WMSR

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WMSR "STAR94 HIT RADIO" is a Top 40 station based in Collinwood, Tennessee. WMSR is owned by URBan Radio Broadcasting. WMSR serves Florence, Alabama and the Tennessee River Valley.

WMSR - Redhawk Radio WMSR is Miami University's only student run radio station. The station broadcasts from Williams Hall at Miami University and can be heard on channel 63 on Miami University's campus cable as well as on the internet at www.redhawkradio.com

The Beginnings

WMSR was established in 1981 as a student club. Founded by eight members, the club originally went by the name WYCC standing for "Your Carrier Current." It was established by students who were interested in broadcast radio. The first constitution that was drafted by these students stated the club's purpose as: "to provide an opportunity for all interested Miami University students to gain laboratory experience in broadcasting and management (WYCC 1981)." The club's constitution also expressed a desire to serve the university community, "[WYCC] will provide a vehicle to disseminate information of interest to Miami University students (WYCC 1981)." Further more, the club made it a goal to, "advance the educational standard of Miami University." WYCC opened its doors to anyone that was in good academic standing with the university. The constitution established five executive officers: President (General Manager), Vice President (Station Manager), Secretary (News Director), Treasurer (Program Director), and Parliamentarian (Music Director). These officers would be elected annually within the first fifteen days of April by the general membership. The President (General Manager) was charged with the duties of being the "official representative" of the station, as well as overseeing all aspects of the station. The Vice President (Station Manager) was given the duties of presiding in the absence of the president, and to act as a representative of the station's employees. The Secretary had the powers and duties of News Director and exercised authority over news programming, format, and production, as well as oversight of a news staff. The Treasurer (Programming Director) was to record and store all income and record all disbursements. The treasurer was also in charge of all the programming and oversight of employees working in the programming department. The Parliamentarian (Music Director) was in charge of making sure that Robert's Rules of Order were followed as well as providing music to be aired on all music programs. A Sales Manager was also appointed each year by the executive board. This position was an executive board member position, but did not have the voting privileges that the other executive board members had (WYCC 1981). Meetings of the entire membership were called monthly, and the executive board met bi-weekly. Staff positions were created, these positions included: sales, announcing, programming, music, and news. The first amendment to the constitution was made on November 3, 1981. This amendment created the position of Executive Secretary who was to serve as a public relations representative to the university, other student organizations, and non-university affiliated organizations (WYCC 1981). In 1983 WYCC became an officially recognized student organization (WMSR 1994). WMUB, Miami Universities, National Public Radio station donated the equipment for WYCC to operate. The station first broadcasted through carrier current, which is a low frequency current that was available through the campus cable television. In its first official year WYCC broadcasted out of Shriver or as it was know then as the "Res (Haluch 1998)." The early tone of the station can be described as professional, with practical restrictions on the DJs. DJs on the station were allowed to have guests on their shows, up to two people, as long as it was pre-approved by the management. Shows were regulated to a show log that told DJs when to play advertisements, music, or pause to talk. Student DJs were not allowed to "editorialize" without consent of the executive board. The programming was set in two hour blocks from 10am to midnight. Some of the very early programming that WYCC featured was guest DJs on Sunday nights, progressive rock shows, jazz and blues shows, and an artist spotlight show (WYCC 1985). In 1984 WYCC moved its transmitter from Tappan Hall to Peabody Hall, and also added another transmitter in Peabody hall. In 1985 WYCC was given its first budget from the Student Affairs Council. $1,925 was appropriated to the radio station. With this money a transmitter was added to Dennison Hall. At the end of that year the executive board was expanded. The new positions were Commercial Manager, Production Director, and Chief Engineer. The Commercial Manager emerged from the original Sales Manager position (WYCC 1986). The person with this job was in charge of a sales team that would gain advertising revenue from Oxford area merchants. The Production Director was in charge of producing audio clip material that could be played on-air. This type of material included news clips, commercials, and promotional spots. The Chief Engineer was responsible for all the technical aspects of the station, and was to make sure that the station was always in broadcasting shape. The way that these members were selected was also changed. The General Manager, Business Manager, and Programming Director were all elected by the general membership; while the rest of the executive members were selected through an application process (WYCC 1986). Between 1986 and 1988 WYCC expanded to be in Anderson, Porter, Hahne, Havinghurst, Morris, and Thompson Halls. By the 1988-1989 school year the Student Affairs Committee appropriations had grown to $7,320. This would be the beginning of great change for WYCC (WMSR 1990a).

