WHCL-FM (88.7 FM) is an independent, non-profit, and educational college

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

licensed to the Trustees of Hamilton College operating out of

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

Clinton, New York Clinton, New York may refer to: *Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Dutchess County, New York *Clinton, Oneida County, New York * Clinton, Manhattan, or Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in New York City *East Greenb ...

, United States. It is the only radio station in the town of Clinton. The station serves the Utica area and broadcasts a variety of music around the

Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...

. The station is student-run with a community adviser.

Format

The format of WHCL has been freeform since its inception. Every semester, a weekly schedule is set comprising student, professor, and community member shows. These shows start on the top of the hour and typically last for either one or two hours. Due to the large student investment, there is a wide diversity of radio music on the show; including

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

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world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

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, and

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. Several professors also host shows relating to their subject of discourse, including

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

, theatrical dramas and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. These music shows are also interspersed with several

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s covering a breadth of topics, including sports discussion, politics, lyrical analysis,

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and culinary discourse. Specialty shows are occasionally held for notable events, including sports programming and fundraising events for alumni. At least one non-student-operated show runs on the station: Gary Sroka's "Saturday Polka Review," formerly on WUTQ and WUSP, moved to WHCL in late 2015 after WUSP suddenly shut down. The station is in operation during the academic year and over the summer, typically between the hours of 6 AM to 2 AM, but does not operate overnight. Overnight, there is a setup that pulls various songs from a large playlist interspersed with PSAs and the WHCL call. The station does not operate between scheduled programs which are listed on the website. A stream of the broadcasting audio is available on the website.

Development

In its early years, WHCL was a low-power station confined to the college campus, and its 2.5 watt signal was monaural. By the mid-1980s, however, it had expanded to 270 watts, with stereophonic broadcasting to the entire

Community

The WHCL Executive Board hosts a publication and a variety of events for the campus community. The Radio Board creates a biweekly (every other week) publication called ''The Wattage'' which chronicles new album reviews, music thought pieces, community answers to questions, and the broadcasting schedule. WHCL is also responsible for hosting and funding concerts for students on the Hamilton College campus, with various artists including

Cloud Nothings Cloud Nothings is an American indie rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, United States, founded by singer-songwriter Dylan Baldi. It currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Dylan Baldi, drummer Jayson Gerycz, and bassist Chris Brown. Beginni ...

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, Varsity, and

Diet Cig Diet Cig is an American indie rock duo that formed in September 2014 in New Paltz, New York, United States. The band consists of Alex Luciano on guitar/vocals and Noah Bowman on drums. Their first studio album, ''Swear I'm Good At This'', was rel ...

. The station also hosts CD drives to benefit the station and community.

References

External links

Official Web site
* Hamilton College (New York) HCL-FM Radio stations established in 1941 Clinton (village), New York {{NewYork-radio-station-stub