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Same dial, different decade
A chronology of WWSU 106.9 FM, from a broom closet at Allyn Hall to Dayton's Wright Choice.
Version 2, with new material from Founding and Fulfillment: 1964 to 1984, Wright State University, Dayton and modern web sources.
The story most people tell about WWSU starts on April 4, 1977, when President Robert Kegerreis flipped a switch in Allyn Hall and a 10-watt FM signal at 88.5 mHz introduced itself to the Miami Valley. That story is true. It is also incomplete.
The real beginning sits nine years earlier, in October 1968, in a "modified broom closet" with a public-address system, seven volunteers, and a student named Rick Fredricks who admitted to anyone who asked that he was not yet running a real radio station. He was running a club. He was running a future. WWSU has never not been a fight for airwave, frequency, and watts, and that is what makes it ours.
What follows is a chronology built on primary sources: The Guardian and The Wright Stater across five decades, Board of Trustees minutes, the Academic Council record, the AlumNews, Wright State University Magazine, and the Wright State institutional history Founding and Fulfillment: 1964 to 1984, supplemented by modern coverage from The Wright State Guardian (wsuguardian.com), the broadcast trade press, and FCC public records. Where a year exists in the documentary record but a name does not, the gap is named honestly. Where the legend differs from the paper trail, the paper trail wins. Where the paper trail itself disagrees, both versions are recorded.
1968 – 1969
A club called the Wright State Broadcasting Association
The earliest verified mention of organized radio at Wright State sits in The Wright Stater of March 1969. The campus magazine reports that the Wright State Broadcasting Association was "organized in October of 1968" and had "established the University's first radio station." Programming began Monday, January 13, 1969. DJ tryouts were held Friday, January 17. Seven people were affiliated with the station at launch.
Rick Fredricks served as president of the association. He was honest about the operation's limits. The article notes that Fredricks "admits station WWSU is not a true radio station, broadcasting over the public address system, but is operated on the same format." Programming ran 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., five days a week.
The 1969 yearbook captures the station's place in campus life with a single warm phrase: "our own boys of the airwaves WWSU." The students were doing radio. They were just doing it through a PA system in a building most of them lived inside.
By October of that same year, the station was already restarting. The Guardian of October 27, 1969, reported on a "newly reincarnated" WWSU set to begin broadcasting the week of the issue's publication. Public Relations Manager Mike Hax told The Guardian the station planned an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule, limited at first to Allyn Hall, with programming that ranged from "popular top hits to contemporary favorites." The article named Bill Lehman as the station's advisor. The stated ambition was already specific: "develop into a regular FM station ... broadcasting into the area, if it had willing students working." Hax added one line that would prove prophetic. "Yes, WWSU is still alive."
The Wright State institutional history Founding and Fulfillment later confirmed the same origin in plainer prose: WWSU was "the culmination of a radio effort that had begun on closed circuits in 1968 from a modified broom closet."
What the documents make clear is that the founding of WWSU is not a single date. It is two things stacked. October 1968 produced an association. January 1969 produced a broadcast. Both belong in the founding sentence.
1971
A transmitter, a frequency, and a closer name
The club became something else in 1971. WSU NEWS of May 1971 reported that the station had its "own brand new transmitter and their own frequency, 1040." The piece traced the lineage carefully: WWSU had "grown out of an amateur radio club started two years [earlier] by five students," who had assembled equipment with help from the Physical Plant. Hours had stretched to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and staff were pushing to extend sign-off later still.
The 1994 AlumNews later compressed this milestone into one line: WWSU "originated 1968, extending an AM signal to Hamilton Hall in 1971." The April 1977 Wright Stater added that in 1971 the station "moved into larger quarters and added a carrier current AM transmitter to the residence hall." The "broom closet" was no longer the whole world.
The Wright State Board of Trustees recorded its first formal acknowledgment of the operation on February 10, 1972. WHIO Radio-Television donated a radio control board and a turntable, valued at roughly $4,000, to "the Wright State University Radio Club, WWSU." Mr. Jeffrey moved acceptance. Mr. Hall seconded. The board approved by voice vote. It was not yet a license. It was a board, a turntable, and a name on the books.
1972 – 1974
The campus station with the loud voice and the quiet wattage
By the spring of 1973, the station was visibly student leadership and visibly pushing. The Guardian of February 26, 1973, ran a piece headlined "WWSU to change music format" by managing editor Wayne Wenning. Station President Mike Hax announced an increase in power so the signal could "penetrate into the academic buildings." A $400 grant from the dean's discretionary fund and an additional $450 grant funded the upgrade. Equipment worth $2,000 came from WHIO and the Verdin Co. of Cincinnati.
Programming at this point ran progressive rock and jazz almost all day. The new format kept progressive rock and jazz in the afternoons and evenings and added jazz and light classical to the mornings. Hax's own framing: "we hope in the spring to cover more thoroughly the elections among other things." The station was expanding into news.
April 2, 1973, was the Guardian's April Fools issue, and the satire is its own evidence of the station's place in campus culture. A spoof piece had Mike Hax announcing WWSU's move to "100,000 watts FM quadraphonic" with $800,000 in new equipment. The joke only lands if everyone reading already knows the real station is small, scrappy, and constantly trying to get bigger.
