By Alyssa Schuyler, Staff Writer
The Saint Leo Radio, WSLU, is going on two and a half years of air time, but most of that air time has been spent on the web. Shows include: Tolken Power Hour, The Asylum, Saint Leo Sports, The Appetizer, The Warehouse, The Breakdown, The Wasteland, BOSS Radio, and The Waterpipe. Radio personalities include: Tolken, Chris, Christina, J-Rod, Justin, Joe, Brittany, Britton, DJ Inferno and DJ Mars.
The WSLU radio broadcasts a variety of music and the hosts’ segments can talk about anything, within good measure. Common topics are sports, news, current events, and campus events.
The WSLU radio is located in the Education Resource Center, and since they are in the only recording studio on campus they share their equipment with other organizations, so sometimes the shows may be broadcasted late, or not at all. But when the new, highly anticipated building for the School of Business is completed, the WSLU radio team will be making the move from the lower level of the Cannon Library to the first level of the Business School. Members of the WSLU radio are extremely excited for the move, even if it is over a year away.
At the moment listeners can hear shows broadcasted by the WSLU radio online via shoutcast.com with the keyword Saint Leo or by going onto their websitewsluradio.webs.com. However, the Saint Leo’s radio advisor, John Mouw is checking everyday with the Federal Communications Commission for when the Saint Leo radio will be given a filing window. This will allow the student run radio station to be heard for 15 to 20miles outside of campus on the designated radio stations FM 100.1 and AM 1620.
Just this semester, the WSLU radio has tripled the amount of shows broadcasted on air. Shows on Monday start at eight p.m. and run through midnight, with a break at nine p.m. Tuesday shows start at six p.m. and can be heard through 11 p.m., with a break at seven and nine p.m. Wednesday and Thursday each broadcast four shows. Wednesday’s shows start at seven and include one break at nine p.m., while Thursday’s shows start at three with a break from four through five p.m. and eight through nine p.m. Friday hosts three shows with the first slot at three p.m., there are broadcasting breaks at four p.m. and from six through seven p.m. Saturday streams one show at two p.m.
Each DJ or radio personality decides what type of music to play on their show. All music played on the shows broadcasted is approved and the artists are paid royalties through American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music, Inc. Students are encouraged by the DJs during shows to call in to make requests.
“Even though you may hear things you may hear some stuff you may be familiar with, this idea is to hear stuff you don’t hear on mainstream radio,” said Mouw.
The WSLU radio team is working hard to increase awareness, and they are working with the Lion’s Lair to pipe their shows in. Also, they are working on streaming athletic events live. They also plan to stream events that are hosted in the boardroom through the radio. These are all exciting things to come, hopefully in the coming semester. Also next semester, the WSLU radio will be hosting a Battle of the Bands, but more information will be released on this event when it comes closer.
The students involved in the WSLU have learned a lot about communication, they are unable to use facial expressions or hand gestures as in usual interaction, and by working in the radio setting they have learned ways to get messages across without those ways of communication. They have also furthered their technological knowledge and leadership skills. The WSLU advisor, Mouw, hopes that the students involved in this program learn teamwork and technological knowledge.
The WSLU radio team is working hard this year to bring music and up to date news to their listeners and make it convenient. But the FCC passed the Low Power Radio Act and now the WSLU is waiting for an ‘ok’ so they can start to broadcast through the radio so listeners can take the shows on the road. The Low Power Radio Act is directed at FM frequencies under 100, but some worry about radio interference, so a radio station also has to own frequencies around its own frequency. There is no certain time for when the FCC will open the filing window for Florida, so for now keep one ear on the computer broadcasting system and the other scanning for a signal.
