WSUM (91.7 MHzFM) is a student radiostation in Madison, Wisconsin, affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It plays a variety of music styles with talk programming serving the campus and wider Madison community. The studios and offices are at 333 East Campus Mall on the 4th floor. WSUM is funded by the university but also accepts donations on line.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison was the founder of one of the earliest radio stations in America, WHA970 AM. But that station has a professional staff and aims its programming at Madison and surrounding towns. The university wanted to have a college radio station to help students train for broadcasting careers and to serve the campus community. That station began in 1952. Its call sign was WLHA. But it went off the air in 1993.
An effort to reinstate the station began in 1995 by a group of volunteers, including Stephen Thompson, who would later have a successful journalism career. This group submitted a budget and proposal to the UW–Madison administration.
In June 1995, Dr. James Hoyt (former chair of the UW–Madison School of Journalism) and Dave Black, a graduate student studying journalism at the university, were asked to lead the effort to bring a student radio station back to UW-Madison. Dr. Hoyt’s involvement added long-term stability to the project.
The station signed on the air in 1997 as an internet-only service. In 2001, after an application was submitted by the station, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed to a radio tower being built in the town of Montrose in southern Dane County. The proposal was met with contention from local citizens of Montrose. But after a legal battle, the tower was constructed. Terrestrial broadcasting of WSUM began at 2:22 p.m. on February 22, 2002; 22 years ago (February 22, 2002).
Since then, WSUM has expanded to 24/7 programming. The station currently has over 250 members.
Programming
Programming on WSUM is entirely free-form. Hosts are allowed to completely program their own show. Programming schedules operate on a semesterly schedule. A typical schedule consists of a variety of sports, talk shows, and music shows, including indie rock, funk, house music, folk, and community affairs. Most of the programmers are students (of any area college), although there are some community members with shows.
On Wisconsin Radio is the station's flagship public affairs program. The show covers the Badgers and everything Wisconsin, featuring the latest in political news, sports, music, culture, and community events through quality journalism, creative pre-production and energetic live performance. Previous guests include politicians Senator Tammy Baldwin, Mary Burke, and Madison mayor Paul Soglin, comedians Julian McCullough, Christopher Titus, Steve Byrne, and Adam Cayton-Holland, and former Green Bay Packer Ahman Green. The podcast debuted in February 2015.
Student Staff
Educating future broadcasters is one of the core objectives of WSUM, according to its mission statement. As such, the staff at WSUM operates as a professional radio station.[2]
The station manager is elected each year in November by the members of WSUM, while the rest of the staff is hired by the station manager. The program director is in charge of scheduling shows and training future hosts each semester. The music director is in charge of talking to promoters and planning Snake on the Lake. The production director creates on-air fare for the station.
The general manager, currently Kelsey Brannen,[3] oversees the student staff and liaises with the administration for budget and other issues.
WSUM sports
The WSUM Sports Department provides UW-Madison students with hands-on experience in the field of sports broadcasting. WSUM Sports offers numerous sports talk shows throughout the week, all of which are entirely produced and hosted by students. In addition, WSUM provides live play-by-play coverage of Wisconsin football, men's and women's basketball, and men's and women's hockey on its online sports stream. The station also has an exclusive partnership with the official website of Wisconsin athletics, to broadcast Badger softball and women's hockey games.
In January 2010, the WSUM Sports Department began an exclusive partnership to provide the on-air talent for the Big Ten Network as a part of its "Student-U" initiative.[4]
Each year, WSUM puts together a free music festival that is funded through donations and fundraising events. The event was originally known as Party in the Park and was held in James Madison Park, near the UW–Madison Campus. The festival has drawn bands from around the country including The White Stripes, Andrew WK, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.
Snake on the Lake Fest
In 2007, the festival was moved to the Union Terrace and renamed the "Snake on the Lake Fest". Rock and roll band The Ponys headlined at the 2008 Snake on the Lake Fest, drawing a large crowd to the event. Ryan Leslie headlined the 2013 SOTL. Saint Pepsi headlined the 2014 event at The Sett in Union South. Burial Hex headlined the 2015 event.
In 2016, the Snake on the Lake Fest moved its location to a local venue in Madison, the Frequency with the band Whitney has the fest's headliner.[citation needed]
