This year marks the 60th anniversary of BW’s radio station, WBWC 88.3 “The Sting.”
In early March 1958, Baldwin Wallace University began The Sting as the first student-owned and operated radio station in the United States.
They continued thriving, updating their broadcasting power twice, once in 1981 and again in 2001, and further set records by becoming the first college radio station to broadcast out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Sting has an entire host of events set for their anniversary.
There will, of course, be many special programs which students can tune into, including the coverage of the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, as well as the third year of coverage for LaureLive, a two-day music festival in Cleveland.
For alumni, there will also be a reunion and dinner, as the radio station’s “Hall of Fame,” which was started in 2008, continues to grow.
Todd Richards, a lecturer at BW who is assisting the planning, wants students to get involved.
“You don’t have to be a (broadcasting or communications) major to be involved with the radio station,” Richards said. “In fact, quite the contrary. I really think it’s great when non-majors are a part of the station, because they bring something else to the table, their experience and that sort of thing, and it kind of makes it a better variety.” Work with the radio station can be done for credit, or on a volunteer basis.
As for on-air programming, one event that Richards was excited about is a call-in program, where students can phone in live to the station and share favorite memories.
There will also be specials on important events on campus, such as former U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to campus, or championship football coverage, in order to create a small “vignette.”
Richards also hopes to do a documentary on the station, especially covering the past fifteen years, as the station has seen nearly two decades of rapid change.
The programs are scheduled to last all year, starting on Jan. 1, and going all the way through Dec. 30, with more events expected to be announced as the year continues.
For any students interested in helping with the anniversary programming, or would simply like to get involved with the station in general, meetings are held on Mondays in the basement of the Union, and DJ training sessions are held afterwards.
For more information, students can visit the station’s website at wbwc.com.