{"id":35360,"date":"2016-03-08T13:58:03","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T19:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=35360"},"modified":"2016-03-08T13:58:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T19:58:03","slug":"chicago-states-wcsu-radio-station-is-schools-hidden-treasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-states-wcsu-radio-station-is-schools-hidden-treasure\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago State’s WCSU radio station is school’s hidden treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Branden Hampton <\/strong><\/p>\n

Chicago State University student and campus radio personality Thomas Hibbler says the station plays a unique role in the radio broadcasting arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not locked into a specific genre of music. We\u2019re not stuck into the same rotation in the music that we play,\u201d Hibbler said. \u201cHere at WCSU radio, we also have the opportunity to kind of be a platform for new independent artists that are coming up locally. National artists that are not signed, but are looking for an opportunity to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hibbler said that WCSU helped a local female artist named Tink gain fans and she is now a national artist on music producer Timbaland\u2019s Mosley Music Group Label. Giving new artists exposure is just one of the reasons WCSU is unique.<\/p>\n

CSU’s Department of Communication, Media Arts and Theatre established WCSU in 1994 and it is one of the few college iHeartRadio stations in the State of Illinois, according to WCSU station manager Troi Tyler. iHeartRadio is an Internet radio platform that streams stations live.<\/p>\n

WCSU has been on the iHeartRadio signal since 2012, but originally started off as an AM radio station on 610AM.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have 30 students that are on the air. The radio station plays every genre of music. So you\u2019ve got jazz, rock, R&B, hip-hop, classical, sports, talk radio, you name it. It\u2019s on the air at WCSU,\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n

Recruit, Register and Retain<\/h2>\n

In a campus radio station meeting, Reginald Miles, a broadcast instructor at CSU, told students that in addition to entertaining, the primary responsibility of WCSU is to recruit, register and retain students–both for the station and for college in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe three Rs. You never forget that. You want to hook that next student,\u201d\u00a0 Miles preached. \u201cThe first thing that you\u2019re doing is being a recruiter while you\u2019re on the air. We need people in your seats. A degree here is still a great degree here, that they can also use to go further at our sister institution Governors State University.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WCSU
The WCSU radio station banner hangs on the wall in one of the radio production studios at Chicago State. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miles also mentioned that college radio stations should be innovators and creators of new formats instead of duplicating commercial radio formats. He cited his own experience as a college radio disc jockey in the ’70s, where he created a format called \u2018The best variety of hits and dusties.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to teach them the structures of commercial radio, but I think the development of that student\u2019s individual personality should come first,\u201d Miles said.<\/p>\n

Accomplishing dreams with new technology<\/h2>\n

With a new automation system from Broadcast Software International called Simian, WCSU’s staff will be able to run the station on a 24-hour basis from a single location with both live and automated programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a main studio and we have a remote studio that\u2019s located in the rotunda building. We will be in a network where from a single location, we can look and see what\u2019s on the hard drive of both machines. Both of those machines will have the same things on them and they\u2019ll be loaded from one place,\u201d Miles said.<\/p>\n

\"WCSU<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The WCSU main radio studio located in Douglas Hall at Chicago State University. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Professor<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Professor Reginald Miles speaks to students at a WCSU campus radio staff meeting. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Kadeen<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
WCSU Program Director Kadeen Wheeler and station manager Troi Tyler speak to students at a WCSU radio station staff meeting. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"WCSU<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A sign near WCSU’s main production studio lights up notifying staff that someone is on air. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"WCSU<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A WCSU radio personality poses for a picture in the remote studio during a radio broadcast in the Cordell Reed Student Union Rotunda. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Reginald<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Professor Reginald Miles installs the new Simian automation system at the main WCSU production studio in Douglas Hall. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Felix<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Chicago State student and radio personality Felix Mitchell sits in the WCSU radio studio preparing for his radio show. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"The<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A motivational sign posted in WCSU’s production facilities. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some students at WCSU expressed why they got involved with radio and their future career goals.<\/p>\n

Kadeen Wheeler, program director for WCSU and also a senior communications major, said that after working on the student radio station at Kennedy-King College, he kept pursuing his passion for radio at CSU and wants a successful career in broadcasting.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy best moment was when someone hit me up on Facebook and told me that they were listening to the show,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI just felt like that was a good moment for me when somebody told me, \u2018Hey I\u2019m listening to you right now,\u2019 and I don\u2019t even know who that person was. That kind of made my day actually,\u201d Wheeler said.<\/p>\n

[soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/203306949″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” \/]<\/p>\n

An audio snippet of Kadeen Wheeler’s past radio show broadcasted on WCSU. Wheeler’s current show ‘The Naked Truth with Kadeen Wheeler’ is aired on Mondays from 2 p.m.- 4 p.m. on WCSU and streamed live on iHeartRadio. (Audio Courtesy of Kadeen Wheeler)<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

WCSU President Marsha Johnson said that being involved with the radio station allowed her to conquer her fear of being able to talk and also to live her dream of becoming a broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like about this radio station is the diversity. We have my show, which is called \u2018The Half Mix Show.\u2019 It\u2019s me, someone who is over 40 [years old] and my co-host who is like 20 [years old],\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe play a genre of music that is geared toward her side as well as mine, as far as age goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson also mentioned that being able to work with legendary industry professionals at WCSU, such as local V103 radio personalities Troi Tyler and Herb Kent, and also broadcast instructor Miles, makes her experience at WCSU invaluable.<\/p>\n

Johnson cited the success of former WCSU program director and recent CSU alumni Sam Franklin as motivation to work in the radio industry. Franklin is currently board operator and co-producer for \u2018The Chicago Morning Takeover Show,\u2019 which is aired on WGCI\u2019s 107.5FM and Herb Kent\u2019s weekend show on V103, which is aired on 102.7FM.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat gives us hope as radio personalities like, \u2018Oh wow, look at what he\u2019s doing.\u2019 That\u2019s success right there from him starting here at WCSU radio,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Chicago state student and radio personality Felix Mitchell sits in the WCSU radio studio preparing for his show. (Branden Hampton\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Branden Hampton Chicago State University student and campus radio personality Thomas Hibbler says the station plays a unique role in the radio broadcasting arena. \u201cWe\u2019re not locked into a specific genre of music. We\u2019re not stuck into the same rotation in the music that we play,\u201d Hibbler said. \u201cHere at WCSU radio, we also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":35390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,675,585],"tags":[1449,2071,2074,2073,2072],"class_list":["post-35360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-chicago-state-univeristy","tag-csu","tag-timbaland","tag-tink","tag-wcsu"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago State's WCSU radio station is school's hidden treasure - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-states-wcsu-radio-station-is-schools-hidden-treasure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago State's WCSU radio station is school's hidden treasure - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Branden Hampton Chicago State University student and campus radio personality Thomas Hibbler says the station plays a unique role in the radio broadcasting arena. \u201cWe\u2019re not locked into a specific genre of music. 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