History

We are part of a long history of creative student-produced radio at Milligan University.

The earliest reference to radio at Milligan is the Radio Club in the 1958 Buffalo yearbook. The club created a show on Johnson City’s WETB called “Milligan College Speaks.”

The WZMC era

However, the real story of radio at Milligan began in 1991 with two stations on the AM band: a student-run campus station, and a professional station that would become WZMC AM870.

The campus station used carrier current technology, a low-power AM signal transmitted through electrical wiring inside buildings. The studio was in a small room in the Hart Hall lobby, and in the beginning, could only be heard inside Hart. Wiring was eventually expanded into Sutton with plans to add Webb. The free-format station had 60 students involved at launch and was viewed as a training ground for the main station, WZMC.

Lowell W. Paxson, the founder of Home Shopping Network and PAX TV (now Ion), was a Christian leader in broadcasting. He is the namesake of the Paxson Communications Building, WUMC’s home.

On September 14, 1991, Paxson purchased the failed WFKB AM870 in Colonial Heights for Milligan at a foreclosure auction. The campus newspaper, the Stampede, described the day as hectic. Then college president Marshall Leggett yelled what was happening in the auction to his wife, who in turn relayed the information to Paxson via a car phone just outside. Paxson was in a jet over Florida. They had to re-dial the call every time Paxson switched cell towers in the air.

Paxson purchased a modular building and state of the art equipment to bring the station to Milligan. Programming from campus began on February 11, 1992. The call letters were changed to WZMC shortly after.

WZMC was the first and at the time the only station in the Tri-Cities to play exclusively contemporary Christian music. Due to limitations with AM radio, it was only licensed for daytime operation. Students ran the music automation system, which was based on reel-to-reel tapes that came by mail. Dusty Garison, then faculty station manager, credits WZMC for bringing concerts to the region from some of the biggest contemporary Christian artists. Students also got to host their own shows, including at least one comedy show.

“It was one of those things that you almost couldn’t believe people were paying you to do this because you were having fun while you were doing it.”

Dusty Garison, former WZMC station manager

WZMC was a commercial station, but it never sold enough ads to be self-supporting. The station was closed and sold in 1996. The station is now WPWT and is known as 96.3 The Possum.

The early FM days

WUMC’s longtime faculty advisor Dr. Carrie Swanay and three initial student station managers, Carrie Glover, Tammy Klein, and Marc Mooney, started work to launch WUMC in the summer of 1996. More than two dozen students signed up to go on the air. While the station waited for FCC approval, hardly anyone could hear the weak signal that couldn’t be picked up beyond Hart Hall.

Tom Goodlett and Todd Baldwin were the first students on the air on September 9, 1996. DJs had a Saturday night workshop before going on air. The Stampede reported the two were nervous and said a big prayer before the show.

“It was a lot of fun. It was all students, and a lot of them had never been in radio before.”

Carrie Glover, first WUMC student station manager

Programming was aired from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. when the station began. There was no music at the start. Students wrote production companies to ask for CDs in the mail. The transmitter failed on the second day of operation and had to be brought back up for the third day.

The station aired live sports from the beginning by sending commentary back to the studio over the phone. It was just basketball at first.

The station was known by the brand “WMCR Milligan College Radio” until the FCC granted a construction permit for a 500-watt transmitter and the call letters WUMC in 1997. A full license was approved in 2000.

The Tom and Todd Show

Goodlett and Baldwin continued their show, “The Tom and Todd Show,” until their graduation in 2000. The show pushed the limits of what was acceptable, with comedy bits, calling random people early in the morning to wake them up. Goodlett says the two got in trouble with Dr. Swanay almost daily.

“We can’t believe they let us on the radio.”

Tom Goodlett, first WUMC show host

The show had one long-running bit called “Barf Night,” a milk-chugging contest aired live. It was so popular that Tom and Todd hosted an in-person version on Wonderful Wednesday with a TV for the winner. The Wonderful Wednesday milk chug became an unsanctioned student tradition for decades.

Creativity and community

WUMC cemented its reputation as a blank canvas, a place for students to let loose and be creative and entertaining. In the early 2000s, students hosted variety shows; some had guests, talk shows, call-ins, played indie music, and more.

“People felt free to be creative, bring their friends down, and let it be something that was kind of a communal experience.”

Warren McCrickard, former student station manager

Milligan president, then professor, Bill Greer hosted the comedy “B&B Show” with fellow professor Bob Mahan in 2002. In 2003, the Stampede aired a show called “Beyond the Bubble,” which in one episode featured a retired NASA engineer in the wake of the Columbia shuttle disaster.

Technological advancement

By the mid-2000s, WUMC was setting its sights on the possibilities of internet streaming. Under student station manager Bryan Mills, remote broadcast feeds, including live sports, were transmitted to the radio station digitally.

Mills produced dozens of fun station IDs and promos based on the popular culture of the time. The IDs ran on WUMC for almost a decade.

The station was available through an on-campus cable channel in addition to over the air. By 1999, WUMC was broadcasting 24/7. A web stream was launched in 2009. That expanded WUMC’s reach worldwide, allowing parents to keep up with what’s happening on campus. In the beginning, the stream was shut off during summer break, but it went full time in 2019.

Music Buffs Live

WUMC added a lot of new programs under student station manager Caleb Perhne in the mid-2010s. One of the most popular was a live music show called “Music Buffs Live.” The show featured live performances from students who could play instruments and sing. Gabe Rees hosted the first episode on February 4, 2016 with guests John Crowe and Tyler Jorgenson. The series continued for at least six seasons with various hosts. During finals week in December 2017, hosts Erin Donovan and Mitchell Hancock aired a Christmas version with 12 live guests in one hour.

“It is fostering community, and if that’s what we really want at Milligan, this is a way of doing it. It’s not enough to play prerecorded pop and Christian hits. It’s got to be stuff that’s actually made by Milligan and for Milligan.”

Gabe Rees, first host of “Music Buffs Live”

During that time, sports commentators John Steadman, and later Cody Carlson, broadcasted about 15 games each semester. John Allen and Zach Hollifield hosted a successful comedy talk show where they coined the term “bro mom” for a responsible friend. Jacob Smith interviewed a music artist from New York live by phone after receiving his music in the mail. Smith brought the artist’s picture to all his volleyball games. About a dozen student shows were on the air each semester.

Losing a legend

In 2019, WUMC lost its longtime faculty advisor Dr. Carrie Swanay after a battle with cancer. Swanay taught at Milligan for 30 years and was the chair of the area of performing, visual, and communicative arts. The radio station struggled to maintain its presence and footing for the next couple of years.

New growth

Today’s WUMC is in a period of new exploration and rapid growth. On October 10, 2022, we premiered our first podcast “Film Landing” hosted by Mariana Marsh and Marnie Tallon. On that same day, the station hosted its first live broadcast from the Mary Sword Commons for World College Radio Day. The show featured condensed versions of shows and a contest for two free radios.

The station added a record player in late 2022. Based on a student survey, WUMC premiered a new music mix on January 1, 2023 with an emphasis on new, indie, and local music. Featured local artists include Annabelle’s Curse, Beth Snapp, Tell Ripley and 49 Winchester.

The station created a half-hour show that was featured in the 2023 World College Radio Day global stream, which included interviews with international students about their experiences at Milligan. A live show on campus included music, interviews, comedy and giveaways from local bands. WUMC was one of 10 stations around the world to be given a 2023 Spirit of College Radio Award out of more than 700 World College Radio Day participating stations.