This place is easy to miss when walking down State Street. With a side entrance next to Urban Outfitters and a second-floor location that overlooks State Street Brats, unknowingly passing by Madison's newest radio station is not hard to do.
But the station, run by an eclectic bunch of UW-Madison students, is a great place for people with an interest in truly unconventional music to check out.
WSUM 91.7 FM is the setting on the dial for the latest in alternative and avant-garde music in Madison. Student DJs come to the station looking to bring lesser-known music to a listening audience. And yes, it is a Britney Spears and 'NSync-free zone. You won't be hearing any Top 40 being broadcast from the DJs at this station.
\We've got a diversity of interests, different genres'college, indie, rock, experimental and noise,"" said Jacob Heule, program director for WSUM and a UW-Madison senior majoring in philosophy and psychology.
The last genre mentioned, noise, is an example of the various kinds of music that WSUM broadcasts that strays from the Top 40 stations who dominate the airwaves.
Heule swivels in his chair over to the computer to play the latest that ""noise"" has to offer. His office walls are decorated with music posters and a ""pin-the-tail on the donkey"" picture. On a nearby table, a KFC tub, which is filled with empty liquor bottles, serves as the centerpiece.
""They're not mine. They've been there for years,"" Heule said when asked about the bottles.
Noise can be defined as just that'noise. It is a mix of crashing metal and static hum'perfect for those times when you feel like gritting your teeth and scratching your nails across the chalkboard.
The station, however, is looking to broadcast something new for the Madison community to listen to, and that means trying out original music forms that students would be unlikely to hear otherwise.
The students began broadcasting their unique play list on the air this past February after the construction of a radio tower for the station was complete. A long battle with Montrose residents, who were opposed to the tower being built in their area, postponed the construction for years. Montrose was the only place WSUM could put the tower because of Federal Communications Commission regulations regarding broadcast signals.
In 1997, the station began broadcasting over the Internet, or netcasting, when station managers realized that the construction of the tower would be postponed. These days, however, the netcasting has been discontinued and WSUM is only playing on the air.
Chris Martel, a UW-Madison senior majoring in computer engineering, started as a net caster his freshmen year, when, he said, it was admittedly easier to get a show. He contacted the station and told the managers what kind of music he wanted to play.
Martel's venture to get on the air turned into the weekly show, entitled ""Trashy Trompin', Sleazy Stompin,'"" which plays primarily punk, garage and rock music.
""It's high energy, real sweat and blood, just like dirty rock 'n' roll. It's not really punk, well some is, but it's not what most people think of [as punk],"" said Martel.
Nick Groessl, co-host for WSUM's weekly nighttime show, started working with Martel last semester. Martel's former partner graduated last year and Groessl took over, giving him the chance to play music he would be interested in hearing.
""I like [being a DJ] because I can play what I want, [and] have other people listen to bands that they don't usually listen to,"" Groessl said. ""I'll play local bands that nobody really hears.""
But Groessl and Martel said they are open to playing what other people want to hear as well.
""We like to be interactive when people call us and ask us to play stuff, even if we don't really like what they want us to play,"" Martel said.
Groessl and Martel do not think that the music they play is so different from what the average student listens to that they would find it hard to buid a strong listernership.
""I think we do have a following. I put a lot of work into the Web site [for the show]. It's pretty popular, not just in Madison, but people all over the country,"" Martel said. ""The music we play has a small following of hard-core fans.""
As for the unique name of the show, Martel said it was something he just came up with one night.
""The music quality we play is pretty sleazy, pretty trashy. It's real dirty recording. It sounds like someone recorded their band on [a tape recorder]. And the stompin' is just like dancing,"" Martel said.
WSUM as a whole plays many types of music. One of the new additions to the on-air talent this semester is a team of two exchange students from the Netherlands looking to bring Dutch music to Americans.
Jobert Winkel and Jacob Boersema are currently in training to become DJs at WSUM. They have just completed their on-air demo tape and are hoping to start soon.
""We don't know a time slot yet. It is quite filled up already. In the worst case we are going to broadcast maybe very late like 2 a.m.,"" Winkel said.
But Boersema and Winkel had a sense of humor about the possibility of a late-night or early-morning show.
""It'll be nice to play obscure Dutch music, like at midnight or later. People will be drunk and thinking, 'Oh, this is like Def Leppard' and then they will sing along and [think] 'Hmm, I'm speaking Dutch,'"" Boersema said.
Winkel and Boersema decided to try radio after their roommate, another exchange student, got a show and liked being on the air.
""[The show will be] mostly music, but a little talking too. We can do a lot of features on Holland,"" Boersema said. ""There's a lot of ... myths about Dutch society. We can tell people a little bit more about Holland and of course Dutch music.""
But ironically, Boersema and Winkel would have preferred to continue netcasting instead of broadcasting on the radio.
""It's really a funny thing that the Americans all want to join now, while we actually would have liked to have been here last semester when it was just broadcast on the Internet. It is quite a shame because now our friends in Holland cannot hear our show,"" Boersema said.
While WSUM has seen an increase in the number of students wanting to host shows since the station started broadcasting over the airwaves, Heule said that they still have airtime available.
""We're largely accepting most people still,"" he said.
However, the hours still available for broadcasting are mostly between 2 and 6 a.m., said Heule. He also said that students who wish to become DJs at the station have to train for four weeks. During that time, they learn how to operate the mixer boards, which control volume and microphones on the air, and sit in on other shows at WSUM. They also need to submit a demo tape.
But even if you don't want to be a DJ, you can still visit with Martel and Groessl.
""[They] can always drop by and bring us cookies,"" Groessl said.
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