Station Spotlight: Hofstra University’s WRHU

Last Updated on February 13, 2014 by askcbiorg

Special thanks to Shannan Ferry, station manager, for answering the questions!

Tell me a little history about your station and where your station is now?
Radio Hofstra University 88.7 FM has been in existence for over 50 years. This is longer than any other noncommercial radio station on Long Island.  Originally the call letters were WHCH, then WVHC and for the last 25 years or so—WRHU. We have many alumni who stay connected with the station. A list of our alumni accomplishments can be found on our station website wrhu.org.  We do many formal and informal alumni netowkring events. Our current staff is about 200 students. We create a wide variety of shows. Indie rock, metal, hip hop, and country are some of the more popular music shows. We also produce and air a live half hour newscast every afternoon and have two hours of student hosted talk during morning drive. Journalism and especially sports journalism are two areas students have many opportunities to participate in at WRHU.

What sets your station apart from other college radio stations?
What sets WRHU apart is it’s the only student operated college radio station in the country to hold the broadcast rights of a professional sports franchise, the NHL’s New York Islanders.  At WRHU students are given a unique opportunity to do color commentary for NY Islanders broadcasts, report live from the locker room during / after games, and handle all production and engineering elements during live games.  Last season, WRHU’s student produced feed was simulcast on ESPN Radio 98.7 FM New York City and on WFAN during the Islanders run to the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.  We are currently in our 4th season as the Islanders broadcast home and have produced and engineered over 230 Islander game broadcasts.

Why did you choose to work at the radio station?
My passion for news and politics led me to apply for a position at WRHU.  I learned about all of the amazing opportunities WRHU staff members had during the 2008 election season, including reporting live from the New Hampshire primaries, the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, the Presidential Debate, Election Night, and the presidential inauguration.  I wanted that experience myself and I didn’t find any other radio station during my college search that gave students those kinds of opportunities.  That motivated me to get involved with the news department, become a manager, and eventually get those same opportunities during the 2012 election season.  It also motivated me to apply for awards that I was fortunate enough to win from media outlets such as Fox News Channel, Alliance for Women in Media, Fair Media Council, Press Club of Long Island, Women’s Press Club of NY state, and the Radio Television Digital News Association.


What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for your station?
The craziest thing I’ve done for my radio station was report at the 2012 Republican National Convention during the summer before my junior year.  I was able to interview high-profile politicians such as Congressman Peter King and Congressman Michael Grimm, and do live radio hits from the convention floor.  I couldn’t believe that I was reporting alongside professionals from news organizations such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and FOX before even entering my junior year.  Nothing was more exciting to me than being there, and I made a promise to myself that I will do whatever it takes to get back there someday after graduation.

What’s the best part of college radio? And the hardest part?
The best part of college radio is seeing your material being compared to professionals.  There have been many instances where WRHU has won prestigious awards in categories open to professional media outlets—not just college students.  Last year, I was presented with a Gracie Award for a piece I did for our women’s show, A League Of Our Own. Many of the nationally recognized journalists that I look up to had also won Gracie Awards, so being put in that same category as them was very exciting for me.

I think the hardest part of college radio for anyone is time management.  There are so many things you want to get involved in, especially somewhere like WRHU, and figuring out how much you can actually handle while keeping up with your studies is sometimes difficult.