WIUX general manager Michael Henderson trains new DJs for Indiana University's student radio station Saturday in its Franklin Hall. Staff photo by Jeremy Hogan
Anew era for WIUX will begin Monday. That’s when fall semester programming for Indiana University’s student radio station starts. It will also be the first time in more than 40 years the radio station’s studios will not be in a free-standing house.
Instead, WIUX DJs will do their shows from inside Franklin Hall, the 110-year old academic building that was remodeled beginning in 2014 to house IU’s Media School. The new space, on the second floor, includes two soundproof studios, an office, custom cabinetry and about $27,000 worth of state-ofthe-art equipment. It’s a far cry from the house Michael Petry frequented when he worked for the station in the late 1990s.
“I think it can definitely help with its professional appearance,” he said. “It was always a touchy thing.
When we were looking for underwriters, we never wanted anybody to see what the house looked like.”
But alumni and current staff agree having a house is part of what made WIUX more than just a radio station.
Having a kitchen to cook meals in, a living room to stage concerts in and a front porch to hang out on facilitated collaboration between students from different backgrounds.
“WIUX will not and cannot be the same organization it was before the move into Franklin Hall,” said Sam Velazquez, general manager during the 2015-16 school year, in an email.
To understand the passion some alumni have for the station, it helps to know its history.
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