Title

WSOU at 75: The Voice of Seton Hall

Preview

Exhibition Dates

August 23 - December 8, 2023

Description

WSOU at 75: The Voice of Seton Hall, August 23 - December 8, 2023

Reception: September 13, 4-6PM

On April 14, 1948, a switch was flipped and WSOU began transmitting live on the radio at 89.5 on the FM dial. The station was founded at the request of University president Monsignor James Kelley who gave the station's first faculty director just three months to get the station up and running. That task was accomplished with the assistance of longtime chief engineer Tom Parnham, who helped construct the station and continued to work there until his death in 1994. Throughout the past seventy five years, thousands of students broadcast over WSOU's airwaves or worked behind the scenes in production, promotion, newscasting, sportscasting, programming, sales and marketing, and engineering. From its founding, the station was envisioned as a laboratory for learning and professional development, providing direct experience to students serving an eager listener base. The student-run station helped hone the professional skills that launched many of its alumni to highly successful careers in radio, television, news, sports and entertainment. Throughout its existence, WSOU has been recognized with more than 70 industry awards including a Marconi Award for Best Non-Commercial Station of the Year (2016), a Peabody Award (1975) and was named a "Top 5 Radio Station" in the country by Rolling Stone magazine. In 2018, the station was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and the Garden State Journalist Association's 72nd Annual memorial Journalism Awards recognized five students from the ranks of WSOU. This exhibition celebrates the people and events that have made WSOU one of the most distinguished college radio stations in the United States for the past 75 years.