By February 28, 1974, The Guardian was referring to WWSU plainly as "the student radio station." That fall, the November 4 issue ran a photo of the station's transmitter with the caption: "This is the mighty transmitter of WWSU, two run watts." Photo credit: Tim Kem. Two watts. That is a marquee for the basement.
June 12, 1975
The trustees vote to apply for a license
The institutional turning point in WWSU's prehistory is dated June 12, 1975. President Robert Kegerreis brought the Board of Trustees a resolution authorizing Wright State to apply to the Federal Communications Commission for a 10-watt Class D Educational FM broadcast license.
The minutes are worth quoting at length. They establish what the station had been doing for years before any FCC paper existed:
Members of the Wright State Student Radio Association (WWSU) have, since the 1967-68 academic year, been operating a campus radio station, first in a maintenance closet in Allyn Hall, then in Fawcett, and presently in a small studio in the University Center, utilizing university telephone lines as current carriers.
The resolution acknowledged the station's "diverse programming" and "the dedication with which members of WWSU have operated the on-campus station, despite little recognition." Dr. Keto moved adoption. Mrs. James seconded. The resolution passed unanimously by voice vote.
Three buildings, eight years, telephone lines as broadcast medium, and a board that had been accepting equipment but not yet airtime. The license application would change that.
The April 1977 Wright Stater later filled in the timeline. The formal application was filed in August 1975. Renovation of the studio was undertaken to bring it up to broadcast quality. The waiting began.
1976
The yard sale and the letter of concern
The wait was not quiet. In May 1976, The Guardian covered a WWSU yard sale organized to fund turntables for Studio A. The piece named Dick Mort as president and general manager. The station was located in 044 University Center, between The Guardian office and the University Center Board offices. Mort's framing was direct: "WWSU needs the support not only of the administration, but of the students as well."
The same paper carried a letter from Mort that month titled "WWSU 'looking optimistically toward the future.'" His letter referenced an FCC visit, a financial and engineering review that had passed, and the legal phase as the only remaining hurdle. "WHIO's objection" had complicated things. He closed by quoting his own optimism: "WWSU's engineers are preparing a reply to the FCC."
The Academic Council Meeting of October 4, 1976, confirmed the station's growing institutional weight. The minutes record a request to rename the Student Publications Subcommittee the "Student Media Committee" specifically "to encompass the operations of WWSU." The committee was no longer just print. It was on paper, and it was on the air.
April 4, 1977
WWSU goes on the air for real
On February 15, 1977, The Guardian ran the headline "WWSU receives FCC call letter affirmation." The station had waited 15 months. On March 31, 1977, the paper announced "WWSU wins battle." The opening line read: "Monday, the fourth day of April, 1977, WWSU, the campus radio station, will join the airwaves as the voice of Wright State University."
The article gave credit. Andrew P. Spiegel and WWSU advisor Larry Dyer were named as speakers at the launch ceremony. The piece described the WHIO "letter of concern" of February 1976 as the cause of roughly six months of delay.
The exact FCC licensure date is one of the few WWSU facts that the documentary record disagrees on. Three sources, three answers. The April 1977 Wright Stater says the FCC granted permission on March 25, 1977. The trade journal Broadcasting recorded action on March 24. Wright State's own institutional history Founding and Fulfillment says licensure on March 5. The launch ceremony itself, by all accounts, was held April 4. This chronology defaults to March 25 as the most likely correct date because the April 1977 Wright Stater was published closest to the event by the institution most directly involved, but readers should know the other dates exist in the printed record.
April 4, 1977, became the day everyone remembers. The April 1977 Wright Stater set the scene plainly:
On April 4 Dr. Robert Kegerreis, Wright State President, threw the switch that officially signed on the university's new FM station, WWSU. Broadcasting from 7 am to midnight seven days a week on 88.5 mHz, WWSU will feature a completely noncommercial format.
Founding and Fulfillment used almost identical language: "WWSU-FM went on the air April 4, 1977, operating daily from 7 am to midnight ... The initial programming was a combination of folk, jazz, contemporary rock, and classical music. Broadcasts included selected locally-produced educational and public-service programs. The entire initial staff was composed of student volunteers."
Station Manager Dick Mort told the magazine that the station was "managed and operated entirely by a staff of volunteer students who receive no monetary compensation." Funding flowed from the University Student Activities Budget, donations, and program underwriting.
The same article included the cleanest one-paragraph history of WWSU ever printed in real time:
WWSU originated in late 1968 as a campus closed-circuit station operated by a small group of dedicated students from a modified broom closet. In 1971 they moved into larger quarters and added a carrier current AM transmitter to the residence hall. By 1974, university officials had consented to allow construction of an FM station, and so began the long and tedious licensing process. After the formal license application was filed in August 1975, renovation of the studio facilities, to assure a high quality broadcast service, was undertaken. Finally, after many delays, permission was granted on March 25, 1977, by the Federal Communications Commission to begin broadcasting.
The Board of Trustees minutes for April 13, 1977, include the simple line: "WWSU Radio Station." The board had begun receiving regular reports from the station that would never stop.
