The WOLF Internet Radio Gets a Facelift

Over the summer the University of West Georgia had the opportunity to renovate various areas of the campus to help improve the quality of the learning environment for students. With help from Academic Affairs, coupled with money left over from the previous year, the radio labs on the bottom floor of the Anthropology building were included in these renovations. The process of renovating the current studios has been a gradual one that originally started last summer. Due to lack of funding, the renovations were put on hold. Over the summer of 2014 the project was put back into motion, allowing for the complete and final transformation of the labs.

The WOLF Internet Radio was born in a small radio lab located on the first floor of the Humanities building in 2010. It was in that lab that The WOLF had its first live broadcast. Since then, the radio program has expanded well beyond that small lab to multiple labs located inside the Anthropology building.

In the radio industry, most stations have a space set up for different types of work. There are rooms for producing and editing, and the main studio has its own space. By removing a wall and installing a door to the existing labs, UWG has been able to mirror this type of environment so that students have a specific space that suits the needs of what they are trying to accomplish.

Changes to the main studio and guest studio have also been made. The studios are now up against windows that face the campus. If there is something happening inside of the studio, students have the opportunity to watch from outside. Shawn Isaacs, operations manager of The WOLF Internet Radio, has helped to oversee the changes being made within the department. Alongside cosmetic changes, new and updated equipment has also been added to the labs that allow students to operate on a larger capacity.

“We are now right at or above most corporate radio stations,” he said. “Our automation system is well above other broadcasters and three radio stations in the Atlanta market have just purchased that same system.”

The new equipment is funded by end of the year requests. When money in the department has not been spent, UWG offers that money to people who make these requests. With new types of technologies available in the labs, students will have the opportunity to work with and learn exactly what they will be looking at when they get out into the job market.

All of the physical changes to the studios and labs are completed, but The WOLF Internet Radio is still looking to expand.

“Every year we are looking to see how we can grow,” Isaacs said.

The station already covers all home games including football, basketball, baseball and sometimes softball. Sports communication is a large aspect of the radio market and The WOLF hopes to continue to be a part of that trend.

Erin

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