Your Album Station

College radio changed my life.

The three intense years I spent at WWSP-FM at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point were among the most enriching of my life, helping me acquire skills, both personal and professional, that were every bit as important as what I learned in the classrooms around campus. So it was with admiration and a certain delight that I read this article, Preserving College Radio, in the New York Times. One quote rang especially true for me:

"There’s a false but widespread image of college radio as a pointless, narcissistic exercise — that it’s nothing more than a crew of campus oddballs who like playing D.J., even though no one is listening.

WRVU demonstrated how wrong that image is. Not only did it command respect and interest on campus, but, thanks to a longstanding and farsighted policy, it allowed and encouraged members of the off-campus community to volunteer as D.J.’s — and so drew on the rich cultural heritage of Music City U.S.A. as well."

I am not sure if WWSP filled the sort of local niche in Stevens Point that WRVU apparently did (and does) in Nashville. Although the huge trivia contest we did every year (and still is going strong 30 years later) certainly engaged the local population. And that 54 hour spring ritual has been driven by station staff in collaboration with a local teacher and business owner who started as a community volunteer at 90FM, so there are examples of significant ways in which the station meant more to the town than just being a source of navel gazing for students. But even at that level, WWSP ("Your Album Station") filled a niche on the local airwaves, playing music and covering news/sports that were not available elsewhere on the dial.


I don't know if my experience there is indicative of the majority of student workers who passed through the studios of 90FM over the past 40 years. But the many things I did there were significant in shaping what has become of my life. Of course I played records there back in the late '70s/early '80s -- and that was, indeed, fun. But I also learned to write news copy and figured out how to present it effectively on the air. That led directly to a job in news at the local commercial station, first as a part-timer during school and later as a full-time "news editor" after graduation. Little did I know then that all that writing, which sprang from learning to ask good questions and listen carefully to replies, and all that time spent learning how to smoothly and powerfully present that material, would be the perfect training for my career in fundraising. The development profession is all about building relationships, and the ability to speak and write clearly and affectively, is at the core.

I also served as station manager for a summer and as program director for an academic year while at 90FM. These were my first tastes of management, and with it came the challenges of hiring, firing and coaching staff, representing the organization to outside constituencies; creating a programmatic vision, with procedures, guidelines and standards that would define success; and a chance to learn about my shortcomings and blindspots by making mistakes. It was my first taste of leadership and management training, done on the job in an environment that was stimulating yet safe. It perfectly augmented my classroom college education, giving practical substance to the academic program. On my way to a senior leadership position at my organization, I've been through many training programs, but none finer that those 12 months in those two roles at 90FM.

But there is another element at play, one that might be of even greater value at some level. I was in college at a time when fraternities and sororities were, generally, in a period of decline. Membership wasn't as cool as it once might have been (and perhaps is once again). So having a place like the campus radio station filled for me a much needed place of social connection, a place to hang out with like-minded people, to learn about life from those who weren't from your hometown, to find companions to share the load of a journey through a challenging and, at times, tumultuous period of personal development. In short, I made good friends at 90FM, I was exposed to all sorts new and different things and ideas -- it was a place where, on a human level, I grew up.

So it's no surprise that when I receive those periodic calls from my alma mater, I designate my gifts to support the ongoing program at WWSP. It is important to me that 90FM remain student run because that is where the value to students truly is, even if they get there by playing a stack of their favorite CDs.