The March 31, 1977, Guardian editorial put the moment in context. WWSU was joining the airwaves "following nine years of struggling to be heard." Nine years from October 1968 lands almost exactly on April 1977. The math was not poetry. It was a count.
1978 – 1981
A 10-watt station running out of room
Coming on the air did not solve WWSU's core problem. Ten watts is not enough to be heard across Fairborn.
The Guardian of February 14, 1978, recorded General Manager John McCance asking the Budget Board for $550 for two equipment bays. The request was denied. The Board of Trustees minutes for April 10 to 11, 1979, document Joanne Ervin's progress report and a resolution that defined the station's next decade:
WHEREAS, WWSU, a 10-watt non-commercial FM station licensed to the University and operated by students, is required to elevate power to at least 100 watts by January 1, 1980, pursuant to regulations recently promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission (Docket 20735); and ...
Teresa Moore, then General Manager of WWSU, addressed the board on the necessity of the increase. The board approved a governance structure as part of the resolution: a General Manager, Program Director, Faculty Advisor, Staff Advisor, Director of Telecommunications, and Chair of the Student Media Committee. WWSU was officially co-curricular.
On July 21, 1981, The Guardian ran a long piece headlined "WWSU seeks frequency." Miami University's WMUB had applied to increase power on a frequency that overlapped 88.5. WWSU had filed its own application for 100 watts. The two stations could not both win. WWSU's amended response was strategic: rather than fight for 88.5, the station would request a move to 106.9, where it could "serve as a buffer station between two major stations." The photo caption read: "WWSU's radio antenna is located on the tower next to the library."
By January 19, 1982, the move was confirmed. The Guardian reported that WWSU would change frequency to 106.9 from 88.5. General Manager Mary Beth Kilmer told the paper the move would "probably occur this summer." The total cost: $3,800. The deadline: October 1983. The reason was regulatory, not preference. WMUB's planned 30,000-watt operation forced 10-watt stations to move or disappear.
1982 – 1984
106.9 and the diversification of the schedule
By November 23, 1982, WWSU had landed at 106.9. The Guardian ran a Mike Hosier piece headlined "Here's watts happening at WWSU" that took stock of the new home. Steve Weinert, then general manager, acknowledged the cap: "We can't go past 10 watts." Going higher would require a different license class and a frequency the FCC would not currently grant.
The programming inventory in that 1982 piece is the clearest snapshot of the station's identity at the dawn of the 106.9 era. WWSU was running the BBC Rock Hour, Pollution Free, Funnies (a locally produced comedy program), Sounds of Solid Gold, Public Service Announcements, women's basketball, and baseball. The article noted a milestone The Guardian clearly considered structural: "WWSU was also the first station in the area to broadcast Wright State Raiders" women's basketball.
The free record service was on the increase. The schedule diversity was on the increase. The watts were not.
On November 15, 1983, The Guardian reported that the Budget Board had allocated $430 to WWSU for an expansion. Weinert's plan: take over a portion of the old Inter-Club Council office. Steve Weinert was running the long game.
By 1984, WWSU was well established as one of the institutional anchors of Wright State student life. Founding and Fulfillment records that "the lower level of the student center had become a beehive of headquarters of activities" and lists WWSU alongside the University Center Board, the Inter-Club Council, the Daily Guardian, Nexus literary journal, the Student Alumni Assembly, the Student Government, the Book Co-op, and the Greek office. WWSU had become a fixture.
1985 – 1989
A 100-person volunteer staff
The trade record from this era is sparse in the archive consulted, but two snapshots survive that say everything.
The Guardian of July 12, 1988, ran "Renovations give new look to WWSU-FM." The piece named General Manager Craig Barhorst. Construction added a directors' office. The station was broadcasting from 030 University Center, with plans to share the Studio Lounge during construction. A power upgrade from 10 watts to roughly 40 watts was discussed.
The decade closes with the loudest single number in WWSU's institutional history. Board of Trustees minutes for March 29 to 30, 1989, record General Manager Roni Wilson-Vinson reporting that WWSU had a staff of 100 people, 90 percent of whom were volunteers, broadcasting 17 hours per day.
The board responded with congratulations to the Student Government representatives, The Guardian, and WWSU staff, plus a line item to study a media coordinator role to "assist in improved quality and communications."
Add the 1989 PMRC moment for context. On May 19, 1989, The Guardian reported that WWSU was circulating a petition asking the FCC to review legislation inspired by the Parents Music Resource Center. DJ John Nelson framed the case for the paper: "the decision has to be made as to what is 'offensive,' and what is 'explicit.' That decision should lie with individual parents." A college station was speaking to a national debate on its own frequency.
1990 – 1996
Classified ads, jazz programs, and the Monkey Cage
The Guardian on January 4, 1990, ran a help-wanted ad for "WWSU - FM, Highly motivated & ambitious individual to oversee important, high-visibility medium." The station description in the ad: "federally-licensed, 10 watt." The watts had not gone up, but the ambition still read.
By May 28, 1992, WWSU was visibly outward-facing. The Guardian ran "WWSU personalities try to save high school radio station," a piece on Pete Ziehler and other DJs raising money to keep a local high school station on the air.
