A Center For Creativity

WHUS Radio is a center for creativity and media production at the University of Connecticut.

WHUS is a non-commercial college radio station broadcasting on 91.7 FM at 4,400 watts to Connecticut, Southern Massachusetts and Western Rhode Island. The FM signal also streams online.

WHUS also operates a second Internet radio stream, WHUS 2, incorporated in 2014 to accommodate the growing number of DJs on staff.

In 2014, WHUS also opened a multimedia production studio where students 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. 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).

The broadcast license of WHUS is held by the Board of Trustees of the University of Connecticut and a majority of funding comes from fees paid by undergraduate students. WHUS also recieves funding by renting space on WHUS’s tower. WHUS is governed by an Executive Board elected every year by the staff.

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 a variety of public affairs and talk programs throughout the week and during the Talk Block on Friday mornings, that cover a diversity of issues and give a voice to groups underrepresented by mainstream media. WHUS also takes an active role in hosting conversations about controversial topics on-campus and giving opportunities to campus organizations to showcase their work.

WHUS News strives to provide unbiased, well-rounded multimedia coverage of campus news and provides hyper-local original reporting on WHUS-FM and full video/audio/print/photo coverage on whus.org. The News Department also produces a weekly podcast in collaboration with the Daily Campus and UCTV that provides news updates and lively conversation to the UConn community about campus happenings called Husky Nation News. 

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 often works in collaboration with the UConn Athletic Department to send students to various sports games in order to produce audio, video, and broadcasted content.

Advanced studio production focuses on mixing, mastering and recording live bands and studio artists for studio sessions videos on YouTube and FM airplay.

Beyond Broadcast

Students can get involved at WHUS is several areas besides live broadcasted music, sports, or news shows.

Talk production focuses on producing pre-recorded podcasts and public service announcements for FM airplay. 

Multimedia production focuses on videography, digital production and design. 

WHUS 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. The Events department focuses on planning and organizing these concerts, guest lectures and speakers as well as providing DJs for events organized by other campus organizations.

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, in 2015 WHUS had 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 “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.

In 2014 at the College Music Journal Conference in New York City, the WHUS Music Director, Trevor Morrison, won the nationally recognized “Best Taste in Music” CMJ award. 

In March, 2015, WHUS won “Best News Delivery” and “Best Facebook Page” at the College Media Association 2015 Apple Awards.