Look like WITR at the Rochester Institute of Technology is stunting. Looping R.E.M.'s "It's The End of the World As We Know It", and promoting an announcement at 4pm.
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WITR Rochester Stunting
- Thread starter AceBiscuits
- Start date
They are just coming up with a fresh image for themselves:
WITR relaunches with a new look and sound
RIT’s student-run radio station, WITR-FM (89.7), is getting a makeover with a new music format, logo, website, and later this year, a boost in transmission power.
www.rit.edu
Thoroughly impressed. Sounds very clean and tight for a student run station.
That’s a real unique way to stunt. I’ve heard about 60 radio stations stunt with that same song. Get creative!
I once ran Europes "The Final Count Down" for 12 hours interspersed with a legal id and "tune in for something new at XX time" on an AM station i managed when changing formats
You should also listen to WJPZ Z-89 at Syracuse. Very good student-run station. Lots of famous alums,
Have a friend that was a DJ there a couple years back, another great station. Upstate has a lot of solid college stations.
To be fair to them, it's a good song, and you could probably make a challenge for how long you could last listening to it without going crazy.
I hung around that station when it was still on carrier current, and later on 1200 khz. Never on air or officially on staff, but used to listen to new records as they came in and monitor Top 40s around the East on skywave at night looking for something different. Because I wasn't on staff, though, the PD (who lived in the same dorm as me) ignored my rantings and absolutely refused to add Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You," which was already a hit outside the Syracuse market. He thought it was awful, a stinker, a stiff. It finally got added about the time it cracked the top 5 nationally. I grumbled about that for months.
The WITR press release offers a well-written description of the direction of the station. Commendable. WITR's logo and web presentation look sharp, too. Impressive! Of course, it's to be expected considering RIT is one of the finest math-science-tech colleges in America.
Noteworthy, Adam Zaffram, the station’s General Manager, a third-year game design and development major, is from Clarence, N.Y. He's probably 20 or 21. Radio needs more "kids" like this if it's to survive. Geezerellos need not apply. Zaffram probably has heard a lot of Buffalo radio ... so he's heard some good stuff and boiler plate corporate blandness.
Rochester college radio sounds far more compelling, diverse and better produced than Buffalo college radio, which essentially consists of WBNY. Some of the better sounding (SUNY) college radio stations in Western New York are WBSU Brockport, WGSU Geneseo, WNYO Oswego and WCVF Fredonia... and although it's not a SUNY school, WITR.
More power to them!
Noteworthy, Adam Zaffram, the station’s General Manager, a third-year game design and development major, is from Clarence, N.Y. He's probably 20 or 21. Radio needs more "kids" like this if it's to survive. Geezerellos need not apply. Zaffram probably has heard a lot of Buffalo radio ... so he's heard some good stuff and boiler plate corporate blandness.
Rochester college radio sounds far more compelling, diverse and better produced than Buffalo college radio, which essentially consists of WBNY. Some of the better sounding (SUNY) college radio stations in Western New York are WBSU Brockport, WGSU Geneseo, WNYO Oswego and WCVF Fredonia... and although it's not a SUNY school, WITR.
At a time when many colleges and universities are walking away from their OTA facilities, it's good to see RIT and its students committed to charting a path for the next generation, and genuinely involved with the Rochester community. Apparently OTA and RF still matter to these kids, and their college.
More power to them!
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WITR has to contend with WBER and WZNE for the alternative audience. While professional formatics and presentation are a great idea and beneficial, not sure playing a more "mainstream" "alternative" format is any more beneficial than say going to a Triple A format which could build an older adult donor base and isn't being done already in the market.
Disclaimer - I'm not saying Triple A is the answer or even going to be big in Rochester. Merely pointing out they're entering an already served arena and if they wanted to fill a niche while sustaining the station, might be wise to try another angle.
Disclaimer - I'm not saying Triple A is the answer or even going to be big in Rochester. Merely pointing out they're entering an already served arena and if they wanted to fill a niche while sustaining the station, might be wise to try another angle.
