WSYC 88.7 FM, Shippensburg University’s student-run radio station, was recently nominated for Best Use of Limited Resources by the College Music Journal (CMJ) for the recent hard work and dedication that was put toward revamping the station.

According to WSYC General Manager Brenden Bekos, Music and Program Director Jess Thumma gets in contact with various promotional companies throughout the U.S. in order to get WSYC’s name out there and receive recognition.

“She [Thumma] reports to certain promotional companies in New York City, Los Angeles, Georgia, basically all around the U.S. which is where we get our music,” Bekos said. “She talks to them on a daily basis with charting music such as the top CD that’s going on right now.”

Bekos added she also tells the companies about what’s going on.

“These are the people that can help influence things that are going on in the station, or they also then decide for certain categories who gets nominated,” Bekos said. “These promotional companies that Jess deals with will vote, and whichever ones they believe that are in the best category, they vote for.”

Bekos said the nominees for the CMJ Awards are from all throughout the U.S. and Canada as well, and is the only Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) school nominated.
According to the WSYC Human Resources Director, Alex Anstett, ‘best use of limited resources’ is a phrase used to describe how WSYC has had the ability to make the most of what resources it has at its disposal.

“It corresponds to the fact that at Shippensburg University, we don’t have the most resources like Penn State would have,” Anstett said. “We do the best with what we can, and I think WSYC is a prime example of that.”

Last school year, Bill Schneiderhan, former Assistant Music Director of WSYC was nominated for an award for Music Director of the Year.

“We have had recognition for individual efforts in the past, but this is really a great recognition for the whole station. This is all of us winning,” Anstett said.
Bekos said if WSYC wins the College Music Journal Award, it is going to put the station “on the map.”

“For all the work that we do here, it’s finally nice to be nominated and for others to know that we are here for all the hard work that we do. If we win, I’m crossing my fingers, it’s only going to boost morale and whether if we win or lose, we’re still ecstatic that we’re nominated, and it’s going to keep going up from here with the work we’ve done,” Bekos said.

In the past year, WSYC has completely started over in order to get the campus actively involved with the station as well as getting its name out there. WSYC has already dee-jayed numerous campus events this year and its biggest event so far has been “Up All Night with WSYC” last semester.

“Up All Night” was a 24-hour event created by former public relations director Matt Kanzler, in order to show SU how much WSYC can do. Those who were involved with WSYC had the opportunity to host their shows all night long and give out prizes such as tickets to Bonnaroo, a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, a Radiohead concert, a Dave Matthews Band concert, plus prizes such as an iPad, iPod, digital camera and much more.

In addition to hosting these events, WSYC has done so much more to transform itself into a station that deserves recognition.

“We went through and changed our basic production and made all of our automated programming much, much tighter,” Anstett said. “We went on a whole recruiting process to get so many new members, which has especially showed through last semester, because everyone we brought in who did a great job in getting trained and getting on the air, is doing a great job now. Really, we’re letting our people we have now train incoming dee-jays, and we restarted our news program, which we hadn’t had for a few years.”

He went on to say, “Our sports program goes through and covers all the away games for the football games, which is unheard of. Those guys drive down there on a Saturday morning. I don’t know how they do it.”

WSYC has also maintained a great relationship with the Luhrs Center while having the ability to interview acts such as the Beach Boys and more, according to Bekos.
Reisner Dining Hall has also supported the station by hanging up a big WSYC banner right near the entrance.

The leaders of WSYC, Brenden Bekos, Alex Anstett, Jess Thumma and the Public Relations Director, Eric Cubbler, will attend the CMJ Awards ceremony in New York City from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20, and the winners will be revealed at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18.

Thumma will also be speaking on a panel called “Do It Yourself” for all sizes at the conference.
For more information on the CMJ Awards, go to www.cmj.com

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