WESU

WESU
City Middletown, Connecticut
Branding All the Way Left 88.1 FM
Frequency 88.1 MHz
First air date 1939
Format FreeForm
Audience share 0.2 (FALL 2007, RRC[1])
ERP 6,000 watts
HAAT 11.0 meters
Class A
Facility ID 71537
Transmitter coordinates 41°33′12″N 72°39′29″W / 41.55333°N 72.65806°W / 41.55333; -72.65806
Callsign meaning 'WES'leyan 'U'niversity[2]
Affiliations Pacifica Radio Network
Owner Wesleyan University
Website wesufm.org

WESU is a college/community radio station in the United States, founded in 1939 as an unofficial AM carrier current station in the basement of Clark Hall. Upon gaining recognition, the station operated under the callsign WES. In the 1950s, the call-sign became WESU. Then in the 1960s it operated an FM station at 88.1 MHz, eventually abandoning the AM station. Between 1967 and 1990, WESU was owned and operated by an independent student group, the now-defunct Wesleyan Broadcast Association, Inc.[3] It is owned by trustees of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and operated by students and community volunteers. In 1999, the station moved offices and studios from the basement of Clark Hall to its current location next the Wesleyan Argus on 45 Broad Street.

WESU operates 24 hours a day. Until 2004, WESU's format had been entirely freeform, with DJs and student staff having complete freedom to program what they will. The university had announced its intent to seek an affiliation with National Public Radio, and to drastically change the station's format.[4] Douglas Bennet, then President of the University, was a former president of NPR. The station now broadcasts an NPR feed from WSHU, the college station of Sacred Heart University, for several hours a day. For the remainder of the broadcast day, WESU continues to operate as a free-form station.[5]

WESU broadcasts at 88.1 MHz FM, with 6,000 Watts ERP, circular polarization, from the top of Wesleyan University's Exley Science Center in Middletown, Connecticut. The programming is a mix of freeform, National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio Network Programs. WESU also broadcasts Democracy Now! and Free Speech Radio News from the Pacifica Radio Network. The radio station was shown on the show "How I Met Your Mother". At the end of the episode "The Possimpible", Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) is deleting his work experience from the radio station from his resume.

WESU Magazine

WESU Magazine is a music and radio themed publication created by Wesleyan students, Middletown community members, and WESU DJs. This magazine creates a look for freeform radio by placing works into print. It is a method for creating independent media that promotes the value of a non-commercial college radio station.

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hartford-NewBritain-Middltown Market Ratings". Radio Research Consortium (Arbitron). Fall 2007.
  2. ↑ "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web.
  3. ↑ "WESU History". WESU. Archived from the original on 2008-04-16. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
  4. ↑ 23 November 2004 WESU press release, originally on the WESU-FM site; archived on the Internet Archive, 30 April 2008, retrieved 21 February 2011.
  5. ↑ (Home page), WESU-FM.

External links

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