“We desperately need this station! With every other campus on the air, it is a crying shame…After all, with a name like WNEC, what would seem more natural!” (The Westerner, 11/5/1969)
In 1969, a columnist for the Western New England College student newspaper, The Westerner, noted the irony of the college not having a radio station when the school was referred to by an acronym (WNEC) that resembled radio station call letters. This association was so apparent that a predecessor publication, the W-N-E-C News, incorporated an illustration of a radio tower in its flag when it launched the rebranded paper in 1951 following the school’s name change (it was previously part of Northeastern University). Nearly 20 years later, students did launch a campus radio station, calling it WNEK. And eventually, the school became a university and switched to a three-letter acronym (WNE), leading to far less confusion with radio stations on and off campus.
https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/studentnews/2
Touring WNEK in March 2026
Before knowing any of this history, on a frozen foggy March morning I navigated snowy and icy roads on my way to visit Western New England University’s college radio station WNEK “The Voice” in Springfield, Massachusetts. In the midst of its 50th anniversary celebration, the station has been hosting a variety of events, including a birthday rave and commemorative broadcast.
Vinyl on the Turntable and on the Shelves
When I entered the studio in the St. Germain Campus Center, a record was spinning on the turntable during WNEK Director of Shows Jake Lavallee’s live program. “I’m a big physical media collector,” Lavallee noted, as we chatted with members of the WNEK leadership team. Over the years he’s brought in his own records to play on the air and he also expressed his appreciation for the WNEK music library, noting that he and Head of PR Steven Bromberger are especially “fond of the vinyl,” at the station. Luckily, the on-air studio shelves are full of LPs from the past, which the crew of WNEK members happily pulled from in order to share some of their favorite albums with me.
Classic rock records from Journey, Supertramp and Steve Miller Band reside near albums from a mix of artists and genres. Hip hop and 1990s electronic dance music releases sit alongside albums from Linkin Park, Weird Al Yankovic, and 1980s classics from Oingo Boingo, Modern English and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. In addition to the 12″ records, some even older 7″s are in boxes in another section of the spacious studio.
Closet Full of Gems: From CDs to Vintage Audio Recordings
Only about half of the music library is housed in the studio, with the WNEK CD collection stashed away in a dark upstairs closet. By the glow of cell phone flashlights, we did a quick archeological dig through the space and spotted gems from decades past. Stored near the CDs are a smattering of carts (including one containing an Edwin Starr cover of “War”), as well as a metal cabinet covered with stickers.
WNEK’s Shared Office with Fellow Campus Media Organizations
After moving from a nearby building, WNEK has been broadcasting from its current location for just about a semester. The move was so recent that a sign for WNEK still sits near the entrance to its former home across the street. Now housed within a broader media complex, WNEK shares an office with other members of student media, and operates under the umbrella of “Bold Media.” The communal space has plenty of WNEK touches on display, including event posters, “club of the semester” awards, promotional T-shirts, and a case containing vintage audio equipment. A cluster of couches provide comfortable seating for meetings and hanging out. Next door, the studio also has funky knickknacks and pop culture ephemera, including a tiny disco ball and a life-sized cardboard cut-out of the Joker from Batman.
WNEK History: Radio Club Makes Plans for Station in 1969
An online-only station, WNEK gave up its FM license in 2014. When it launched in 1976 as a 10 watt class D FM station, it used the call letters WTRZ, changing them to WNEK (for “Western New England Kollege”) in 1979. Its frequency shifted around the dial over the years, not uncommon for lower wattage class D FM stations, which often struggle to be heard on the crowded radio dial. Looking closely at some of the older records at the station one can spot “WTRZ” scrawled on cardboard album covers, evidence of those short-lived call letters.
Leading up to WTRZ’s 1976 FM launch, the Western New England College Radio Club had been working behind the scenes for years to produce radio for campus and beyond. In May 1969, The Westerner reported that a radio station was in the works after the radio club was granted $2000 by the student government. The plan was for the station to set up a temporary “shack” on the first floor of Berkshire (The Westerner, 5/12/1969). Despite its hopes for debuting that fall, the station struggled to find a dedicated broadcasting space on campus. An editorial opined, “For over a year, the little radio station was promised this and promised that yet got nothing.” An accompanying cartoon depicts radio equipment set up in a bathroom stall (The Westerner, 4/14/1970).
