WBSU
| Broadcast area | Brockport, NY |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 89.1 MHz FM |
| Programming | |
| Format | Pop, Rock,Rap |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Trustees of the State University of New York |
| History | |
First air date | 1957 |
WBSU, branded as 89.1 The Point is the largest college radio station in New York State, in terms of power. The Point is operated by students at SUNY Brockport, and is one of the many on campus clubs funded by the Brockport Student Government.
Programming
The Point's format is top 40, rock, Urban Jazz, and alternative and the core of its playlist can be found on its "Countdown 89" list. The list ranks best 40 songs of the week.
Besides music, the station covers many local sports teams, including professional teams in Buffalo and Toronto, minor league teams throughout Western New York, and many local high school contests. The Point is the flagship station for all road games for the Batavia Muckdogs and is the official broadcaster of all SUNY Brockport sports.
In addition to music and sports, the station covers breaking Western New York news stories. Traditionally, each Election Night, the news department interviews local state, county and village candidates, and reports live from the local Democratic and Republican Election Night headquarters. News and sports reports are given daily throughout the morning, and at 5 and 11 PM.
Finally, the station has its own in-house student meteorologist who voices hourly weather reports for the Western New York/Southern Tier/Niagara Frontier area.
Coverage Area
The station's signal is available to over half a million residents from suburban Rochester, New York to suburban Buffalo, New York. The station covers all of Orleans County, Genesee County, and large portions of Monroe County, Wyoming County and Niagara County. Small parts of Erie County and Livingston County are also covered.
Besides Western New York the signal can be heard over a good part of western Lake Ontario and Canadian towns along the northern shore of Lake Ontario (including Toronto). The station's website streams the radio station's programming live online, so the station can be accessed, in practice, anywhere in the world.
Major towns and cities receiving the Point's signal include: Rochester, Greece, New York, Brockport, New York, Batavia, New York, Lyndonville, New York, Medina, New York, Lockport, New York, Warsaw, New York, Attica, New York and Le Roy, New York just to name a few.
History
SUNY Brockport students began a radio club in the 1950s. In 1957, the radio club acquired an AM frequency and began broadcasting over the public address system in the student union. On May 1, 1964, WBSN began transmitting to the entire campus via telephone lines. In January 1970, the radio station moved its offices to the present facility in the Seymour College Union and became WBSU-AM.
On January 14, 1981, the radio station began broadcasting on an FM frequency: WBSU 88.9 FM. The FM Task Force was set up to manage the tranistion. Notable members were: Lloyd Trufelman, Dr. Melvin Smagorinsky, Edward Rothstein, Chief Engineer Bernard Lynch, Brian Issacson, Dr. Fred Powell, Martha Walstrum, Frank Filardo, Terrin Hover, Harry Goldberg, Scott Fishman. The first general manager of the FM radio station was David Van Wie and he spearheaded an immediate power increase from 10 watts to 150 watts in May of that year. Following Van Wie, in May 1985 Timothy Lyman lead the radio stations change to 89.1 at 7,338 watts. In July 1989, Warren Kozireski took over as the station general manager and has been there ever since.
The 1990’s brought much technological change to the station starting with a computerized music playlist in 1992, new studio consoles in 1992 and 1994, and digital equipment during the summer of 1995.
WBSU-FM became 89.1 The Point with a new logo on June 10, 1998 in an effort to simplify the stations nickname.
Awards
- New York State Broadcasters Association - Four time recognition for excellence in broadcasting in competition with other professional stations.
- Seven other awards from national organizations since 1988.
- Broadcast Education Association - two awards in 2003
- National Association of Collegiate Broadcasters (defunct) - two awards in the 1990s
- College Broadcasters, Inc. - one in 2003
- CBI - 2 in 2005
External link
- 89.1 The Point - Official Website