An Era of Changes

The 1988-1989 school year was the beginning of a new era for WYCC. The first of these major changes was the name. WYCC was disbanded and the new name became WMSR, which stood for Miami Student Radio. As drastic a change as that was, a much more important change took place the next year. WMSR packed up its equipment and left its first home in Shriver, and moved to Sawyer Hall on Western Campus. The management of the station worked to make the station more of a business, as well as expand the station's listenership to more resident halls. An advertising department was added with ad managers and ad representatives. The positions of Communication Director and Social Director were also added to the executive board (WMSR 1990b). WMSR also saw a major growth in the amount of members. There were 65 people that were members during the 1984-1985 school year. In the 1989-1990 school year WMSR had 165 members. Along with more members, WMSR expanded its programming (WMSR 1990b). Each day WMSR was on-air at 8am and was off the air at midnight, adding two extra hours onto its programming. An hour was also added on to the weekend broadcasts, extending the day to 1am instead of the normal midnight. The music directors of WMSR had established contact with at least 100 record labels of all musical genres. The programming also included syndicated shows such as, "Bug Radio" and "Live at The Knitting Factory (WMSR 1990c)." With all the expansion that WMSR was going through, there were still some problems that the station was facing. Those problems had to do with how the radio station related to the students of the university, and how the executive board members related to the general members. Being a radio station that broadcasted only on carrier current and campus cable, it was hard for WMSR to gain listeners. In order to increase the awareness around campus WMSR broadcasted Cleveland Caveliers games, as well as sponsored a concert at Hall Auditorium (WMSR 1990c). The band that played was Royal Crescent Mob, a Midwestern band that blended punk and funk music, and reached the height of its popularity in the early nineties (VH1.com, 2006). In order to better reach the increasing number of general members that WMSR was gaining, the executive board decided to publish a newsletter. The "WMSR Revolution" was born in the middle of October 1991. This was a great way for the members of the executive board to promote the station and stay in touch with the general members. Early copies of the Revolution included concert reviews, WMSR play lists, pop culture news, a DJ spotlight, and a list of upcoming music releases (WMSR 1991). In the 1992-1993 school year WMSR continued to grow. In a memorandum written on May 3, 1993, WMSR advisor Bruce Drushel wrote an update on the station's progress. He reports that WMSR recorded a record membership of 225 students in the fall semester. He also explains that WMSR went through great lengths to broaden its reach, expanding into three extra residence halls and equipping eleven dining halls with sounds systems that would be able to broadcast the station. The station continued to work to improve its quality of broadcasting. The news and sports staff were coving campus news and sporting events. DJs were also required to submit tapes of their shows for review by the executive board (Drushel 1993). In 1994 WMSR was experiencing some serious growing pains. The space that was being utilized in Sawyer Hall was not suiting the needs of the growing station. During the spring semester a search for new facilities to call home was taking place. The option of sharing space with the Miami Student was investigated, as well as a potential for a move to Withrow Hall (Kerber 1994). In the fall semester of 1994 WMSR moved from Sawyer Hall to a small office in 229 MacMillian Hall. One major change in station policy that took effect in the 1994-1995 school year was that the WMSR executive board imposed monetary fines on DJs who missed shifts (WMSR 1995). This policy would be abandoned in the following school year. In the years following WMSR operated out of the small studio in MacMillian Hall. There were the usual problems with motivating both general members and executive board members. The leadership of WMSR struggled to get their vision for the station realized. The possibility of getting an FM signal was investigated while the station continued to look for a permanent home. There was also a search during the spring of 1997 for a new faculty advisor (Bowman 1997). The outcome of that search was to appoint Dr. Michael Curme as the new faculty advisor to the station. It was also around the 1997 school year that Miami University expanded its cable service to the dorms, and WMSR, which had a spot on the old campus cable, gained a new more prominent spot on campus cable (Kollin 2000).

Years of Stability

During the summer of 1997 plans were approved for the construction of a new studio for WMSR on the second floor of WMSR. In the spring of 1998 the station moved into the new facilities which included an on-air studio, production studio, and an office (WMSR 1999). The station worked hard to become more of an active participant in campus activities. In October of 1998 WMSR sponsored its first annual Frisbee Golf Tournament. The station donated "over $450 for the United Way of Oxford (Charity tournament 1998)." Later that month WMSR teamed up with Program Board to sponsor a concert by Baghdad Jones and the Freddy Jones Band (Gunn, 1998). The concert, held on Cook Feild was attended by nearly 1,500 students and was part of Miami University's "make a difference week (Haluch, 1999)." Miami's athletic department also began to work closely with WMSR to get Miami athletics broadcasted. This is a relationship that still continues today and has been very beneficial to the radio station. Although WMSR was very productive into the new century, there was some what of a decline in the station's visibility around campus. 2000 was the first year that WMSR sent representatives to the College Music Journal's annual music conference in New York City. This experience was, and continues to be a great learning experience for participants, as well as a bonding experience for the executive board members. In 2002 Student Senate passed a resolution resolving that dinning halls should broadcast WMSR during "regular hours of operations (Associated Student Government 2002)." If this resolution was actually carried out it was only for a short time as WMSR has not been in dining halls since at least fall 2003. In the spring semester of the 2002-2003 school year WMSR hosted its first date auction for charity. Still one of the largest student organizations at Miami University, WMSR was experiencing problems with listenership, dedication, and involvement by the general members and executive board members. The lack of professionalism of some of the executive officers and a number of miscues by DJs hurt the station's reputation. The second annual date auction was held in the spring of 2004. In the 2004-2005 school year WMSR continued to struggle to gain listenership as its reputation gradually improved. There was no date auction that school year. In 2006 the date auction was resumed and WMSR began to work to improve its image. Participation continued to be a problem and continues into this school year. WMSR is currently working to promote itself to the general student body and increase its presence on Miami's campus.