WWFM

[BigJon@Work]

I've been listening to WWFM on my commute almost every day. Sadly they don't reach my house. I feel like I am listening to B.com. They don't have that attitide. It is more of a teaching station where the DJs try to help you learn more about the songs. http//www.wwfm.org/

Anybody else listen to them?

[Trumpetmaster]

*ig,
No - Will have to check out the station when I get back to NY.
TM

[DavidS]

I just tuned into them online - Haydn Symphony no 11, and other interesting stuff.
I don't see any "playlist", "now playing", or "music log" information on the Website (apart from a schedule of who presents which programme, in general terms) - you just have to catch the announcers themselves between the pieces broadcast.

[Nicole Marie]

Based on what I read at their web site they are Public Broadcasting based out of Mercer County Community College in Trenton NJ. CPB has been on a bit of a trend recently. They have been "picking up" college stations and broadcasting CPB programs over the college station signal.

(It happened here in CT with Wesleyan - and boy did the poo hit the fan when CT PB walked in and took over Wesleyan University station WESU 88.1! College students were ticked and you don't want to tick off a Wesleyan student... they live to protest. Report from the Wesleyan Argus paper on WESU/NPR deal: "STUDENTS REVOLT: On a rainy afternoon in early December, over 250 students blockaded President Bennet in his South College office while issuing a variety of demands related to a perceived lack of student input in administrative decisions. Hundreds of students participated in two tense and sometimes chaotic forums with administrators voicing a litany of student concerns including the WESU/NPR deal, chalking, gender-neutral housing, hate crimes, the need for a multi-cultural dean and an ethnic studies major."

The way NPR took over WESU was very odd. The new pres of Wesleyan was once on the board for CT Public Broadcasting and changed the college outline and rules on WESU, thus making it "legal" for NPR to walk in and take over the college station. Students were ticked! I no longer listen to 88.1.

But back to WWFM. They look like another college station gone NPR. NPR station have dumped most of there classical programming in exchange for the classical satellite feed. Few NPR stations have live classical DJ's. Listeners in most states do not fund their local NPR station enough to pay for classical DJ's and maintain a library. So NPR set up the satallite feed a few years back for the stations that still wanted the classical programming but had limited funds. (CT PB has only one live classical DJ left, the rest of the classical programming is satellite. For those that wonder John Nowacki was moved to news.) Based on WWFM's program sched. they have some live bodies mixed in with mostly the programs from NPR's classical satellite feed.

[BigJon@Work]

Ah, that makes sense. I thought they were all live bodies. None the less, a big improvement over the other local classical station which never met a violin solo or piano solo that it didn't love.

Those Weslyan students sound like a fun bunch. Can you explain why the students were upset about chalking?

<small>[ 09-23-2005, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: BigJon@Work ]</small>

[NateBrei]

Omaha has two public broadcasting stations. One is an NPR station (KIOS.org) licensed to the Omaha Public Schools. That's the one that has all the news & informational talk programs. The other is licensed to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is a live DJ programmed mostly classical station (with Fri. & Sat. evening/night jazz programs). We're pretty lucky to have both formats.

Nate

[Nicole Marie]

Not sure about the chalking thing. I didn't follow that story.

Wesleyan students are a ton of fun really. If you go to Wesleyan you are more than likely entering into a field in civil liberties, law, ethnic studies, environmental, social work, international etc. I went down to DC with a bunch of Wesleyan friends during the March for Women's Lives. What a fun time!

[barfle]

My experience in broadcasting is from a campus radio station from the days before NPR (yes, there was radio in the days before NPR).

Washington State University had a 5000W AM station that broadcast mostly classical music, programmed by someone other than the students providing the on-air "talent."

Occasionally we would have a remote feed, but there was always a live body around whenever the station was on the air. We might be in the newsroom doing "rip and read" editing from the teletype news feeds, but the monitor speaker would let us know if there was something that neeeded tending to.

It was a heck of a lot of fun. I learned a lot, and it's a darn shame that college stations aren't being used to teach students how to work a radio station.

I have a friend who is the engineer for a college station in New Hampster. About half the time, the station is on autopilot (sort of like beethoven.com), but they have a studio and it looks like a lot of the time, there's a student running the board. Of course, the administration could change their mind at any time.

[OperaTenor]

I'm still trying to figure out what it stands for.

Let's see, World Wrestling Federation Music?

[barfle]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
I'm still trying to figure out what it stands for.

Let's see, World Wrestling Federation Music?

We Want Fine Music, silly.

What does KGB stand for?

[piqaboo]

Kudzu, Good Buddy!

[Nicole Marie]

Barfle-

Not all college stations have gone the way of CPB. http://www.wwuh.org/ The college station that taught me everything I really needed to know about radio is still student run and a great station. The University of Hartford really stands behind the station and funds it amazingly well. As long as the university/college wants to support their radio stations, you can get amazing programming.

[barfle]

Originally posted by piqaboo:
Kudzu, Good Buddy!

What would a Californian know about kudzu?

[barfle]

YRH, I'll admit that I know very little about what goes on at a radio station these days. My little bit of experience was taking place forty years ago, and even the idea of FM was fairly young. Both stations at Washington State University were AM, and only one of them could be heard off-campus. They had a TV station, but it was black-and-white only.

We had students announcing the varsity games, running the control board, announcing, cueing up records (there's a technique to it) and reel-to reel tapes (there's a technique to that, too), recording commercials, logging transmitter readings, and even locking the door at night. Of course, everything was analog - digital was a dream in the minds of a few, and if there was anything close to the Internet, I suspect it ran at 300 baud. That would be the AP and UPI teletypes.

I found that I did not have a career in the industry, which was disappointing, but then I didn't have a career as a race car driver, either. I don't feel the time was wasted, though. I discovered many things about music that has stayed with me to this day, and had a lot of fun.

[piqaboo]

Originally posted by barfle:

Originally posted by piqaboo:
[b] Kudzu, Good Buddy!

What would a Californian know about kudzu? [/b]

That stuff is legendary!

[OperaTenor]

Originally posted by barfle:
My little bit of experience was taking place forty years ago, and even the idea of FM was fairly young. Both stations at Washington State University were AM, and only one of them could be heard off-campus. They had a TV station, but it was black-and-white only.

Of course, everything was analog - digital was a dream in the minds of a few, and if there was anything close to the Internet, I suspect it ran at 300 baud. That would be the AP and UPI teletypes.

Whose job was it to wind the Victrola?



<small>[ 10-03-2005, 05:52 PM: Message edited by: OperaTenor ]</small>

[barfle]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
Whose job was it to wind the Victrola?

It was Washington State University. It was KUGR powered.

[ai4i]

Originally posted by BigJon@Work:
...about the songs.

Songs?!

[BigJon@Work]

Well, tunes didn't sound right, pieces always sounds wrong to me, I guess songs is bad since it denotes vocal parts. Musics? :p