WSPN

WSPN (Skidmore College) is a non-commercial college radio station located at 91.1 MHz and broadcasts from Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. The station is located on the campus of Skidmore College and is made up of student and community DJs. Additionally, WSPN is one of the few college radio stations run entirely by a selected student board. The station primarily programs a freeform radio format and—in addition to serving the Skidmore College campus—also serves the city of Saratoga Springs, and surrounding communities. Unlike many college stations, WSPN is a 24-hour-a-day operation, and is on the air 365 days a year.

WSPN's production staff actively promotes new (perhaps undiscovered) music by means of the "Hotbox," a periodically updated selection available for any DJ to use. WSPN also promotes music by frequently hosting concerts on Skidmore's campus, including an annual Earth Day benefit concert. The variety of programming on WSPN is largely due to the near-complete autonomy afforded to its DJs, as well as a campus-wide sense of inclusion and pride in the station. WSPN's 24/7 program is consistently filled with live shows every semester, and many DJs are willingly on standby to fill in for absent DJs, including DJs who may not necessarily have their own weekly time slot. The library of the station also boasts a large and diverse archive of digital and analog recordings; it is worth noting that many DJs at WSPN prefer to broadcast exclusively with the station's turntables instead of the state-of-the-art digital equipment. DJs often perform live mixes over-the-air, some of which are digital and some of which are analog.

As of 2013, WSPN ranks #19 on the Princeton Review's list of Top College Radio Stations. It also held that position in 2011, 2010, as well as 2009, and was #16 in 2008.

The WSPN call letters were originally assigned in the 1950s to the now-defunct 900 AM Saratoga Springs, which held the call letters until 1964, when it became WKAJ. The original WSPN-900 had no connection to Skidmore College and was owned by Spa Broadcasters Inc. The former WSPN/WKAJ 900 AM has since moved to Albany, NY and is now WABY.

The college station began as a carrier-current AM offshoot of Union College's WRUC. Transmitters on both campuses broadcast WRUC programming from Union most of the day, while Skidmore's studio, then located in the Little Theater on the old campus, broadcast to both campuses part of the time. In 1972, WSPN became a stand-alone operation, applying for a 10-watt Class D FM license a year later. The studio and transmitter were both moved in 1978, with the transmitter being placed on the apex of Jonsson Tower, and the studio inside the Case Campus Center. In 1981, the station upgraded to its current 250-watt Class A license, and its studio was eventually relocated to the basement of Jonsson Tower, where it resides today.

External links

• WSPN website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WSPN
• Radio-Locator information on WSPN
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WSPN