At a glance
This means the radio station can now be heard around the world, allowing Alfred State's prospective students, alumni, and community members 24/7 access to WETD's broadcast signal online.
WETD& 90.7 FM officially began streaming its broadcast signal online through its newly renovated website, www.wetd.fm, on Sept. 27 during the Alfred State Homecoming/Family Weekend celebration.
This means the radio station can now be heard around the world, allowing Alfred State's prospective students, alumni, and community members 24/7 access to WETD's broadcast signal online. WETD students and staff worked tirelessly to provide this historic moment and positive comments from Alfred State students and alumni, and community members have been pouring into the radio station as a result.
WETD Technical Adviser Dale Burns and WETD General Manager Logan Merrill, an information technology: web development major from Campbell, NY, were instrumental in this process, continuing the work done over the past 10 years by other Alfred State and WETD alumni and staff.
“I know that our listeners who are alumni have been asking for streaming for quite some time and as someone who has a passion for radio, a passion for what we’re doing here at WETD and at Alfred State, I think streaming is a huge step forward for us,” Merrill said. “It allows people outside of our coverage area to tune in and to stay updated with what’s happening around the campus and the community.”
Streaming on WETD 90.7 FM is made possible through its membership with the nationally recognized College Broadcasting, Inc. (CBI), the leading college broadcasting organization. CBI Executive Director Will Robedee has guided WETD's leadership in preparing to maintain legal compliance with SoundExchange, a non-profit performance rights organization, having personally testified before Congress and negotiated with SoundExchange on behalf of hundreds of college and university broadcast stations nationwide.
During the summer of 2009, CBI and SoundExchange reached a settlement under the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009, which, from 2009 until 2015, provides significant recordkeeping relief for college stations that pay only the minimum fee.
Another digital media industry leader that assisted WETD was ATC Labs, of Newark, NJ, which provided the SoundMax™Q24 Perceptual Audio Processor and Streaming Encoder involved in the live-streaming process. Mike Lyons, ATC vice president of marketing and sales, has been personally involved with WETD 90.7 FM in developing its streaming audio codex and much more. Founded in 2004, ATC Labs operates a design, test, and development center in Newark, NJ, as well as a software/ technology development and manufacturing center in Noida, India.
With oversight from Lyons, WETD has also begun utilizing remote broadcasting capabilities using ATC Labs' ALCO Professional Reporting Tool, a software codex for field use. In addition, Bryan Hance of Radioactivity.FM continues to enhance both WETD's streaming and broadcasting logs, utilizing web-based software to provide the metadata playlist logging required under CBI's Webcaster Settlement of 2009.
WETD Adviser Rick Herritt said, “It was an amazing opportunity to see the continuing care and cooperation that these leaders in the broadcasting industry such as CBI, ATC-Labs, and Radioactivity.FM have for each other, and for college radio stations such as WETD. WETD thanks each one for their continued support and encouragement over the years.
“History has been made at WETD, opening the doors to a future of broadcasting live reporting, athletic events, and much more. And the long-planned live streaming will bring Alfred State listeners from around the world.”
In photo above, from left, are WETD 90.7 FM Technical Adviser Dale Burns, WETD Director of Public Relations Matt Digennaro, and WETD Technical Director Clarence Ellington.