Radio

WRUR Dials Up Partnership

BROADCAST NEWS: Lindsey ’08, WRUR’s general manager, helped work on a new partnership between the campus station and Rochester’s public radio affiliate WXXI.

C. Mike Lindsey ’08 is bringing a new generation of listeners to WRUR, many of whom have never set foot on Rochester’s River Campus.

As general manager, Lindsey is helping to guide the nearly 60-year-old campus radio station as it completes a new partnership with Rochester’s public radio station WXXI that will balance student-run programming with offerings from National Public Radio while greatly expanding the reach of the station’s signal.

One step in the transition has been moving WRUR’s format, which traditionally has been known as “free form,” to a mixture of musical genres known as “adult album alternative,” or AAA.

“[It’s] what college students like that their parents would dig as well,” says Lindsey.

The new initiative is the latest evolution in WRUR’s long history as the University’s radio station. Begun by students in 1948, the station has had a broadcast booth in Todd Union since 1955, when the men’s and women’s colleges were merged on the River Campus.

Under the partnership between WXXI Public Broadcasting Council and the University, the two stations will collaborate on programming and share resources to enhance broadcasting opportunities for listeners in and around the Rochester area and for students on campus.

As part of the agreement, WRUR’s antenna will be relocated to WXXI’s broadcast tower on Pinnacle Hill in southeast Rochester.

The move increases the station’s range to a 50-mile radius south of Rochester, introducing about 120,000 new listeners to WRUR who had previously been unable to tune in to Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and other NPR programs on an FM station.

WXXI also will provide an experienced staff member to work as an advisor to the WRUR staff, offer broadcasting courses to students, create internship and employment opportunities, and provide technical assistance to give students the tools they need to enhance the station’s quality.

Jody Asbury, the dean of students for the College, says the broadcast courses, in particular, highlight the connections between the curriculum and student opportunities. Students can take the courses and then apply their skills to real-life situations at the radio station.

“It is an opportunity to take learning to another level,” she says.

Susan Rogers ’06W (PhD), executive vice president of WXXI Public Broadcasting, said the goal of the partnership is to improve the radio station’s service to the community while offering support to the student staff at WRUR.

“It’s nice to work with the students. They bring us a perspective that’s very useful,” Rogers says. “They are the listeners of the future.”

Lindsey says the working relationship with WXXI is helping students at the station strike a balance between news and music programming and establish a consistent broadcast schedule, an effort that he hopes will suit a diverse audience that tunes in routinely for specific programs.

Lindsey admits some challenges remain. The radio station is working to increase on-campus listenership and to remind students, faculty, and staff of what WRUR has to offer.

“The focus of this year is to get more into the public eye,” Lindsey says.

To do that, the station will continue to make its radio broadcast available on the Web at www.wrur.rochester.edu. Lindsey says he also hopes to work more closely with other campus media outlets like URTV and the Campus Times to promote groups and events on campus.

WRUR plans to provide students a chance to get hands-on experience in all aspects of radio broadcasting.

“This partnership has allowed us to do so much more,” Lindsey says. “It has opened up many opportunities.”

—Enid Arbelo