Going live on the webwaves of internet broadcasting, OWU Radio began re-airing as an internet radio station in January of 2015. Originally a broadcast station as WSLN: The Line (98.7 FM), the radio experienced a shutdown back in the late 2000s. Since then, we’ve lost [interest] in broadcasting live on air and our license for airspace was purchased by a different entity. Now, however, we are back and here to stay.
We received a new location in Phillips Hall located next to our sister media outlet: The Transcript, Ohio Wesleyan’s student-run newspaper since 1867. We got all new equipment (yet saved some of our retro stuff for nostalgia’s sake) and a new General Manager that’s ready to see this station grow and return to its former glory.
Since restarting on this campus again, we added over 20 shows and had a membership of over 35 people. However, as people began to graduate the radio station became inactive again.
The station began its return to campus again in early 2019. Since the spring of 2019 the station has doubled in size with around 16 shows and is continuing to grow. Under new management and full of new faces, OWU radio is ready to broadcast again!
In his book Hollow and Home , native Delawarian and OWU Alum E. Fred Carlisle 56′ describes the beginnings of the OWU Radio Station:
“WSLN began broadcasting in February 1952, six months before I began my academic career at [Ohio] Wesleyan…it was housed in a small wooden building constructed during World War II for V-5 and V-12 cadet use. It was in the center of campus, with one classroom, two offices, a small studio for the staff announcer, a larger studio for programs, and the engineer’s console and turntable with windows into each studio. It had bare wooden floors, flimsy walls, and studios soundproofed with egg cartons. The station broadcast with a weak FM signal. The building suggested that WSLN was a minor undertaking for the university, but it was vital to my life.”
Carlisle was a program host and DJ for night-time musical programs which were popular on campus at the time.