students reach their junior and senior years, Long says, they have an 83-minute period in which they're assigned to the radio station.

"And that's cool," he says. "It's almost like going to the student center and cutting."

When students get to their senior year, they can move into management positions on the staff. Long says he tries to make things "as real-world as possible," which means students do most of the managing and problem-solving. The station carries alternative music Monday through Saturday and is live from 7 a.rn. to 6 p.m., running on automation during off-hours. Sundays are reserved for the "Sunday Oldies Jukebox."

"Most people don't know it's a high school-operated radio station," Long says. "I've heard high school radio. The kids stammer. They stutter. They fumble all over the place. Our DJs may not be real up-tempo and slick, but they don't often fumble and stumble."