Donation Questions
From WIIT 88.9 FM
Contents |
Number of Shows
Q: How many shows are there and what are the types of programming are on the station (country, rap, classical, talk show topics, etc)?
A: WIIT currently has thirty one shows on it's schedule. More shows are added all the time. This week two more were added to the schedule. While we do not require a format we have a few notable shows which separate themselves out from the rest genrewise. The shows range from hip-hop to Metal. Below you will find a few examples of genre-based shows.
- Spin Club Radio (Hip-Hop)
- Here There and Everywhere (World)
- Metal Mayhem (Metal)
- Club Frequency (House music and Hip-Hop)
- Many Many Indie rock and Alternative shows
Most of the new students that have joined the station lately play a variety of music. They don't restrict themselves to one genre. So during one show they may play hip hop, world, jazz, and rock.
Students
Q: How many students participate (DJs, producers, behind the scenes, etc)?
A: After dropping to almost no students at WIIT, a drive was put in place to bring the students back. Right now I am proud to say that we have eighteen students on the schedule, four faculty and staff members, and thirteen community members.
In addition to the 18 students that have their own shows, several students are still in training. Once they complete their training they will have their own shows so we anticipate that the number is going to change in the next couple of weeks.
There are no students working as behind the scene members at the station. Out next step after building up our student DJ population is to bring them into the administration of WIIT. We now have enough students from which to pull a competent staff.
Hours
Q: What are the hours of operation?
A: WIIT broadcasts 24 hours a day. Live DJs operate during the hours of operation of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center (MTCC). The MTCC's hours of operation are from 8am to Midnight on Sunday - Wednesday and 8am to 1am on Thursday - Saturday. The earliest scheduled show at WIIT is at 10am and the latest ends at 1am.
Reach
Q: What is the current bandwidth, and how far does your signal reach?
A: The bandwidth for our internet stream is only limited by the connection given us by IIT/TV. I personally do not know the limits of their connection, but we have not had any trouble with bandwidth so far this year.
WIIT's signal strength is 19.5 Watts. This allows our signal to reach from Roosevelt Ave. in the north to 56th St. in the south. From west to east our signal reaches from Ashland avenue to the Lake. I have included a signal map to help in visualizing this.
For many years we have been talking about increasing the signal strength to 100 Watts. In order to do this we need a significant amount of money to conduct surveys and meet the FCC licensing requirements. The figures that are mentioned are in the neighborhood of 30k. We believe that increasing our wattage will make IIT visible.
Cost
Q: What is the appx. cost to run the station per year, per semester, per show?
A: Our current budget for 2006 is $6000. This only covers the minimum amount needed to run the station. Most of the money is spent on licensing the music we play. There is no increase in cost to add a show as all members of WIIT are volunteers. If any, the cost incurred by having more DJs in more strain on the equipment. We manage to scrounge together what we need to keep the place running.
Listenership
Q: About how many listeners do you have? How do you track this? Who are your listeners?
A: We currently have no way of tracking over-the-air listenership, though we can and do track the amount of people who connect to our online stream. For October we had an average of 61 connections a day and a total of about 2000 connections in the month. The online listenership drops off in the summer as we lose much of our listenership as our student DJs go home for vacation. The listenership then builds again. This can be seen in the below image.
By the end of the spring semester we lost most of our DJs. We are heavily recruiting now and as more DJs start having shows they will build up their listernship, as can be seen from the charts. Most of the new DJs just finished training in the last couple of weeks so it will take some time for them to establish their shows and build up their listernship.
Future Plans
Q: What are the future plans of WIIT
A: The imediate plans for WIIT are to increase student participation in the station to the point in which we can hand off all administration of the station to the students who make the station what it is. The long term goals include increasing listenership, providing musical events to the IIT population, and increasing the musical expression of IIT's students. One long term goal is to increase our wattage. We have found this to be a long and expensive process.
