WLSO

Infobox Radio station
name = WLSO


city = Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
area = [http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WLSO&service=FM&status=L&hours=U]
branding = The Sounds of Lake State
slogan =
airdate =
frequency = 90.1 MHz
format = Variety; college student station
power =
erp = 100 watts
class = A
callsign_meaning = Lake Superior
former_callsigns = WLKR
owner = Lake Superior State University
webcast = [Awaiting License]
website = [http://wlso.lssu.edu/ http://wlso.lssu.edu/]
affiliations =

WLSO is a radio station in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, United States, broadcasting at 90.1 on the FM dial. It is the college radio station of the city's Lake Superior State University.

The station originally launched in 1991, as an AM carrier current station, broadcasting exclusively to Brady Hall [ [http://www.lssu.edu/housing/brady.php Lake Superior State University :: Student Housing :: Brady Hall ] ] , parts of Osborn Hall and on crisp nights could be heard in the campus trailer park. After receiving a broadcasting license from the FCC, the station launched on FM in 1993.

Studio

WLSO studios are now located in the basement of the Cisler Center. The studio was moved to it’s new location in 2006 to be more visible in the campus community and easier to access by students. [http://www.lssu.edu/stugov/sg_res/2005-02-21.doc]

The studio consists of management offices, a recording booth, and the on-air broadcast studio.

The station broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week year-round. [ [http://www.lssu.edu/studentlife/handbook/ Lake Superior State University :: Office of Student Activities & Leadership Development :: Student Handbook ] ] WLSO runs on automation whenever there is no live show in the studio; this usually occurs at night and over breaks.

WLSO has recently undertaken remote-broadcasting. The station currently broadcasts live from student government meetings, concerts, and open-mic nights on campus.

The studio has a 40-second broadcast delay as well as phone patch to take calls and put them on the air.

Transmitter

The station’s transmitter site was moved in October 2007. It was formerly located in the old studio, in the East basement of Brady Hall. It was relocated to another location in Brady Hall where it was re-engineered and re-built.

WLSO operates two transmitters. The primary transmitter is a R.V.R. TEX-300-LCD installed in March 2008. The original, now a backup transmitter, consists of a Bext TEX-20-NV exciter and a separate Bext PJ-200 power amplifier.

The station’s antenna system is on the roof of Brady Hall. It is a 2-bay circularly-polarized radiator.

Programming is sent to the transmission site utilizing the Tele-Link Studio Transmitter Link (STL) from Energy-Onix.

WLSO utilizes Sine System’s Remote Facilities Controller (RFC-1) at the transmitter site. It allows for remote and automatic controls, system monitoring and acts as an alarm system calling station engineers immediately in the event of a system fault. WLSO's RFC-1 monitors 24 channels of telemetry and logs all data though GetTelemetry [ [http://www.knurl.com/gettelemetry/ GetTelemetry ] ] software.

WLSO also uses as an Orban Optimod 8200-FM audio processor connected to a controlling computer at the transmitter. WLSO's air signal is continually monitored by an Inovonics FM modulation analyzer model 531 and received audio is sent back to the studio to be checked.

All equipment is protected through a Polyphazor lighting-arrestor and several back-up power supplies, allowing uninterrupted broadcasts and relaying notifications from the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to the community the in the event of a power disruption or other emergency.

Sources

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-j/wlso.html Michiguide.com - WLSO History] http://www.lssu.edu/studentlife/handbook/http://www.lssu.edu/housing/brady.phphttp://www.lssu.edu/stugov/sg_res/2005-02-21.dochttp://www.knurl.com/gettelemetry/

References

External links

*FMQ|WLSO