WETS cable/FM, which has been a fixture on campus for over 40 years, will be going to the World Wide Web starting in January.
The hard work that the students have put forth has paid off and now they will be able to share their music and their services with the ETSU community, said Candy Bryant, adviser and professor of radio broadcasting.
“We hope we can be there for other departments at the university,” Bryant said.
The WETS program, which is designed to help with the training of students who want to be in broadcasting and is a requirement for the radio production classes, will be heard around the world.
Along with the process of getting the station on the Web, the students are also in the midst of writing and designing the computer programs themselves.
They are “restructuring, retooling and getting ready to go on the Web,” Bryant said.
Nearly 35 student workers help to maintain the alternative music station and prepare it for campus cable on channel 13.
The logo for the station calls it ETSU’s Radio Alternative, but Bryant refers to it as, “we’re ETSU’s damn good entertainment, The Edge.”
“We’re carving out our own identity by calling it The Edge,” Bryant says.
Josh Brandon, a former student, assistant manager and program director for WETS, created the name.
The regional broadcasting stations have been hiring ETSU students.
The demand is greater than the supply, Bryant said.
“The professionalism is being noticed in this area and it has caused increased placement and requests,” Bryant said.
There program successful in placing students in broadcasting in this area, she said.
“It’s not me. It’s the students. They work so hard and they are dedicated without being asked,” Bryant said.
Along with the pressure of getting the station ready for the Web, WETS has also had to work around construction. In January the station and WETS will move from the fifth floor of Warf-Pickel to the first floor.
The renovation has been hard to work around, but it is a testament to the spirit of these students to keep persevering, Bryant said.
Three of the students chiefly involved in the station outcome are Daniel Dunbar, station manager; Allison Burke, assistant manager; and Wes Goodwin, music director.

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