Lafayette College’s student-run radio station, WJRH, has been down for well over a year due to technical issues. Now, after months of collaboration with two hired engineers to address these difficulties, the station is set to resume student shows at the start of the spring semester.
WJRH General Manager Tess Stanley ‘25 decided to pause student shows to dedicate time and resources to addressing the station’s technical issues. According to Stanley, this decision was supported by the rest of WJRH’s board.
“It would be difficult to manage trying to have student shows,” Stanley said of the time when repairs on the system were being made. “We have professionals trying to go in and work on the studio all the time.”
According to a WJRH program schedule from 2022, the station hosted nearly 50 weekly student-run shows during its most recent operating semester. Regular shows offered music, talk shows and podcast-like media to listeners through a variety of unique productions such as “String Bean and the Fat Lady,” “The Common Room” and “Jam on the Hill.”
The pause came from difficulties with software developed by a student over 10 years ago.
“There wasn’t a lot of documentation on how to maintain this system and update it and things like that,” Stanley said. “So we were just working on what we knew, and that really wasn’t sustainable.”
Jen Parsons ’26 used to act as community outreach director for WJRH, but has changed roles to head engineer. In her new role, Parsons will ensure that students will be able to address technical issues moving forward.
“Now I know how to run a show, and I can teach other people how to do that,” Parsons said.
WJRH will now run on PlayIt Live, a radio DJ software that Stanley described as “a lot easier.”
“There’s a system in place now that is used at many other college and university radio stations,” Parsons said. “It’s more streamlined, it’s easy to use. It’s good for the soul.”
Parsons said that she is excited that the new system will reintroduce a feature that allows show hosts to record their segments and upload them to the WJRH website. Hosts will also be able to play music from vinyls and CDs in addition to the digital tracks from past years.
In addition to addressing the technical difficulties, Stanley claims that budget concerns have played a role in the delay.
“There’s been some difficulties with obtaining enough funding for the project,” Stanley said. “But, that’s more so a matter of Student Government itself not having enough money to allocate to every club’s needs, especially one with a major project like ours.”
Stanley said that WJRH has been able to host some smaller events while student shows were down, such as record painting and weekly board meetings.
“Next semester, we’re definitely looking forward to having more community-based events,” Parson said. “And we’re looking forward to getting shows back up and running.”
According to Stanley, interest meetings for new student hosts will be held starting at the beginning of the spring semester.
“I’m going to cry happy tears when I can actually have my show again,” she added.
Disclaimer: Design Director Jen Parsons ’26 did not contribute writing or reporting.
