With Director Kelli Sperino-Pease
Written by Natalie Baron
A multitude of clubs and organizations call The State University of
New York (SUNY) at Geneseo home. One of the many unique clubs is a
historical radio station with interdisciplinary capacities. This channel,
WGSU, was authorized by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in 1963, marking WGSU as the first FCC-licensed college radio
station in the Greater Rochester area. While WGSU regularly plays
alternative pop music from independent and indie artists, students also
have the opportunity to create and host their own shows. These shows may
use any radio format and cover a wide variety of topics. Additionally,
WGSU is primarily staffed by students.
WGSU’s various programs include news, public affairs talk shows,
audio dramas, metal shows, pop culture podcasts that play pop music, and
a Christian music show. While WGSU is dominated by students, alumni are
also encouraged to participate. Currently, an alumnus, who is also a staff
member, hosts a show, and one other alumnus has a show. “We are
looking forward to growing the station, making us more of a part of the
community and campus and letting more people know about us,” WGSU’s
director, Kelli Sperino-Pease, voiced.
There are multiple departments within WGSU that ensure the station
is everything it is today. Kyle Bulger is the operations manager. Under Sperino-Pease, he
oversees on-air shows. He trains all the new recruits and programs the
station, making certain that everything runs smoothly. Bulger is also in
charge of the music department, determining which music is played on the
station out of songs sent in via CDs and emails.
WGSU does not currently share news, except for news director
Madilyn Becker’s program on Tuesday evenings. The station is working to
garner members’ interest in hosting daily news reports. As per FCC
regulations, WGSU has a duty not only to entertain, but also to help bring
to the community the latest in current events.
The sports department is co-directed by Liam Kost and Brenna
Cumming. Kost does play-by-plays for Geneseo Ice Hockey Home Games,
and Kost and Cumming also have a sports talk show in the early evening
on Mondays called Chalk Talk.
Two divisions of the marketing department work together to spread
the word about WGSU. Led by Ava Brucie, general marketing aims to raise
awareness of the station both on campus and in the community. General
marketing organizes tables at the Union to have people come up and ask
questions, and they arrange staff appearances at special events to man
tables and hand out WGSU merchandise, such as stickers. Web master
Emma Bromberg promotes the radio station online, is in charge of WGSU’s
Facebook and Instagram pages, and takes photos and videos for social
media.
Presently, WGSU meets as a staff once a month, and the different
departments also hold individual meetings. “There are a lot of pieces to the radio station so everybody works together to make this radio station just an outstanding place. Students are doing a great job,” Sperino-Pease gushed.
To view the list of programs and when shows take place, see the
Program Schedule on the website – Geneseo.edu/wgsu.
WGSU is growing, but some people, even students, remain unaware
of its existence. The station’s marketing department works tirelessly to
bring it into the public eye. Sperino-Pease explained, “This is a terrific way
to unite the campus. We can help promote all of the different programs on
campus and the things that they have going on, and at the same time, we
want to be played around the campus, we want people to know about us,
we want the community to know about us, so we’re working on growing
that.” She hopes that the station can be played around campus soon to
help bring attention to it there. Beyond campus, she knows of older people
in the Village of Geneseo who are regular listeners. Also, she is told by
older people she does not know that they listen to the station. While WGSU
has a smaller listening area and so remains a small station, one can tune
into it live on its website. Additionally, Sperino-Pease believes that the more
people get involved with the radio station, the more people will be listening,
because they will tell their friends they are going to be on the radio, and
then their friends will listen to it. More members help both WGSU and its
members alike thrive.
According to FCC regulations, one of WGSU’s tasks is to inform the
public and offer a public service to the community. In line with this mission,
WGSU features a public affairs talk show, Geneseo Today, by Kate Hamlin.
Hamlin interviews different people around the community and on campus
who are offering services to both and to promote significant events. On the radio, Hamlin recently interviewed a candidate that is running for mayor for
the Village of Geneseo, and she has also previously spoken with SUNY
Geneseo president Dr. Melinda Treadwell, Clifton Harcum with the SUNY
Geneseo Multicultural Center, Anna Campbell with Teresa House, Becky
Glass with the Geneseo Community Center, and the co-chair of the SUNY
Geneseo Communication Department plus organizer for the Cultivating
Community Initiative on campus, Dr. Meredith Harrigan. Due to WGSU’s
FCC licensing, the station not only provides students a chance to
decompress, have fun, express themselves, and have their own small
community or group, but also to be part of something legitimate and
important.
