Campus radio station serves community

Campus radio station serves community

Messiah’s student-run radio, known as Pulse Radio or WVMM, can broadcast from anywhere on campus, evidenced by its many locations throughout its years of broadcasting. After starting in the library, the station spent some years in the basement of the Engle Center, in the basement of Miller Residence and across the street from Rafiki House, before the construction of Larsen Student Union, which is now its current location.  

The station has expanded its listenership from the Messiah community to roughly 3,000 online listeners, broadening its signal to reach communities from Dillsburg to Harrisburg to Carlisle.

Professor of Communication and Faculty Director of The Pulse Ed Arke says radio is one way Messiah can connect to and serve the community.

“Helping our neighbors understand our student body a little more and providing cultural programming is an important aspect of connecting the university with the surrounding community,” said Arke.  

Weekday mornings, the radio typically plays classical music, and the afternoons spotlight student podcasts, indie artists and live student DJs. Sorting through music submissions and adding the best five or so albums to the playlist each week is one of the responsibilities of the station’s music director, Ravi Ahuja ’22.

“I absolutely love getting sent all kinds of artists and listening to every kind of new music being made. It builds my own music collection just as much as the radio’s,” said Ahuja.  

Students can easily start their own podcast and even use the recording studio’s equipment. In the student podcast “Meet Me at the Well,” Rosemary Jones ’22, an English and communication major, chats with students and staff around campus about life decisions, faith and social issues. “Ultimately, the question we are trying to address is how can we, as Christians, be chasing after the Lord’s heart in all we say, do and think?”

The station’s radio manager Nolan Hogenboom ’22, a broadcast major, says the station’s philosophy is simple. “We’re a student-run station with student-made programming,” he said. “Tune in to hear your friends—or yourself—on the air. Pulse Radio helps to keep Messiah connected to the community as a whole.” 

— Molly McKim ’23