When the directors of UW-Madison student radio, which goes on the air this Friday, were making plans for the station, they did not do it alone. They asked for suggestions from several Big Ten universities, some of whom have had their own radio stations up and running for decades.
WSUM Sports and Communications Director Evan Cohen said the station contacted several other college radio stations about how to run its programs.
While WSUM is a new force in the Madison market, some other student radio stations across the country have been on the air for decades. Northwestern's WNUR, for example, started broadcasting in 1950, Michigan's WCBN has been on the air for 30 years and Penn State's WKPS was set up seven years ago.
According to WNUR News Director Didi Swartz, the secret of the station's success has been specializing in unconventional music.
\If you're going to be playing the same things that every other station is playing ... it's harder to compete. So if you specialize in something that you may not hear elsewhere, then you'll get a pretty loyal audience,"" she said.
Swartz said WNUR does not try to compete with local Chicago stations for listeners.
""We play the music that commercial stations don't play,"" she said. ""If you listen to *NSYNC and Britney Spears, you'd listen to a commercial station.""
Joshua Landau, general manager of Michigan's WCBN, said he also believes in playing unique music.
""Our listeners are the sort of people who are sick of hearing the same thing over and over on the radio and want to hear new things,"" he said.
But according to Landau, what really keeps the station going is listener loyalty.
""We have a lot of people who've been listening for 20 years or more,"" he said. ""We still get e-mails from ex-DJs or ex-Ann Arborites discovering our Internet stream, writing in from places like Iran and Indonesia that say 'It's really nice to be able to hear CBN so far from home.'""
Unlike Michigan and Northwestern, however, Alexis Hall, treasurer for Penn State's WKPS, said her station prefers to compete with commercial radio.
""We're up there in the running with commercial stations,"" she said. ""We're pretty much taking commercial radio by storm and scaring them.""
Hall said WKPS has grown from a small station into a true competitor, mainly by using the power of advertising.
""We used to be nothing, but now we're really getting out there. Our voice is being heard,"" she said.
Like WSUM, these three stations are multi-formatted, with many different types of music, shows and DJs. The four stations also receive funding from a combination of university grants and fund-raising drives, although Penn State and Wisconsin also raise money from underwriting, mentioning the names of area businesses on-air for a fee.
When told about WSUM's impending broadcast, Hall and Landau had some advice for the fledgling station.
""Just have an open mind and learn as much as you can about the industry,"" Hall said. ""Promote the hell out of the station'nothing is too big or too small.""
Landau said one of the most important things is to appreciate music.
""Love music, and it'll come through, and your audience will love it,"" Landau said. ""Just be unique, and you'll find people will listen.""
