WFYI Public Radio to partner with Indiana State University

The partnership also is seen as significantly expanding opportunities for students. Representatives of ISU, WFYI and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology announced the changes Wednesday during a news conference.

“This is going to be a new venture for the area,” said ISU president Dan Bradley. “This arrangement will satisfy a need for a full-time NPR news and information station in the Wabash Valley” and also continue ISU’s tradition of providing learning opportunities for student broadcasters.

The partnership was made possible through ISU’s acquisition of WMHD, 90.7 FM, from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The transfer of license from Rose-Hulman to the ISU board of trustees was approved last month by the FCC.

Indianapolis-based WFYI will rebroadcast its programming on WISU, 89.7 FM.

The current student-operated, music-intensive programming of WISU will move to 90.7, and that station’s call letters will change to WZIS.

The changes mean that ISU will operate two radio stations. The format changes are expected to take place by the last half of September.

Around mid-September, about 178,000 listeners in the Terre Haute market will have access to WFYI’s Public Radio broadcast, which will be simulcast on the ISU radio station. Programming will include “Indiana Week in Review,” “No Limits,” “Indiana Lawmakers” and “Sound Medicine.” The addition of west-central Indiana represents a 10 percent increase in WFYI’s listenership potential, officials say. WFYI’s radio signal will now extend east to west from New Castle, Ind., to Mattoon, Ill.; and north to south from Lafayette to Columbus, Ind.

“WFYI is very excited to extend our programming to west -entral Indiana” and to build a closer connection to the communities here, said Lloyd Wright, WFYI president and CEO. The audience for public radio programming is growing, he said. “I think there is more and more of a need for the kind of objective, nonbiased reporting that NPR provides.”

The additional radio station and the partnership with WFYI will greatly expand opportunities for Indiana State students, Bradley said. They will have on-air and behind the scenes work at WZIS, opportunities to be involved in locally produced public affairs programming on the new WISU, and internship opportunities with WFYI in Indianapolis, he said.

The local, public affairs programming could involve interviews with community leaders, ISU faculty and others.

Upgrades are planned to improve the signal and reach of WZIS.

The partnership will provide opportunities not only for students in radio, TV and multi-media, but also for students in such fields as not-for-profit management, finance and administration, Wright said. 

Rose-Hulman students also will have the opportunity to work with the new WZIS station. The college moved to an online radio station last fall, which cleared the way for its FM station’s license to be transferred to Indiana State.

“WMHD has had a long broadcasting tradition in the Wabash Valley, and we are pleased to see the station reborn at Indiana State University,” said Jim Goecker, Rose-Hulman vice president of enrollment management and strategic communications.

The student-operated WZIS will continue its current format in terms of music, ISU sports programming and other offerings, said Phil Glende, ISU executive director of student media. “We will have to create a new identity for ourselves,” he said.

Officials noted that limited public radio programming and classical music are currently available in the area through a WFIU repeater station. WISU 89.7 will have a stronger signal, cover a much larger area and offer a full schedule of NPR programming, they said.