A Center For Creativity
WHUS Radio is a center for creativity media production at the University of Connecticut.
WHUS is a non-commercial college and community radio station, staffed by students and community members, broadcasting on 91.7 FM at 4,400 watts to Connecticut, Southern Massachusetts and Western Rhode Island. The FM-stream also streams online and is accessible on the WHUS Radio smartphone app.
WHUS also operates a second Internet radio stream, incorporated in 2014 to accommodate the growing number of DJs on staff.
In 2014, WHUS also opened a multimedia production studio where staff members can edit audio and video, record, mix and master recording artists.
WHUS primarily provides a learning environment for students and individuals in the UConn community who are interested in broadcasting and media production. Three times a year, WHUS offers a broadcast training program, for students and community members interested in programming on WHUS-FM or WHUS2. WHUS also offers extensive training in other aspects of broadcast (music, news, sports, engineering, and production) as well as training in other media production (podcasting, videography, and mixing/mastering).
A Sound Alternative
The programming on WHUS-FM, WHUS-2 and whus.org is multi-formatted.
WHUS broadcasts over 100 music shows, each covering a diverse variety of music, honing in on independently-produced or small-record label artists. The WHUS Music Department focuses on delivering music to listeners before it comes out in-store, and well before it hits Top-40 radio. With its new-music oriented programming and speciality-genre programming on the weekends, WHUS Music is a place for music exploration.
WHUS also broadcasts public affairs and talk programs weekdays from 10am-1pm, covering a diversity of issues and giving a voice to groups underrepresented by mainstream media. WHUS also takes an active role in hosting conversations about controversial topics on-campus and giving opportunity to campus organizations to showcase their work.
WHUS News strives to provide unbiased, well-rounded multimedia coverage of campus news, broadcasting twice-a-day news headline updates and providing hyper-local original reporting on WHUS-FM and full video/audio/print/photo coverage on whus.org.
WHUS Sports travels across the country to provide play-by-play coverage and analysis of UConn Men’s & Women’s Basketball and Football, as well as exclusive coverage of UConn Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Hockey and Baseball. WHUS Sports also provides the audio track for the UConn Athletic Department’s Huskies All-Access video channel, and for B2 the Broadband Sports and Entertainment Network.
WHUS also sponsors several concerts every semester with the intent of exposing the UConn community to bands and genres of music they might not otherwise see in the Storrs/Hartford area.
Beyond Broadcast
The WHUS Production department is split into three areas of concentration.
Broadcast production focuses on producing pre-recorded material and public service announcements for FM airplay.
Advanced studio production focuses on mixing, mastering and recording live bands and studio artists.
Multimedia production focuses on videography, digital production and design.
Behind the Scenes
The WHUS Promotions department is split into two areas of concentration.
The marketing department and street team focuses on advertisement placement, branding and marketing strategy.
The events department focuses on planning and organizing concerts, guest lectures and speakers as well as providing DJs for events organized by other campus organizations.
The WHUS Training department works in conjunction with all other departments to provide clearance and continued staff development in both broadcast, media production and management.
The WHUS Online department works to produce digital content unique to the station’s website and reflect the station’s activity in both broadcast and non-broadcast entities.
The WHUS Tech/IT Department seeks to provide its own technical support as well learning environment for students who want experience in server maintenance, computer support and broadcast equipment.
Awards
With a radio signal reaching past the boundaries of the Storrs campus, WHUS has a strong engagement with the Connecticut community. As a result, WHUS has won the Hartford Advocate’s “Best College Radio Station” award 11 out of the past 13 years. Last year, WHUS also won the Hartford Advocate’s“Best Radio Station” award and was featured in both UConn Today and Hartford Magazine for its weekly music studio performance broadcasts, titled “WHUS Studio Sessions Series.”
At the 2014 Intercollegiate Broadcast System Awards in New York City, WHUS Studio Sessions won “Best Live Performance.” The station also won “Most Creative Program” and was a finalist in “Best Use of Social Media,” and “Best Sports Broadcast,” and “Best Radio Drama” categories.
This October, at College Music Journal Conference in New York City, the WHUS Music Director won the nationally recognized “Best Taste in Music” CMJ award.