The April 1994 issues of The Guardian documented an internal controversy about diversity in programming and leadership. A letter accusing WWSU of being "racist and one-sided" was met by a defense from the General Manager and a clarification from a station director. The April 13 piece included the specific WWSU address as 046 University Center and the business line as 873-5537. The April 6 correction made clear the original letter had been mis-attributed. Internal media in 1994 was as messy and as accountable as it is now. The receipts are the receipts.
The AlumNews of Fall 1994 included a Wright State chronology that listed WWSU's FM debut on April 4, 1977, at 88.5, with this update: "WWSU now broadcasts on 106.9 FM." For an alumni audience, that was the headline.
On May 31, 1995, The Guardian ran "WWSU gets a power boost." General Manager Lee May confirmed the station was a Class D non-commercial station, that it would not change class so long as it stayed under 17 watts, and that the cost of the upgrade would be between $6,000 and $6,500, paid by WWSU.
October 23, 1996, may be the most charming entry in the entire chronology. The Guardian ran a photo of WSU President Harley Flack on Dave "Moonpie" Walker's WWSU show, The Monkey Cage. The article reported that Flack had recalled wanting to host his own jazz program on WWSU when he came to Wright State. He told the paper he would like to do "a show from the perspective of various piano styles in jazz throughout its history." A university president on a college DJ's show. That is what a real station gets you.
1997 – 2007
The Student Union era begins
By November 12, 1997, the meeting calendar had moved. The Guardian listed a WWSU meeting at 4 p.m. in W025 Student Union. The University Center was on its way out. The Student Union was the station's new institutional home.
CMJ college-music reporting from 2003 listed WWSU at 106.9 in Dayton with Jason Hesley and Jim Talbott as music contacts. The station was on the national college-radio circuit.
The Guardian of November 12, 2003, ran "WWSU 106.9 FM voices concern to FCC." General Manager Matt Hughes told the paper that a Clear Channel application for a new local station could "push WWSU's signal completely out of Dayton and would cut off an entire corner of our listening area." WWSU and the Union Activities Board jointly filed a letter of concern. The fight to defend a frequency was the same fight as 1981, with different opponents.
The 2022 Wright State Newsroom feature later recorded the next facilities milestone. WWSU "operated out of Dunbar Library" before moving "to the Student Union in 2007." That date is the canonical one for the modern era. The 018 Student Union address that lives on official pages today traces from that move.
2008 – 2009
Licensed, then leveled by Hurricane Ike
The FCC public-notice record carries the modern era forward in plain regulatory language. In December 2008, the commission recorded a "license to cover" for WWSU at 106.9 MHz in Fairborn, facility ID 73952, under Wright State University. In 2012, the commission recorded a renewal grant. The station's class is D. Effective radiated power is 26 watts. Antenna height above average terrain is 64 meters.
But the most consequential moment of 2008 for WWSU was not on the FCC public-notice list. It was in the sky. On September 14, 2008, the remnants of Hurricane Ike tore through the Miami Valley as one of the most damaging windstorms in the region's history. WWSU's transmitter and tower equipment took major damage. The casualty that mattered for sound was the station's Omnia.3 audio processor. From that day forward, WWSU's signal ran through 1990s-era limiting gear. Radio World later quoted student engineer Larkin Smith on what that meant: "WWSU needs the Omnia.11 because we do not have a true modern audio processor, and our listeners can hear the difference every time they tune in."
The Hurricane Ike damage is one of the most consequential and least discussed milestones in the station's history. It set up an audio quality problem that would last almost two decades.
The 2008 license year was also when alumni began coming back. Wright State University Magazine, Fall 2012, profiled alumnus Travis Greenwood and noted that "he didn't truly come full circle until he returned to Wright State's campus in 2008 for a WWSU radio station reunion." Greenwood, a 1980s communication major and CEO of The Greentree Group in Beavercreek, had spent four years "spinning vinyl as a disk jockey for WWSU." The station was a place students came back to.
Wright State University Magazine, Spring 2013, profiled Mike Lavadinho, a 1973 finance graduate, who told the magazine he and friends "got WWSU, the student radio station, off the ground and running." His framing of student life at early Wright State: "If it didn't exist, you started it." That is one of the cleanest sentences anyone has ever written about why WWSU exists.
2010 – 2018
Best in Dayton, custom code, and listener requests
WWSU spent the 2010s being recognized externally and rebuilt internally.
In 2010 and 2011, WWSU was rated "Best Radio Station in Dayton" by Active Dayton, the audience-vote organ for the regional culture scene. The Wikipedia entry for WWSU records both wins. Two consecutive years of being voted the best station in a market that contains every commercial station in greater Dayton is not a small thing for a 26-watt non-commercial Class D licensee.
The schedule snapshot from this era was also recorded: programming roughly 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. with back-to-back live DJ shows, average show length two hours, an automation system filling overnights when no DJ was on the air. Open format. The DJ has nearly complete control of what gets played. The current main genres on the dial shift between hip-hop and rock, with a recurring spotlight on Dayton-area artists, who occasionally perform live on the air.
