Emma Brown

Reporter

“WMUW, 88.5. You’re on The Edge.”

Mississippi University for Women’s FM radio station, WMUW 88.5, has been on the air for more than 40 years, and its eclectic sound is a musical voice to the students who work at the station.

College radio is known for discovering new artists and songs regular listeners could not easily find. This applies to WMUW, which since the mid-1980s has been playing a range of tunes from established artists to those who were on their way to stardom.

WMUW can claim the bragging rights of playing these up-and-coming bands that broke molds and changed music forever, especially in the ‘90s when alternative musicians exploded onto the scene.

Professor Eric Harlan, the station’s manager, said WMUW once acted as a test market for record companies to gauge public reaction to up-and-coming artists. Some of these artists did make it big and even went on to become cultural icons.

“We broke out a lot of great grunge artists,” Harlan said. “I mean we played Nirvana before anybody had heard of them, and we were first in the world to play Blind Melon.”

Besides discovering cool new music and hosting shows, being a disc jockey at WMUW allows students to find their feet in broadcasting. WMUW gives students, faculty, staff and alumni the chance to have a radio show that they can make their own while they learn valuable communication skills.

Part of WMUW’s ability to teach these skills comes from its smaller size. While the station’s outreach is limited, it is ranked number three out of eight in area listeners, and that includes stations that reach a much wider audience.

Sam Yarborough, a senior and Music Director for WMUW, has hosted multiple shows either by himself or joined by guests who choose music and chit-chat with him during breaks. He said a lot of the skills he has learned stemmed from the freedom, opportunity and flexibility WMUW has to offer.

“You have to follow rules, but also, you’re just doing a show where you just want to do your own thing and no one will really stop you,” Yarborough said. “Having that freedom, I was able to do a lot of different things.”

The freedom to host your show teaches you how to fix mistakes as you go, play music you want others to hear and allow yourself to improve your research skills when discussing topics on air. Any kinks or hiccups can be fixed without the worry of slipping up in front of a large listening audience.

A major benefit to radio is that you can talk to an audience without having them standing right in front of you, which can be nerve-wracking to a lot of people. You can better your public speaking and communication skills this way by making small talk and starting off with a manageable audience.

Podcasting is a hit in the streaming world, but radio can offer the same benefits and opportunities for discussion of news, issues, worldwide topics and interests.

Makalyn Cowley hosts a show with Jasper Poag and Khayla Gray on Tuesdays and Fridays.When they are not playing music from any genre or any decade, they switch on the mic and get each other’s takes on topics such as the best Halloween candy. The three of them agree that research, planning and preparation are necessary when it comes to running a fun and smooth show.

“Each of us try to bring four topics apiece,” Gray said. “We go through those four topics and try to make sure we have enough dialogue to reach a certain point before we start playing music.”

It does not matter if you are a big talker or not, just speaking to the listeners gives a personal touch that

lets them know there is someone there playing music for them. So, if you like to geek out over certain topics of interest, inform others or just simply play the music, WMUW has it all available for you.

WMUW is a great stepping-stone into broadcasting, tech work and the world of music promotion. Yarborough, Cowley, Poag and Gray all said they would consider working in broadcasting in the future. They believe their experience at WMUW would be a terrific help when pursuing broadcasting at a professional level or just for the means of expression and fun.

You can tune into Yarborough’s show on Thursday nights from 6-10 p.m. Cowley, Gray and Poag’s show can be heard on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and Fridays at 11 p.m. Additional scheduling and programming can be found at www.muw.edu/wmuw/.

So, who can host a show?

Show hosting is available to students, faculty, staff and alumni. It does not matter what you are majoring in either. WMUW is not just open to Communication students.

If you are interested in joining the 88.5 FM schedule, contact Eric Harlan through his email, eeharlan@muw.edu. If you would like to hear one of your favorite songs on 88.5 FM, you can call in requests during live shows by calling (662) 329-7254 to get in contact with a host.