Lafayette’s WJRH radio station has continuously dealt with technical difficulties this semester, halting all student shows. The station has experienced these issues in one form or another for years, in part due to the communication difficulties that come from having an ever-revolving station maintenance staff as students graduate.
Recently, these difficulties came to a head, according to Devin Arnold ‘24, WJRH’s chief engineer.
“A lot of the problems we’ve been having have to do with streaming on the website and specifically streaming over on our frequency,” Arnold said. “Everything is web-based and software-based. So we’ve had a lot of problems with things like scripts and software issues.”
Specifically, WJRH has had difficulties with the station’s Robo-DJ, which has not been consistently connecting to the station’s servers.
Every role at the radio station belongs to Lafayette students, including its engineers. Given the situation, however, the WJRH has had to change tracks.
“We’re hiring two engineers,” WJRH secretary Hannah Macarchuk ‘26 said. “One engineer is going to fix the radio itself. He’s going to fix all the tech issues we’ve had, and then the other engineer is going to improve it … he wants us to be connected to the FM.”
The decision to halt shows was made at the beginning of the semester. WJRH leadership believes that this will allow them to more fully focus on fixing the station’s technological issues.
“We didn’t want to start up people’s shows and things like that part way through, [then] tell them, ‘Oh, you have to stop now because we have to make improvements,’” Arnold said. “So we just made a judgment call and in the end decided to temporarily stop so we can make [the station] better for the future.”
In the meantime, WJRH is broadcasting backup playlists. This ensures both that the station is not broadcasting silence and that WJRH follows Federal Communications Commission regulations for licensed radio stations. The station hopes to resume regular broadcasting by next semester.
“That [deadline] is what we’ve been really aiming for [so] that we can start shows again … especially for the seniors who have done the radio for the past four years,” Macarchuk said. “We want them to be able to make sure that they can have their shows.”
Overall, WJRH leadership is confident in the station’s ability to recover from these difficulties.
“We don’t give up hope on the radio station,” Arnold said. “We’re doing our best to provide for College Hill.”