In the same window, WWSU built its own software stack. Student engineer "PDStig" wrote a Sails.js API server and a frontend GUI called DJ Controls that gave DJs and engineers direct, scriptable command of the station's automation, scheduling, and on-air state. The repositories were initially public on GitHub and later migrated to GitLab under the wwsu1069 organization. WWSU is one of the few college radio stations in the country running on its own custom-built broadcast control software. The student who wrote it shipped it from a desk in 018 Student Union.
On May 29, 2018, The Guardian covered the next user-facing upgrade. WWSU President Adam Wightman launched a new track-request system that gave listeners more control over what played. Listeners could request songs from the station's library and influence the on-air rotation in real time. The station was leaning into open format, but writing the rules of openness on its own terms.
2020 – 2022
Good Politics, an electrical fire, and an award
In 2020, Wright State Newsroom reported that political science professor Sean Wilson and student station manager Adam Wightman had launched Good Politics, a political analysis talk show on WWSU also distributed as a podcast. Wightman was already working part-time at WHIO Radio. WWSU was again doing what college radio is supposed to do: producing original talk programming and producing its hosts.
In March 2021, Shea Neal was named WWSU general manager, the station's top leadership role. On April 25, 2021, The Guardian published "Guardian Gallery: A look inside WWSU 106.9," a photo essay by Soham Parikh that walked readers through the studio, the boards, and the on-air room. It was one of the few visual records of the station between the 2007 Student Union move and the events that followed.
Then August 2021 brought the fire. An electrical fire in the Student Union forced WWSU out of its home for three weeks and reduced a planned 24-hour radiothon to a 17-hour marathon. The radiothon ran from 8 a.m. on Friday, October 1, 2021, to 1 a.m. on Saturday, October 2. The station broadcast every minute live or pre-recorded. No automation music for 17 straight hours.
Then the award. In 2021, WWSU was named a recipient of the Spirit of College Radio Award by the College Radio Foundation, one of only ten stations selected from more than 600 around the world participating in World College Radio Day. Shea Neal told The Guardian the recognition was "one of those hard-work-pays-off moments."
The January 2022 Wright State Newsroom profile reported the staffing snapshot of the era. WWSU had more than 30 active members. Six were paid. Adviser Debbie Lamp, associate director of student involvement and leadership, served as the staff link to the university. The station was broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Music was, in the station's own framing, "the backbone." Sports director Parker Testa was already calling Wright State basketball, baseball, and volleyball, and had begun working at WHIO. Returning alumni Justin Kinner and Kevin Nash sat for on-air interviews on World College Radio Day. The paid worker, the volunteer worker, the alumnus on the line. That is the staffing model.
The July 2022 organizational chart, posted to the station's site, makes the structure explicit. Roles listed include General Manager / President and CEO, Programming Director / Vice President and Treasurer, Music Director, Sports Director, Marketing and Promotions Director, Engineering Director, plus DJs and committees. WWSU operates as a station and as an officer-led student organization at the same time.
WWSU showed up in campus event coverage repeatedly that fall. The Guardian covered Fall Fest 2022 with WWSU listed as a sponsor providing live content and on-site interviews. The 2022 Halloween Bash at the Hangar was co-produced with the University Activities Board and WWSU. The station was not just on the air. It was on the quad.
2023 – 2024
All Voices Are Welcome
On Friday, October 6, 2023, WWSU went back to the full 24 hours. The College Radio Day theme for the year was "All Voices Are Welcome." Programming covered mental health, inclusivity, and diversity. The schedule included scary movie reviews and an on-air interview with Wright State University President Sue Edwards.
The Guardian coverage by Emily Mancuso named the leadership running the marathon. Sophomore Greyson Howells, then assistant director and DJ, hosted a show spotlighting indie artists and listener requests. Freshman Ellie Engle was programming director and managed the live-show schedule. Graduate student Saraswoti Nibasi was engineering director, keeping the air clean during a 24-hour run. Three station leaders, three different academic levels, one continuous broadcast. The station's leadership pipeline showed up on the same day, on the same dial.
By October 2024, Greyson Howells had been promoted to general manager of WWSU 106.9. The Guardian reported him working roughly 23 to 24 hours a week. Total station staff that year: 52 people. The 30-plus members of 2022 had grown by two thirds in two years.
A WWSU Friday-night unscripted community show titled TGIF aired from 6 to 9 p.m. that fall. New shows. New DJs. Same dial.
April 8, 2024
Live for the eclipse
On April 8, 2024, The Guardian covered Wright State's solar eclipse event. Music director Jedd Rismiller curated an eclipse-themed playlist that played live for the gathered campus crowd. The live appearance was not a regulatory milestone. It was the kind of event that makes a station feel like it belongs to the place it broadcasts to.
April 24, 2026
A new audio processor, finally
The Hurricane Ike audio-quality problem ended on April 24, 2026. Radio World reported that the Telos Alliance, in partnership with the College Radio Foundation, had selected WWSU as the winner of an Omnia.11 FM+HD audio processor. The award was announced at the 2026 NAB Show.
