WTTU, Tech’s student-run radio station, is getting a makeover this school year. An endowment for one-time technological purchases will help update the station.WTTU and other student-run media, including the Oracle newspaper and the Eagle yearbook had been organizations under the office of Student Affairs until July 1. On that date, all student media became part of the College of Arts and Sciences, and WTTU received the endowment to update their equipment.
“One main reason for our purchases is that all of our staff computers were so antiquated that they couldn’t hook up to the school’s network anymore,” said Eva Dingwall, communications and student media secretary. “The endowment was for one-time purchases, and we were able to stretch the money pretty far.”
Dingwall said the purchases included four up-to-date computers, equipment called Telelink 4 that allows a direct link from the operating board in the studio to the transmitter and eliminates the need for two outdated computers-one in the studio and one at the transmitter. They also purchased new DJ software called SAM Broadcaster that handles web streaming, making the music selection process more streamlined and creates the required music log digitally rather than DJs having to write the playlist down in a notebook.
“The studio is filled with old notebooks of music logs,” Chuck Acheson, WTTU program director said. “Going digital is easier on DJs, and it meets Tech’s new green campaign.”
In addition to digitizing the music selection process, the station also purchased a 1TB external hard drive that will allow the entire music collection to be digitized. This will eliminate the need for CDs to be kept in the studio, saving space and making it easier to find an obscure song.
All the updates and new purchases are to be completed by spring semester.
