On-Air Without Funding: WUVT

By Ryan Hunt
December 13, 2008

Imagine being the head of a college media organization. Now imagine being the head of a college media organization and receiving no funding from the university that allows you to operate.

This situation is the case for a lot of student media organizations on Virginia Tech's campus, including the radio station, WUVT 90.7 Blacksburg. WUVT is a student-run radio station that has provided students with independent music since 1948. The mission statement on their Web site says, "WUVT broadcasts 24 hours a day and serves the community with music, news, sports and public affairs programming." 

According to general manager of WUVT, Jared Thomson, the university pays for electricity and office space in Squires Student Center. "That is all the funding we receive from them," said Thomson. "The lack of funding prevents us from putting on programs that could pull in a larger audience to WUVT.  Without university funding it is difficult for us to book larger bands, attend educational conferences and promote to a larger audience."

Thomson also said that better funding would lead to a "larger staff, better programming and increased educational value for student members."  

WUVT primarily raises money through a semiannual fundraiser, Radiothon. Radiothon consists of WUVT setting up live remote stations around the campus and allows contributors to donate online or over the phone. The stations set up around the campus provide updates on how much money has been raised and offer students a chance to purchase T-shirts, bags, sweatshirts and other merchandise.

This year Radiothon was Oct. 13-19, and the organization brought in around $14,000 in pledges from its listeners.  These listeners are primarily community members and WUVT alumni. Other funding comes from donations given to the station by other radio organizations around the New River Valley. "We feel that we would serve the community more effectively with a larger budget," Thomson said.

WUVT also receives small portions of money from special events and concerts.

John Kayrouz, the AM director at WUVT, has the responsibility of training new members of WUVT who want to become DJs on the air. Kayrouz said the radio station would benefit from the ability of having a larger payroll.

"We have a very small payroll.  A total of four positions on staff receive paychecks.  In comparison, the Collegiate Times pays everyone.  I don't want to believe that people work harder when they get paid, but maybe if we paid more of our staff they would show a higher level of work ethic." Kayrouz said that better funding would increase the overall exposure of the station and would allow for a larger broadcast range via an updated transmitter. "We have always suffered from lack of exposure to the community," Kayrouz said.

The lack of university funding also has an impact on the media organization's ability to advertise and promote its product. Flyers, ads for the Collegiate Times, live shows and Radiothon premiums all cost money that isn't always covered by donations and fundraising.

"It limits my ability to create flyers in color. Most flyers we create are in black and white and printed on copier paper. If I wanted to do that sort of thing, it would have to come out of my own pocket," said James Connors, the promotions director for WUVT. Connors said that better funding would allow him to promote better bands for shows.

New equipment can also be hard to obtain through fundraising alone. According to Thomson, the quality of equipment varies based on amount of use, cost of replacement, and need of replacement. "We have been using the same board for over a decade, and would absolutely benefit from upgrading to a newer model," Thomson said.

Headphones and CD players are replaced with mid-range equipment on an almost yearly basis to keep the equipment running. Regular maintenance on some of the station's equipment is necessary, but is not within the budget. This is another disadvantage of not having funding from the university.

"It's adequate for the job, but from what I have seen it requires a good amount of maintenance," said Connors.

More money would allow WUVT to host bigger events, increase the quality of the equipment and possibly get a larger payroll. Their mission is to provide community involvement and to give to the university in any way they can. However, it's hard not to imagine what could be done with greater funding from the university. "Just think of all the great ways we could give back to the community when we have to financial means to do so," Kayrouz said.

Loyal listeners keep the station alive, and the WUVT staff seems thankful for their support. "In the end, it is thanks to our loyal listeners that we are able to stay on the air," Thomson said.