Station Spotlight: Montclair State’s WMSC

Last Updated on January 9, 2014 by askcbiorg

Special thanks to station manager Michael Claudio for answering the questions.

Tell me a little history about your station and where your station is now?
WMSC is a station that began in 1966 and was dubbed “The Voice of Montclair State.” It began as a student club and as a way to get commuter students more involved in campus life. Now the station has moved into a brand new state of the art facility with professional grade broadcast production equipment. It also has moved under the umbrella of The School of Communication and media, but is still student run with a bigger focus on academic life within Montclair State University.

What sets your station apart from other college radio stations?
What sets WMSC apart from other stations I feel is the fact that we are free-form. That is how college radio began from its very roots, but in recent times we have seen many college stations find a niche or certain genre that attracts an audience and they kind of stick with that. At WMSC it varies from hour to hour. You could be hearing salsa music in the morning and then a heavy hardcore metal show three hours later.

Why did you choose to work at the radio station?
I chose to work at WMSC because it is a family, I love the people I work with and I just want to see the station grow and be successful. The amount of potential WMSC has is insane.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for your station?
The craziest thing I ever did for WMSC would have to be introducing electronic dance music or EDM to the stations air waves. It was something never played before and I still get crap from my music director saying its not good music!

What’s the best part of college radio? And the hardest part?
The best part of it all is college radio supplies a voice to students and the community. We get to represent MSU and the local community which comes with great responsibility and power. The worst part is it is very high pressure, all the students, school administrators, and station personnel are looking my way for leadership as well as support. You never want to let anybody down, but I have come to learn there is no way as station manager that you can please everybody.

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