The winning entry was submitted by WWSU student engineer and general manager Larkin Smith, a management information systems major in Wright State's expected class of 2027. Smith had been on WWSU's staff for two years. His application explained, plainly, what 18 years of running on 1990s-era limiters meant for the people listening. The Telos Alliance, in announcing the award, said "college radio is vital to training the air talent, engineers and programmers of the future."
The processor was expected to be on the air before the spring 2026 semester ended.
Today
A station, still on the air
In 2026, WWSU continues to operate from 018 Student Union as a student organization within Wright State's Student Involvement and Leadership unit. DJs are required to be enrolled Wright State students in good academic standing, with at least a 2.0 GPA. The station programs music, sports, and talk. It covers Raider basketball, volleyball, and soccer. It runs an open format with two-hour DJ shows, automation overnight, hip-hop and rock as the main genres on the air, and a recurring spotlight on Dayton musicians. It calls itself Dayton's Wright Choice. It signs on every day at 106.9.
The Wright State Broadcasters Association, the name that travels with the station's modern fundraising and merchandise pages, traces back across the documentary record to the Wright State Broadcasting Association of October 1968 and the Wright State Student Radio Association named in the 1975 trustees minutes. The exact incorporation history of the modern Broadcasters Association is not documented in the archives consulted for this chronology, but the lineage is unmistakable. The same students. The same call letters. The same charge.
Reflection
What this archive makes clear
A few things harden when you read all the documents in order.
The "broom closet" was not a metaphor invented later. It is the actual phrase used in The Wright Stater of April 1977, four years after the closet had been left behind, and repeated in Wright State's own institutional history Founding and Fulfillment. The students who started the station chose that word for themselves. The university then wrote it down.
The story is not 1977. The story is 1968 to 1977. The license arrived in 1977 because nine years of unpaid student work had already built a station that deserved one. Carrier-current. Public-address. Phone lines. Two watts. None of that was a draft of WWSU. All of it was WWSU.
The frequency move from 88.5 to 106.9 was a defensive trade, made in 1981 and 1982 because Miami University's WMUB needed 88.5 to grow. WWSU did not lose 88.5. WWSU survived 88.5. The math worked because students kept picking the next move that let the signal exist.
The station has had roughly the same headcount and the same governance structure for nearly four decades, with the curve still climbing. One hundred volunteers in 1989. Thirty-plus members and six paid staff in 2022. Fifty-two members in 2024. Officer-led. Volunteer-heavy. Student-run. The brand says student broadcaster. The minutes have been saying that since 1975. Founding and Fulfillment listed WWSU as one of the eight anchor activities of the lower-level student center as of 1984, and the station has only grown since.
The infrastructure rebuilds match the staffing. WHIO's $4,000 control board in 1972. The 1995 power boost. The custom Sails.js automation written by a student in the 2010s. The Omnia.11 audio processor in 2026. The list is not just a hardware budget. It is a record of what happens when a Wright State student decides the station's signal can be better than it is.
WWSU is not a story about one switch in 1977. It is a story about what students keep doing when nobody is watching the dial. Same students. Same frequency, almost. Same name on the door.
Same dial, different decade.
WWSU 106.9 FM, Fairborn. Dayton's Wright Choice.
Sources Show / hide source list
Primary print sources, all preserved in Wright State University's CORE Scholar archive and the materials gathered for this chronology:
- The Wright Stater, March 1969 ("WWSU established by Broadcasting Association")
- The Guardian, October 27, 1969 ("WWSU Radio on the Air")
- Wright State University 1969 Yearbook
- WSU NEWS, May 1971 (frequency 1040, transmitter)
- Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, February 10, 1972 (WHIO equipment donation)
- The Guardian, January 8, 1973
- The Guardian, February 26, 1973 ("WWSU to change music format")
- The Guardian, April 2, 1973 (April Fools satire)
- The Guardian, November 4, 1974 (transmitter photo)
- Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, June 12, 1975 (license application authorized)
- The Guardian, May 13, 1976 (yard sale)
- Academic Council Meeting Agenda and Minutes, October 4, 1976 (Student Media Committee)
- The Guardian, February 15, 1977 ("WWSU receives FCC call letter affirmation")
- The Guardian, March 31, 1977 ("WWSU wins battle" / "WWSU victorious")
- The Wright Stater, April 1977 ("WWSU-FM, 88.5 mHz, on the Air, at Last")
- Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, April 13, 1977
- The Guardian, February 14, 1978 (John McCance, Budget Board)
- The Guardian, February 6, 1979 (renewal proposal)
- Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, April 10 to 11, 1979 (10W to 100W resolution)
- Wright State Alternative Newspaper Phoenix
- The Guardian, July 21, 1981 ("WWSU seeks frequency")
- The Guardian, January 19, 1982 (move to 106.9 confirmed)
- The Guardian, November 23, 1982 ("Here's watts happening at WWSU")
- The Guardian, November 15, 1983 (expansion funding)
- Founding and Fulfillment: 1964 to 1984, Wright State University, Dayton (institutional history; FCC date "March 5," April 4 launch, broom closet origin, 1984 student-center anchor list)
- The Guardian, July 12, 1988 (renovations, 030 UC)
- Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, March 29 to 30, 1989 (100-person volunteer staff)