Campus-Only WNEK-FM Debuts in 1970-1971 School Year
Radio finally came to campus in fall 1970, with the launch of a dorm-based radio station thanks to freshman Lee Soroca. On November 17, 1970, WRAP-FM began campus-only broadcasts over 87.5 FM. The Westerner reported that the station was transmitting from room 102 in Berkshire Hall and that “its coverage includes a radius occupied almost exclusively by the WNEC campus.” (The Westerner, 11/23/1970). Programming was to include a social bulletin board with announcements for campus events, ride share listings, song requests and dedications, “man on the street” interviews, and more.
Around the same time, the Radio Club’s originally-planned radio station, WNEK-FM, launched campus-only broadcasts at 88.9 FM out of a former TV lounge on the second floor of the same dorm. According to an article in the student paper, the station had 14 staff members and 200 records (The Westerner, 2/17/1971). By the following fall, programming had expanded further to include more public affairs shows and news and sports from the American Information Radio Network (The Westerner, 10/5/1971).
https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/studentnews/4
Radio Club Works to Obtain License for Terrestrial FM
In March 1973, the Radio Club filed an application with the FCC in hopes of obtaining a license to broadcast beyond campus. This was apparently not the first application, as The Westerner noted that the station had made repeated annual attempts to secure a license. While awaiting word from the FCC, WNEK continued campus transmissions, including music shows, forums, syndicated programming from ABC news, interviews with campus leaders (the Dean of Students spoke frankly on-air about “the drug problem”) and a marathon day of programming that included a remote broadcast from a snack bar.
https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/studentnews/4
WTRZ-FM Launches in 1976, Changing Call Letters Back to WNEK in 1979
In December 1974, the Radio Club was granted a construction permit for a 10 watt class D FM station. The Westerner wrote that the club expected to “modify existing transmission equipment to bring total power from the present 1 to 8 variable watts to 10 watts,” adding that this would allow the station “to be heard within a 15 mile radius, giving most commuters the opportunity to tune in” (The Westerner, 12/11/1974). Unfortunately the club’s first choices for call letters (WNEK and WNEC) were not available, so it was assigned WTRZ for the 89.1 spot on the dial (The Westerner, 2/4/1975). WTRZ finally hit the airwaves on its licensed frequency in 1976 out of its second floor studios in Berkshire Hall. By 1977 the station extended its campus reach with the addition of speakers in the Campus Center Dining Hall and Snack Bar (The Westerner, October 20, 1977). And in 1979, the station was able to resume usage of its original call letters: WNEK.
WNEK in 2026: Concerts, Mobile DJ Events and Radio
Today, as it did decades ago, WNEK extends its listener base through transmissions over speakers in the university’s campus center and dining hall. Beyond the radio broadcasts, WNEK also DJs on campus, does turntable events, and regularly hosts concerts. Every spring, WNEK produces the day-long outdoor Kodiak Music Festival at the university, showcasing student bands. Past festivals have also included collaborations with other student clubs, with games, crafts and food tables.
As far as on-air, the WNEK radio schedule includes a sports talk show (“Golden Hour Sports”), the bossa nova-focused “La Hora Tropical,” an oldies show (“the Quirky Hour”), metal program (“Modern Mood”), soundtrack show (“Silver Screen Soundtracks”) and more. When there isn’t a live show, WNEK runs automated programming, including rebroadcasts of past shows.
A Training Ground and Space for Creative Expression
During my chat with the WNEK crew, Lavallee remarked that he’s begun to do radio professionally and airs his current show, “Legacy of Rock,” on online station Cookie Monster Radio. Nearing graduation this spring, he said that he hopes to continue the program on other stations. Others chimed in that their work at WNEK aligns with career aspirations as well. Station Manager Garren Nordquist is a junior at WNE and hopes to work in audio technology after college. In addition to running the station, he hosts a metal show and plays in a metal band. He enjoys running events and working on the tech side of music and sound, telling me, “that’s what I want to go into.”
Beyond the practical skills gained by working at WNEK, its members also relish that the station is a creative space with few rules. Bromberger shared that he was drawn to WNEK in part because of the “freedom” that is given to participants, telling me that show hosts generally have “free rein.” He described the mix of tech folks and broadcasters at the station, saying, “we’re almost two tribes of people in a trench coat with those who like event production and the details of how audio is getting routed through to the speakers, to the other half of people who just love to get their voice out on the air and share what is special to them.”
Thanks to WNEK + Station Tour Archive
Thanks to everyone at WNEK for the tour and conversations. This is my 197th radio station tour report and my 138th college radio station tour. You can view the entire collection of my radio station visits in numerical order or by station type in our archives. Coming up next: more Western Massachusetts college radio station tours + two more reports from my 2025 trip to British Columbia, Canada.
