Chantelle Calhoun
Contributor
Wiregrassstudentradio.com is an online radio station created by students, for students.
Students create the scheduled segments throughout each day, along with the playlist of their favorite songs, sports stories and weathercasts.
“Wiregrass Student Radio is our first student-run radio station at Troy University. It was the brainchild of the first session of JRN 4405 offered at Troy in over 20 years,” said Dave Kirby, lecturer of communication.
Kirby went on to explain that after the idea was posed by students, he and his wife paid for the initial equipment and monthly fees to get it started, and was later approved by the Student Publication Board to receive additional funding.
Since Wiregrass is still an up and coming radio station on campus, Kirby is still recruiting for an Operations/Program Manager and Sales Manager on scholarship, and to eventually have the station supported by its own advertising.
“I believe there will be interest once Wiregrass Student Radio is fully functional,” said Cole Lawson, a senior political science and broadcast journalism major from Smiths Station, and engineer for the Wiregrass. “Radio is an industry that is in competition with television.”
“Most everyone listens to the radio every single day, and we have a whole lot of journalism students that may want to branch out beyond the standard of televised news. Wiregrass student radio will provide that medium for those people that have always been drawn to the radio industry.”
Kirby said that although there have been technical issues over the last several months which have caused some interruptions, Lawson is doing all that he can to correct these issues.
Additionally, Kirby says that Troy University can prepare students for future careers in radio with the many different journalism classes offered.
“Troy University students now have one class every semester to learn about radio, which is threefold increase from when I started as fulltime faculty seven years ago,” said Kirby. “In addition, writing for radio style has been added to most of the news and sports writing classes.”
When asked how students can get involved, Cole said, “ I know Doctor Kirby teaches several classes about radio and he incorporates Wiregrass Student Radio into these classes as well so students can get a lot of hands on learning experience,” said Lawson.
“I would encourage students to talk to Kirby in the coming fall semester about what sort of help we need with Wiregrass Student Radio, so that it can be up and running and start to attract more students for everything from programming, advertising, sports, news, etc.”
The radio will most likely be up and running in the fall, and there is also an app in the works for students to be able to download to listen on the go.
For those who are interested in working for a radio station in the future and would like the experience, or for those who are just interested in getting involved with Wiregrass, see Kirby in Wallace Hall in room 103F, or email him at prof.kirby@jschool.troy.edu.