- The Guardian, May 19, 1989 (PMRC petition)
- The Guardian, January 4, 1990 (classified ad)
- The Guardian, May 28, 1992 (high school station fundraiser)
- The Guardian, April 6, 1994 and April 13, 1994 (diversity controversy and correction)
- AlumNews, Fall 1994
- The Guardian, May 31, 1995 ("WWSU gets a power boost")
- The Guardian, October 23, 1996 ("Flack addresses student issues on WWSU")
- The Guardian, November 12, 1997
- The Guardian, November 12, 2003 ("WWSU 106.9 FM voices concern to FCC")
- Wright State University Magazine, Fall 2012 (Travis Greenwood)
- Wright State University Magazine, Spring 2013 (Mike Lavadinho)
- Wright State Newsroom 2020, 2022 (Good Politics, Spirit of College Radio Award)
- WWSU Organizational Chart, July 2022
- FCC Public Notice records, December 2008 and 2012
Modern web sources from The Wright State Guardian (wsuguardian.com) and broadcast trade press:
- The Wright State Guardian, May 29, 2018, "WWSU radio now plays your favorite songs" (Adam Wightman, track-request system)
- The Wright State Guardian, April 25, 2021, "Guardian Gallery: A look inside WWSU 106.9" (Soham Parikh photo essay)
- The Wright State Guardian, April 26, 2022, "WWSU Spotlight: The Spirit of College Radio" (Shea Neal, 2021 award details)
- The Wright State Guardian, October 13, 2023, "College Radio Day: WWSU's 24-Hour Broadcasting Marathon" by Emily Mancuso (Greyson Howells, Ellie Engle, Saraswoti Nibasi, "All Voices Are Welcome," President Sue Edwards interview)
- The Wright State Guardian, "Fall Fest 2022 Recap" and "Halloween Bash 2022" (WWSU as event partner)
- The Wright State Guardian, October 2024, "Student Wages: Are They Enough?" (Greyson Howells as general manager, 52-person staff)
- Radio World, April 24, 2026, "Wright State's WWSU Wins a Telos Alliance Omnia.11" by Nick Langan (Larkin Smith, Hurricane Ike Omnia.3 damage, 2026 NAB Show)
- Wikipedia, "WWSU" entry (technical details: Class D, 26 watts ERP, 64.0 m HAAT, facility ID 73952; Active Dayton "Best Radio Station in Dayton" 2010 and 2011)
- GitHub / GitLab repositories: PDStig/wwsu and PDStig/wwsu-dj-controls (later wwsu1069 organization on GitLab), student-built Sails.js broadcast control software
Where dates conflict between sources (most notably the FCC licensure date in March 1977, which appears as March 5, March 24, and March 25 across different sources), this chronology defaults to the earliest contemporary print source rather than later commemorative summaries, but records the disagreement honestly. Where the documentary record names a person, that person is named here. Where the record does not, the gap is noted rather than filled.
GET INVOLVED
Become a Member
There are many ways to get involved at WWSU:
Host a Radio Show
You can be on the air on WWSU! Host a talk show, play music, and much more. You have lots of freedom with the content of your show.
Be a Sports Announcer
Be one of the voices of WWSU Raider Sports! Go to the games and bring play-by-play updates and analyses to our listeners!
Be a Disc Jockey (DJ)
Help us provide music at events all around Wright State's campus and sometimes off campus at local venues!
Populate our Music
Find music to add to our system. Book interviews with local bands and artists. And help schedule our genre rotations.
Market and Book Events
Help us promote the station, recruit more members, book music events for other orgs, develop promotional graphics, and seek partnerships.
Help Maintain Technology
Assist the engineer with maintaining the equipment and software. Help develop cool new features and acquire equipment to make the station even better.
Requirements for Membership:
Be a Wright State student in good standing
- You must be registered at Wright State University for classes... 6 credit hours for undergraduates, 3 for graduates... for the current or next semester.
- You must be in good standing with the university and maintain a GPA of 2.0 or higher.
Non Wright State Students (including alumni, faculty, and staff) cannot be members of WWSU 106.9 FM. However, they can get involved (such as co-hosting a radio show) under the guidance of an organization member. Contact us at wwsu1069fm@wright.edu if interested.
Complete our free training program
All prospective members must complete basic training on the organization's constitution, policies, and procedures. This training is free and offered on Pilot. It usually only takes about an hour.
Additional training is required to use our radio studios (such as for hosting a radio show or recording audio), be a DJ at events, or be a sports announcer. These trainings are also free and on Pilot. Each training program may take an additional 1-4 hours to complete.
Training is asynchronous and can be completed at your own pace.
Maintain good standing and contribute to the organization
Although we do not charge dues for membership, membership is a privilege and not a right.
All members are expected to follow the regulations explained in our constitution (which members will receive during their training). This holds especially true for radio regulations.
Since we do not charge membership dues, we also expect members to contribute their time or supplies to the organization each semester to maintain their privileges (especially hosting radio shows / using the studios). There are many ways to contribute:
- Help us provide music, set up / tear down, and promote the station at events
- Announce sports games
- Review new music submitted to the station for quality and radio compliance
- Donate cleaning supplies to sanitize the studios
- Record Public Service Announcements, weather, and other segments for the station
- Make promotional material / graphics for your radio show
- Attend required member meetings
- Donate snacks / K-cups / coffee / tea to the "relaxation station" in the station lobby.
