Turn your radio on the afternoon of Feb. 22, and you may hear something UW-Madison students have never heard before.
The university's student radio begins broadcasting campus-wide and to the surrounding Madison community on 91.7 FM, WSUM.
The launch of the station, which has been broadcasting via the Internet since Sept. 1996, will signify the culmination of eight years of planning and effort and the conclusion of a lengthy legal battle with the town of Montrose, a small community outside of Madison, where the tower is located. The town's residents opposed the building of the tower for aesthetic reasons.
The radio station is also the result of previous efforts by the staff of dormitory-based radio stations, which eventually succumbed to problems with Federal Communications Commission compliance.
While Station Manager Rodland Swims anticipates exponential listener growth, he said he does not expect the musical and programming offerings to change much to cater to the tastes of an expanded audience.
\Pretty much it's going to remain an alternative source of music, that's part of our mission statement. Right now, we don't play [artists] like Britney Spears. Maybe in the future, we might let something like that slide,"" Swims said. ""I think it will still be a lot of alternative type stuff.""
General Manager Dave Black said that student stations like WSUM are not commercial entities, which relieves DJs from pressure to play popular music to please audience members. Rather, the stations are attempts to expose listeners to new music.
""We don't have to worry about following trends. The great thing about college radio is it sets trends. It's not driven by what's the most popular. We can be a little more selective in our programming and take a few more chances,"" Black said.
Sports talk show host and UW-Madison senior Evan Cohen said his show's format will not change significantly from Internet to radio broadcast.
""Students should notice WSUM will run no differently on air in 2002 than it has in the last four, five years,"" he said. ""I can only speak mainly for the sports department, because I'm the head of the sports department, but we [already] treat it like we're on the air.""
Cohen said that despite the station's modest listenership, the DJs and hosts try to take full advantage of their medium's resources.
""We've had guests from all around the nation, from people who work at ABC in New York to people who work for the San Francisco Giants, depending on that week's topic,"" he said.
Black added, however, that the station will attempt to reach out beyond the university.
""We definitely will be thinking about areas larger than the campus,"" he said. ""Our mandate is to be a community outreach, community station.""
Swims said with the tower's completion, there is little to keep WSUM from broadcasting on the airwaves.
""[The tower] is actually up, and we're going to broadcast,"" Swims said. ""They possibly could find some technicality, but as long as we are prepared for it, it won't be a problem.\
