WFWM and XFSR Committed to Student Involvement and Advancement

WFWM is a public radio station from Frostburg State University that operates on the frequency 91.9 in Frostburg and the frequency 96.3 in Oakland. The mission of the WFWM public radio is to transmit positive programming with its roots in quality, diversity, and value.Through providing such programing to FSU and the surrounding community, WFWM adheres to the highest standards of radio broadcasting.

The station includes programming ranging from localized information on news and weather to a variety of musical formats. Information on WFWM is acquired from sources such as National Public Radio (NPR), the Associated Press, and the National Weather Service. Musically, the radio station plays an array of genres, such as Classical, Jazz, Big Band, Blues, Celtic, Bluegrass, and Alternative. WFWM works in coordination with XFSR, which is the student run intranet radio station. XFSR gives students the opportunity to utilize skills learned in class to create a weekly hour long radio show experience.

WFWM operates with the intention of providing experiential learning and pre-professional experience to students from all disciplines, allowing real world experience in one of the many mass communication fields focused in FSU’s mass communication major. Student internships and directed studies are available from WFWM, and the radio station also joins with other departments to further involve students. For example, students from the English department help to write on-air articles, students from the theatre department record voice-overs in the radio’s studio, and students in the ethno-botany program create Public Service Announcements pertaining to the surrounding community. Chuck Dicken, station director and program director of WFWM, stated that “There is not an organization or academic department that, with some cooperation, we couldn’t give their students real world experience. Any student who is interested should come in and see what we can do”.

Those interested in stopping by the studio should note that it is currently located in the Stangle Building on campus, but in the future, WFWM will be moved and located in the Center for Communications and Information Technology, or the CCIT Building. When this move happens, the facilities of WFWM will be greatly expanded. Currently, the radio station has only one studio designated specifically for student use. In the new building, the station will have five studios specifically for students. The new facilities will other also include four other studios, a stage that will make live on-air acts possible, and a recording studio. All of these will be outfitted with brand new, university provided equipment. In the thirty year history of WFWM, all previous equipment has been paid for by the stations own fundraising efforts.

Dicken also teaches a 1 credit FSU elective class, MCOM 100, which provides a workshop introduction to radio recording and operation. This class serves as a springboard into the XFSR program, which looks to expand in coming years as the radio station is relocated.