GET INVOLVED
Partner With Us
Book us for an event!
Contact wwsu7@wright.edu (Marketing)
We can provide music for your event, whether you are a Wright State student organization, university function, or local business that caters to Wright State. As a non-profit, all proceeds will directly benefit WWSU Radio.
For organizations and businesses with tight budgets, we may be able to negotiate a lower price. Please let us know your budget when you contact us.
Playlists
Want to keep it simple? You can provide us with a list of songs / song criteria you want us to play at your event. We will make a playlist and play it through our loud speaker equipment.
Package includes a 2 speaker set-up and one wired microphone for announcements. Additional equipment increases the set-up / tear-down fee.
- Set-up / tear-down fee: $50
- Rate: $45 / hour
- 10% discount on the total price for Wright State student organizations
Live DJ
Want something extra for your event? We can provide a live Disc Jokey at your event to spin unique mixes of the songs you want us to play. The DJ can also add a little personality to your event and can do your announcements.
Package includes a 2 speaker set-up, one wired microphone for announcements, and the necessary equipment for the DJ to work their magic. Additional equipment increases the set-up / tear-down fee.
- Set-up / tear-down fee: $50
- Rate: $75 / hour
- 10% discount on the total price for Wright State student organizations
Additional Equipment Options
We have additional equipment we can bring to your event for an additional fee added to the set-up / tear-down fee:
- 2 more speakers (total of 4) as a "wireless" speaker set-up: $20
- Wireless microphone system (2 microphones): $10
- Basic LED lighting (automatic light show): $10
- Basic LED lighting (light show controlled by a person): $20 and +$15 / hour to the hourly rate
- No branding (no WWSU logos nor promos of any kind): $25
Sponsor us and be promoted for your generosity!
Contact wwsu7@wright.edu (Marketing)
Support WWSU's wide range of content by sponsoring / donating to our organization so we can stay on the air. In return, we will promote your brand / organization / identity / event / cause.
On-Air Sponsorships / Underwritings
Station Sponsorship
Station sponsorships are general sponsorships where we promote you on the air throughout the day (including when there are no shows broadcasting).
You can choose one or more of the following for a station sponsorship:
- The script / info (it must follow underwriting regulations)
- Number of spots to air total
- Days of week / hours of day it should air
- Start date/time
- End date/time
- Adjust air frequency to air more often when more people are connected online and less often otherwise
Station sponsorship prices:
- Random days/times: $3/spot
- Set days/times: $4/spot
Broadcast Sponsorship
You can sponsor specific shows or broadcasts if you enjoy their content. Your promotion will air when the show/broadcast is on the air and will not air at other times.
You can choose the following for a broadcast sponsorship:
- The broadcast(s) on which your promotion will air
- The script / info (it must follow underwriting regulations)
- Number of spots to air total
- Start date/time
- End date/time
Broadcast sponsorship prices:
- Tournament sports broadcasts: $30/spot
- Regular sports broadcasts: $20/spot
- Featured episodes (promoted on WWSU social media): $15/spot
- Regular live or remote shows: $10/spot
- Prerecorded shows: $5/spot
Display Sign Sponsorship
WWSU has display signs inside our lobby. We also have a display sign facing a high-traffic hallway in the Student Union of Wright State facing out of our on-air studio. If you would like us to promote your brand / organization / identity / event / cause on our display signs, we can do that! We can include text and/or a graphic.
Public Display Sign
The public display sign includes the large TV facing out our studio window and towards a high-traffic hallway in the Student Union. It also includes the left TV in the WWSU lobby.
Slides on these signs show on average once every 2-4 minutes for about 15 seconds.
Price per day:
- Fall or Spring semester class days: $150/day
- Summer semester class days: $75/day
- Non-class days: $40/day
- In rare events, promotions may be suspended for breaking news from The Guardian Media Group or severe emergency alerts.
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REACH THE STUDIO
Call the Hosts
Dial the Request Line
You can call the DJ / hosts on the phone by dialing 937-775-5555.
If your call is not answered within 3 rings, it will be automatically transferred to WWSU's main office number. However, you will not be able to leave a voicemail; it will ring indefinitely until someone picks up.
Use Discord
Sometimes, show hosts will use the voice or text channels in our Discord server to bring on guests. Join our Discord server (home page and scroll down to social media) to use Discord's voice or text channels.
STAY IN THE LOOP
Push Notifications
Manage your push notification subscriptions on this page. You can view and remove any of your subscriptions here. To subscribe to a broadcast, see the radio shows, sports broadcasts, or program calendar pages. To subscribe to new blog posts, see the blog pages.
When you allow notifications for WWSU, you are automatically enrolled in high-priority station notifications, notifications when a track you requested is playing, and notifications when a show host sends a chat message (if you were on the website within the last few hours). If you deny site notifications, you will no longer receive those or any notifications.
Manage Notifications
INTERACT
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