When you’re driving down the road, it’s easy to get in the habit of choosing the same local radio stations to listen to. However, you may not know that these stations aren’t all you have to choose from.
College Radio Day is a way to celebrate stations like The Edge.
Jesse Denney, graduate manager of ETSU’s radio station, advocates for more listeners to tune into The Edge, WETS 89.5, to experience music and segments that think outside the box.
“College radio day is a holiday to celebrate college radio,” Denney said. “It’s a holiday where all the college radio stations around the country, and even around the world, can come together and say, ‘This is a thing, you should pay attention,’ and we all get to support each other at the same time.”
Because the station is independently run by the university and its students, it does not have to conform to doing and saying what other local stations have to. WETS is able let the students have a voice through dialogue and music choice.
“It’s pretty much one of the last bash ins for free speech on rock radio,” Denney said. “When you get out of here and get a job at a mainstream radio station, you’re getting told what kind of things to say and what kind of music to play. With college radio, you don’t have to sound exactly like the other cookie cutter stations, and you don’t have to play all of the mainstream hits.”
In celebration of College Radio Day, The Edge had people working around the clock to make sure the station could represent this holiday to the fullest.
“We’re going to be shy of 24-hour straight DJ coverage by just a few hours,” he said. “But we’re going to be playing content the whole time. I’ll be playing some documentaries and some special content.”
Although Denney believes the station has become more widely known since he first got here, he would like to see more people become aware that they have the option of listening to The Edge.
“I’d like for the ETSU audience to know that we actually exist,” Denney said. “It’s gotten better over the years I’ve been here. I’d like for the campus at large to know what’s going on.”
Because the station is almost entirely student run, the music played is for college-aged students and people that want to experience something outside of the usual hits.
“All of this music was picked by my music director and my undergraduate manager,” Denney said. “There is something else that you can listen to. There’s something that’s more geared toward what you want to listen to.”