I've been listening for much of the week, and it differs from The Zone and WBER in some noticeable ways:
While there's overlap, the station plays a lot more deeper tracks from the "mainstream" artists that it plays, songs that surely do not get spins on either station. The station is also playing a lot of indie, whether it be local Rochester artists, and even some student bands at RIT; Zone is not playing these artists, BER does though.
A critical difference between WBER and WITR: WBER is more rock heavy. The station is "alternative" but Rush is in their rotation. WITR plays grunge and "harder edge" acts but it also playing more pop-leaning indie tracks which almost balances it out.
To me, it seems like this is more of a starting ground for the station to work off of. Right now, it's doing some things that are unique but it could (and hopefully will) do more to differentiate from these stations. WBER and WITR, from what I can tell, have always filled the more niche "alternative" audience, and these changes put them more squarely in competition despite both stations taking differing approaches. It looks like the students running the station are energized and passionate about it, and I hope that continues to translate on the air.
In regards to Triple-A in Rochester: WRUR is technically triple-A, but I'd argue that in my time listening WITR, it does feel at times to be leaning towards a Triple-A more so than a "modern rock" alternative.
It would be interesting to see how many students involved in the station would care about this. Looking at the degree programs available at RIT, there is no "broadcasting" or "radio" major or minor. There is a Communications program, but it's a bachelors of science, not arts. Viewing communication as a science is a different way of looking at it. It's more statistical, more analytical. My take is these are students who are playing this music because it's what they like personally, rather than to achieve certain market goals. On the other hand, the students at Emerson's WERS have an option to minor in radio under the Communication Arts major. The faculty manager of WERS set the programming goals and the students carried them out. That doesn't appear to be the case at WITR.
That, or they did actually do the research into their competitors. Being that the station is fully student staffed from the sound of it, this is probably a very dedicated bunch who did their homework (pun intended).
This is a good observation which also beckons the thought that these "kids" might be research and statistics gurus who want to make radio better than the cookie-cutter glop heard on most commercial stations. And there's no saying that kids who solve quantum physics problems in their dreams aren't artistically inclined. Witness Steve Job's study of calligraphy, which influenced the approach to Apple's design and fonts. Then again, I can see some of these kids tearing apart the latest Omni or Orban processor just to see what makes it tick and "hot-rodding" it. That, in itself, is kind of a return to radio geekdom, such as the 60s, when engineers and some programmers modified equipment to out-do the competition. Good for these "kids." Radio needs innovators, disruptors and collaborators who not only think outside the box, but re-invent the box.
My journalism degree from Syracuse is also a Bachelor of Science, as are the degrees of all students in the journalism program. We all chose a "concentration" freshman year -- in 1973, they were newspaper, magazine, TV/radio, advertising/public relations and graphic arts -- but the degree we got after four years was a Bachelor of Science degree, even for those with a graphic arts concentration. Are there schools that grant Bachelor of Arts degrees in journalism, and how do their curricula differ from those granting Science degrees? If all J-schools offer is Sciences, maybe the answer is for those "kids" to take a few electives in the performing arts while maintaining their concentration in journalism.
In general, BA programs offer more breadth, while BS programs are typically greater depth and/or more hands-on experience within the curriculum. It's unusual for a communications school like the Newhouse School of Public Communications to offer BS degrees. Perhaps they feel that the required "practicum" qualifies their program as being "more technical." Maybe that narrow focus is why we've heard Newhouse graduates name Ben Franklin as a US President.
For my money, a BS degree is more technical - how to make stuff work, while a BA degree is more general - why to make stuff work. BS degrees often cost more in tuition because there's a "lab experience." Looking at the Newhouse School programs, I don't see a major difference between their curriculum and that of most high-end Communications programs.
The majority of the "Top 25 Journalism Schools" offer BA degrees in "Journalism" or associated fields.
25 Best Journalism Schools 2020 | GradReports
Looking for a bachelor's degree in journalism? Find out which colleges have the highest alumni salaries for journalism majors based on data from the Department of Education.
"He was the best president we ever had!" -- Crow T. Robot, riffing on a short film called "Money Talks," which featured Franklin, on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" in the '90s. AFAIK, none of the MST3K gang went to SU.
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