You’re listening to WRUW FM 91.1 Cleveland, broadcasting from the campus of Case Western Reserve University.
The lack of quality radio stations in Cleveland has allowed WRUW to thrive. As with any college radio station, the eclectic nature is both attractive and offensive at the same time, going directly from classical music to death metal.
Originally called WESM, it was founded as by the Flora Stone Mather Radio Club, and was limited to broadcasting through a PA system. It gained an AM license as WRAR in 1955, and finally an FM license on February 26, 1967. It began as a 10 watt mono-station, only able to service the University Circle area. It gained stereo capability in 1974 and in 1985 raised the power output to 1000 watts. Currently WRUW broadcasts at 15,000 watts, reaching an area 25 miles out.
The primary Purpose of WRUW-FM
To provide information and entertainment for the members of the community at large through diverse programming not generally made available on the commercial media, reflecting the culture and interests of students, the University Circle community, and the Cleveland community.
The Secondary Purpose of WRUW-FM
To provide an activity in which students of the University may experiment with and enjoy the art of radio broadcasting, to provide an additional means of communication between the University and the Cleveland community, and to generally enhance the intellectual and cultural environment of the community.
WRUW is run by over 100 student and local volunteers who DJ, do technical support and otherwise help the station to remain stable. Only two positions are paid, that of the general manager (undergrad) and the station director (advisor). For the most part the majority of the DJs are students or grad students. Each training session sets a quota to how many non students they let in, normally it’s around 1/5 max of the total trainees.
In 1999, 2000, and 2001, Scene magazine voted WRUW the best radio station in Cleveland.
I am currently training to be a DJ at the station, and it’s quite cool. I get to apprentice with a current DJ once a week to learn to ropes, and there are seminars I have to go to every couple of weeks. It's quite exciting, and I'm happy to be part of such an interesting bunch of people. I was surprised I got into the program against some heavy compitition, but then again, I know the general manager personally.
It is illegal to say just WRUW on the air, it must be WRUW-FM. This node then would be illegal.