WESU Spring Programming

From one of our city's radio stations.
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WESU is excited to announce our Spring Programming lineup to kick off our 75th anniversary celebrations during the 2014 calendar year! To celebrate our landmark birthday, we’ll be treating our listeners to many special on-air features and events happening in and around Middletown.

“This year’s spring program is especially exciting because it marks the beginning of WESU’s 75th year on air with alternative and creative programing”, says WESU President Mary Barrett. Each month there will be a “75 years of….” radio series with a new theme that is reflective of the station’s dedication to alternative music, public affairs and community service, and quality programing for our listeners. February’s theme is “75 years of socially conscious music” while next month we’ll be celebrating women’s history month with “75 Years of Female Artists”. Another 75th anniversary program, “Welcome Back” (2nd &4th Fridays at 1pm) reconnects with some of the people who have been involved with WESU over the years to hear their stories about how WESU helped them along the way.

Also to look forward to this season, is our new 6:00pm weekday program block filled with unique talk radio which replaces the loss of our flagship public affairs program, Free Speech Radio News. Although we can’t list every show, our schedule certainly proves that WESU offers something for everyone. Highlights of some new programs include “Real Talk” with Jonathan Spira (a series of interviews with professors from the Connecticut area), “Words” with Abigail Joella Shneyder (Tune in as slam poets perform live in the studio and talk about their work) and old favorites like the “Middletown Youth Radio Project”, “The Moondog Matinee”, “The Gospel Express”, our weekly electronic Dance music block, and our Saturday Caribbean music programming.

Having trouble keeping up with our over-stuffed program schedule? Last season we launched a new Twitter page (@WESUtunein) that provides followers with live updates of each show at the time it comes on air to help listeners keep track of their favorite programs. Also be sure to follow (@WESUmiddletown) and find us on Facebook to keep up with general station updates.

This season’s programing would be nothing without Hannah Ryan, our Program Director, who has worked tirelessly to put together a schedule that is fully representative of everything WESU has stood for in the past 75 years. “I really enjoyed seeing so many new shows, along with all of the staples returning for another season,” says Hannah. Ben Michael, the station’s full time general manager chimes in, “with over 150 student and community volunteers working together to provide 24 hour programming 365 days per year, our Spring 2014 Program reflects the diversity of the diverse communities we have served for 75 years”. WESU's spring schedule can be found online at http://www.wesufm.org and a print program guide will be distributed at select locations around the area and mailed to station donors in the coming weeks.


ABOUT WESU 88.1FM
Established in 1939 as a community service of Wesleyan University, WESU is one of the oldest non-commercial radio stations in the United States. WESU is funded by the Wesleyan Student Budget committee, Wesleyan University, and generous listener and community support. By day, Monday through Friday, WESU offers a diverse mix of news and public affairs from NPR, Pacifica, and independent and local media sources. Week nights and weekends WESU student and community volunteer broadcasters provide a freeform mix of creative music programming featuring everything from rock, and hip hop, to jazz, electronic dance music, soul, funk, and blues, alongside a wide variety of ethnic forms of music not readily available elsewhere on the radio.

The station currently broadcasts at the frequency of 88.1 FM from its 6,000-watt transmitter located atop the Wesleyan University science tower in Middletown, CT with a potential to reach over one million listeners throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts. WESU also streams audio, online through their website www.wesufm.org.