WMSE
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WMSE | |
 |
|
| Broadcast area | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Branding | "WMSE 91.7FM" |
| First air date | March 17, 1981 (OFFICIALLY at 91.7 FM, at 1000 Watts. The station had been broadcasting "enginering test" prior to the first on-air date. March 17th was chosen as St. Patrick is the Patron Saint of Engineers at MSOE, and his feast day marks a week-long celebration there.) |
| Frequency | 91.7 (MHz) |
| Format | alternative rock, Blues, Jazz, New World |
| ERP | 3,200 Watts |
| Class | A |
| Callsign meaning | Milwaukee School of Engineering |
| Owner | Milwaukee School of Engineering |
| Website | www.wmse.org |
WMSE (91.7 FM) is a non-commercial student-run radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin playing a wide-ranging eclectic music format run by volunteer DJ's. The station is part of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE).
Contents |
[edit] History
In September of 1922, The School of Engineering of Milwaukee built the city's fourth radio station. On October 23 of that year, WIAO went on the air from the school's Marshall Street building. Transmission was at a wavelength of 360 meters (833.3 kHz) with 100 Watts of power. In January of 1924, The Wisconsin News, a local daily evening newspaper, owned by the Hearst Corporation, began programming the station on a part time basis. At 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 9, 1928, the station shifted to a wavelength of 246 meters (1220 kHz). On August 18 of that year, WIAO changed its call letters to WSOE. On December 31, the school announced that it had purchased all of the equipment of WCBD in Zion, Illinois (one of the first religious stations, which also preached "flat earth" information). The purchase included a new, more powerful transmitter and twin towers, which were mounted atop the school's Oneida (now Wells) Street building. The new WSOE was dedicated on July 8, 1925. At that time, The Wisconsin News took over programming the station full time, while the School of Engineering took care of technical operations.
At 3:00 a.m. eastern time on June 15, 1927, the first of two major reassignments of radio frequencies made by the new Federal Radio Commission (FRC) took effect. The reassignment affected almost 600 of the nation’s 694 radio stations. WSOE was shifted to a wavelength of 270 meters (1110 kHz).
In November of 1927, WSOE was purchased by The Wisconsin News. Around that time, the station began sharing time with WHAD, Marquette University's station. The call letters were changed to WISN on January 23, 1928. On November 11 of that year, the FRC shifted WISN to a wavelength of 267 meters (1120 kHz). It was also ordered to share time with WHAD, with WISN receiving 6/7 of the available time, and WHAD 1/7. This was a part of the FRC's General Order 40, which established certain "clear channel" stations. Others had to share time. Although Hearst owned the station, the studios, transmitter and towers were still located at the School of Engineering, which continued to operate the station for the newspaper. That changed in 1932. Hearst also owned the morning newspaper, The Milwaukee Sentinel, and the radio station offices and studio were relocated to its building on Michigan Avenue in downtown Milwaukee. That same year, the School of Engineering reorganized itself as a non-profit corporation, and changed its name to the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). It moved from the Oneida Street building after purchasing the German-English Academy on North Broadway. As a consequence, the WISN transmitter and tower were relocated to the top of the Public Service Building, and the newspaper took over operational responsibility for WISN.
In 1969, MSOE students signed on another station with the call letters WSOE. This time, it was a carrier current AM station. In July of 1978, MSOE students applied for an FM construction permit for an educational station on 91.7 MHz -- although the application was in the name of the school's board of regents. The school received a construction permit on December 12, 1979.
From about 1978 to 1980, WSOE operated as a 5 watt unlicensed FM station. It lasted until 1980, when it shut down to clear the way for MSOE's very own 1000-watt FM station, WMSE. Programming consisted of an eclectic mix of freeform programming from volunteer DJs. Most DJs have three-hour time slots, and program as they wish, mostly within their chosen formats. In 1994, the station upgraded its equipment and increased its power to 3200 watts.
In the late 1990s the station expanded its potential audience through its website, wmse.org, which supports live streaming audio as well as downloadable archives. In 1999, the university cut the station's funding, and it is now entirely listener and sponsor supported, with most money being raised by twice-yearly on-air fund drives.
Since 2003, WMSE has released a series of CD compilations featuring performances recorded live in the station's studio.
[edit] Fund Raising Events
Since WMSE is listener supported the station allots two weeks out of the year, one in the fall and one in the spring in which listeners can pledge.
They also hold an annual Rockabilly Chili Contest and a Food Slam Competition that many local businesses participate in.
For their 25th anniversary they made available several limited edition prints of works by local artists.
Though there are designated times for donation, WMSE accepts any donations at any time in the year.
[edit] Projects
In 2004, WMSE launched the Milwaukee Sound Environment (M.S.E.) Project, a music resource for Milwaukee area artists and listeners. Established with a grant from the Milwaukee Arts Board and the Wisconsin Arts Board,The M.S.E. Project web site includes music news, Mp3’s from local artists, and FAQs for bands interested in getting their music heard on the station. The project also established a dedicated time-slot for live in-studio performances.
[edit] External links
- WMSE
- Milwaukee Sound Environment
- "WMSE Cracks a Quarter-Century" Shepherd Express, August 16, 2006
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WMSE
 |
This article about a radio station in Wisconsin is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
| FM radio stations in the Milwaukee-Racine, Wisconsin market (Arbitron #36) | |
|---|---|
| By frequency: |
87.7¹ | 88.1 | 88.9 | 89.7 | 90.7 | 91.7 | 92.1 | 92.5 | 93.3 | 94.1 | 94.5 | 95.1 | 95.7 | 96.5 | 96.9 | 97.3 | 98.3 | 99.1 | 100.1 | 100.7 | 102.1 | 102.9 | 103.7 | 104.5 | 104.7 | 104.9 | 105.3 | 106.1 | 106.9 | 107.7 |
| By callsign: |
WBWI | WCCX | WDDW | WEZY | WFMR | WFZH | WHAD | WHQG | WIIL | WITI¹ | WJJO | WJMR | WJZI | WKKV | WKLH | WKTI | WLUM | WPJP | WMIL | WMSE | WMWK | WMYX | WQBW | WRIT | WTKM | WUWM | WVCY | WWDV | WXSS | WYMS ¹Audio for TV Channel 6 (WITI/Fox) |