Exciting events have taken place and are coming up for WGSU,
aiming to help grow the station and the public’s awareness of it as well as
to help promote other organizations.
In the past, WGSU has participated in the Village of Geneseo’s
Scarecrow Festival and Halloween trick-or-treating event, with WGSU
having a table set up on Main Street. During the trick-or-treating event,
children could stop by to receive gummy bears and WGSU merchandise.
WGSU plans on attending more events in this manner.
More recently, WGSU paired with the Circus Club on campus for the
Sunflower Story Hour Circus Club Event. It took place on Wednesday,
March 25th at 7 p.m. for free in the Multicultural Center, and snacks and
face paint were offered. The Circus Club performed, and WGSU discussed
the radio station and its show Sunflower Story Hour, plus handed out
WGSU merch at its table. Sunflower Story Hour is a radio drama which has
a different theme per semester and runs the last five weeks of every semester. This semester, Sunflower Story Hour is circus themed. The radio drama’s executive director,
Giulyana Gamero, goes above and beyond, choosing to be in charge of having the shows produced and writing the scripts, even hiring a staff and voice actors.
On Thursday, April 16th, for free at the Multicultural Center, WGSU is
putting on a live concert featuring the band Beyond Chaotic. The band is
made up of three people out of Tampa Bay who are touring around the
country, performing at colleges. There will be the opportunity to dance to
their music. WGSU is going to post promotional posters around the campus
prior to the show. Beyond Chaotic has even recorded promotional ads for
WGSU which will eventually be aired on the station. Down the line, Beyond
Chaotic may also be featured on WGSU in a live interview.
In the near future, WGSU will also be working with the Sustainability
Club for an Earth Day celebration. There will most likely be a live broadcast
for it.
The radio station means a lot to Sperino-Pease and the community.
“Because we’ve been around for so long, there are so many great alumni
out there that just loved being a part of the radio station, so I’m so happy
that we’re still here. My first experience with college radio was when I went
to Genesee Community College in Batavia. I was a big part of their radio
station, and it was a very important part of my life. Unfortunately, that radio
station is no longer there. They’ve gotten rid of it. So, the fact that we are
still here means the world, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep this
radio station relevant and keep it here, and that’s part of the reason why
we’re growing the radio station both on campus and in the community. We
want to be a relevant part of this community, and we want to do our part to inform the community, pass on important information to the community, and also entertain the
community. It’s vitally important for me to make this radio station as
important to our local area as I possibly can.”
WGSU would love to have more students and alumni, and anyone
else who is interested, become involved. Sperino-Pease lets it be known
that “Everybody is welcome. Everybody has something to contribute, so we
would love for them to be a part of the station. There is lots of room.” If
students want to go into marketing or public relations, journalism, or
sportscasting, the radio station allows students the opportunity to do any of
that. Or, if students do not know what they would like to do but want to
experiment and discover what the radio station has to offer them, Sperino-
Pease would love to have a conversation about where their interests lie to
see where a good fit for them would be.
To contact Sperino-Pease, students can shoot her an email at
ksperinopease@geneseo.edu or call her on campus at (585) 245-6212.
Alternatively, one can stop by her office in Blake B 203. “If I’m there, I’m
happy to talk to anybody about it!” Sperino-Pease said. To locate the emails
of the rest of the staff, navigate to Meet the Staff on SUNY Geneseo’s
website under WGSU. Alongside this, a new website is underway just for
WGSU alumni that will enable them to better keep in touch with the radio
station and to know what the station has going on. Alumni stories will also
be shared on this website.
Sperino-Pease reaffirmed, “We hope to have all different kinds of
voices on our station. That’s part of what we’re about. We would love to
hear from anybody who has any interest.” She also expressed, “I’m very
proud of the work my students are doing. They’re doing all of this for the fun of it, basically, working hard doing great things and growing the station exponentially. I’m just so very
pleased with how much it has grown. Last year, Sarah DeVito was the director, and she really helped get the ball rolling as far as growing the station. I was happy to pick up on
that momentum and keep it rolling, and it is. We’re gaining more and
more students, and the radio station is becoming much more popular,
and it’s just really exciting to see!”
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