WUSO

Wittenberg University (WU) received a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new 10-watt radio station on the campus on October 11, 1965.[3] Organization on campus for a new station had dated to 1961, when a radio club was formed with 35 students.[4] Two years later, a student committee was formed to analyze the idea,[5] and the university appropriated funds to purchase equipment.[6] On February 20, 1966, WUSO began broadcasting.[1] The station represented the return of broadcasting to the university, which had shown an interest in radio transmissions beginning in 1896.[7] Signing on in 1922,[8] station WCSO[lower-alpha 1]—the university being Wittenberg College at the time—operated until 1930,[9] when it was shuttered as part of a consolidation that formed WGAR, a new station in Cleveland.[10][11]

WUSO initially broadcast for six hours a day;[12] by 1971, it was on for three hours in the morning and then 11 hours in the evening.[13] The station survived a 1977 funding cut by the WU student government (SGA) that nearly threatened it with closure because it suggested relocating the facility without considering the technical and legal implications of such a move.[14] Pressure from SGA forced cutbacks, such as the elimination of a news wire, as well as internal reforms.[15] Studios were in the basement of Alumni House before relocating to Sprecher Hall in 1979.[16] The move required major changes and left the station off the air for a year and a half,[17] and it also saw the station convert to stereo broadcasting.[18]

Over time, WUSO began operating with a freeform format, a contrast to the Top 40-heavy FM dial in the area.[19] Programs ranged from Christian rock to jazz; in 1986, station manager Krista May did on-air shifts hosting a punk rock show under the name "Chrystal Meth".[20] However, despite a series of efforts over the years, WUSO remained a 10-watt outlet. By 1986, the original transmitter was out of service for six weeks during the winter term.[21] Even with 10 watts, the station attracted substantial interest on campus: there were 120 DJs in 1990.[22] The station narrowly survived another financial challenge again in 1996 when the student senate made a grant to allow the station to purchase Emergency Alert System equipment that it needed in order to meet requirements for the new service.[23][24] The station abandoned Sprecher Hall in 1998 as part of its demolition, moving into the basement of Firestine Hall and replacing much of its equipment in the process.[25]

As a Class D station operating on the same 10-watt basis as in 1966, WUSO was vulnerable. In the late 1970s, the FCC encouraged many stations to upgrade to Class A status—100 watts minimum—and left Class D stations a secondary service, vulnerable to being bumped by other stations. Furthermore, even though the transmitter was atop Tower Hall, students living there sometimes had trouble receiving the station.[26] WUSO had twice solicited power increases, first in 1971[27] and then in 1986.[28] However, such changes also would have come with needed upgrades to professionalize even as FCC restrictions tightened the ability of Class D stations to upgrade.[29] Alongside moving to Firestine, the station mounted a third effort at a power increase, hoping to avoid the paperwork-related problems that had plagued past pushes.[30] The proposed increase turned into a years-long legal battle in the wake of two related applications from Christian groups, the American Family Association and Life Radio Ministries.[31] This conflict was lengthened because the FCC overhauled the process by which it compared applications for non-commercial educational radio stations, leaving the three applications—WUSO's improvement and the two new Christian radio stations, one for Urbana and one for Delaware—in a mutually exclusive group.[32] The three parties then filed a universal settlement, granting WUSO's improvement and the Delaware new station application, which was granted on April 25, 2003.[33]

In November 2004, WUSO upgraded from 10 watts to 120, improving its coverage area and signal strength in the Springfield area.[34] In December 2003, Wittenberg athletics moved to WUSO from commercial station WULM; the move came in the middle of the basketball season after WULM refused to produce and carry broadcasts of Wittenberg women's basketball games.[35] WUSO also initiated online streaming in 2006.[36] WUSO's studios in the basement of Firestine Hall were flooded when a water pipe burst on April 8, 2012. Four feet of water inundated the facilities, and the studio equipment was a total loss.[37] The station was off the air for nearly a year; the studios were rebuilt with increased space for live bands to play and an expanded lobby.[38] By 2018, the station had 18 student-produced shows on its lineup.[39]

In August 2017, WUSO entered into a partnership with WDPR Dayton Public Radio to rebroadcast its classical music programming from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays. As WDPR's signal does not reach Springfield, this expanded the service's coverage.[40] In March 2019, WUSO began rebroadcasting WDPR on a full-time basis,[41] and WU filed in December 2022 to sell the station outright to DPR for $94,580.[42] The sale was consummated on March 13, 2023.