WIDB
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WIDB is the student-run radio station at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The station is available only on campus or over the internet at widb.net.
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[edit] Format
WIDB currently operates a dual radio format consisting of The Revolution and The Remedy.
The Revolution is an alternative rock radio station featuring music from artists such as Big D and the Kids Table, Cake (band), and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.
The Remedy is a hip hop radio station featuring music from artists such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, De La Soul, and Handsome Boy Modeling School.
Both stations also feature broadcasts of several of the University's athletics programs.
[edit] History
WIDB launched in the Spring of 1970 in the basement of the Wright I residence Hall at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Initially, WIDB was only accessible via an AM radio signal passed as Common Carrier in the university power grid. WIDB was later inserted into the university's cable system (at 104.3FM), simulcasted on university cable barker channels, and finally streamed into the Internet. WIDB also can be heard in the corridors of the SIUC Student Center (student union).
Because WIDB is not a broadcast station, it does not possess a license from the Federal Communications Commission. Various attempts to apply for a broadcast license have been complicated by the university's lack of interest (SIU already is a licensee of WSIU-FM and WUSI-FM (simulcasts WSIU-FM with tower near Olney, Illinois) and alleged legal threats from local commercial radio stations. In addition, the only available non-commercial FM radio frequency was awarded by the FCC to WDBX in Carbondale, Illinois.
WIDB is recognized as a Registered Student Organization of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. WIDB is directly operated by students of Southern Illinois University and supervised by faculty advisers (usually from Radio/Television professors from SIU's College of Mass Communication and Media Arts (CMCMA)).
[edit] WIDB in Film
In the film, Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), WIDB is featured as a television station. The film's director and producer, Robert K. Weiss, is a graduate of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
[edit] Technical
WIDB operates out of a large space on the fourth floor of the SIUC Student Center. The stream is broadcast via Icecast and automation is handled by the Stewie Radio Automation Project which was written for WIDB in 2000 by Jason Schindler, the acting program director.
