Did you know that Madison is home to the best college radio station in the country? Seriously. WSUM-FM 91.7, the student-run station at UW-Madison, was named the best collegiate radio station in the country at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Media Awards last month, beating out over 3,000 other submissions.
It’s a big deal for a 24-year-old station known for its eclectic, enthusiastic programming and professional sound quality. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, host Bianca Martin sat down with WSUM production director Johnny Raider and program director Paige-Elizabeth Kearney to talk about how their station got to the top of the heap.
In an age of increasing media conglomeration, we’re lucky in Madison to have so many cool community radio stations to listen to. Here’s a few stations that you should tune into, either on your car radio or on the internet, and how you can support them. Don’t touch that dial!
UW-Madison students power this long-running community radio station on campus, learning broadcast skills as they provide a service to the student population and beyond. In addition to news, UW sports talk and a wide variety of music, WSUM sponsors the annual Snake on the Lake free music festival. They accept donations and any UW student can get involved.
This low-power, volunteer-driven FM station owned by the City of Monona is both a way for city officials to get information out to its citizens and a chance for volunteer community members to get on the air. Their Americana music shows are their bread-and-butter, but other shows range from prog rock to jazz. They’re always looking for more volunteers to help out.
Madison’s own WORT recently celebrated 50 years as a listener-supported community radio station, with an eclectic mix of news, music, and local interest programming. Shows like Bill Malone’s “Back to the Country” and “Mel & Floyd” have become Madison institutions. They accept donations and volunteers.
Operating out of the Sun Prairie Media Center, this low-power station gives Sun Prairie residents the chance to learn broadcasting skills. In addition to music and local interest programming from volunteers, it’s the place to hear both sports and arts programming from Sun Prairie schools. The media center accepts donations and offers memberships.
This low-power radio station operates out of the Lussier Community Education Center and can be heard for about a 10-mile radius around the center on Gammon Road. Called “Many Voices, One Community,” the station has a wide-ranging music playlist of soul, hip hop, jazz, and more.
This proudly progressive community station has been operating out of a garage in downtown Madison since 2008, and has hundreds of hours of programming archived online. In addition to politics and music, there are shows devoted to fiction and poetry.
Out in Virocqua, WDRT shows the community radio model can work outside of Madison with listener support and volunteer programming. One fun event is the annual Vinylthon, where DJs play only records for 24 straight hours. They accept donations, both monetary and musical.
