EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois — On a bright May morning inside Dunham Hall, the
heartbeat of WSIE 88.7 — The Sound — pulsed a little stronger.
The heritage jazz station, which first hit the airwaves in 1970, gathered donors,
students, volunteers and longtime supporters for a ribbon cutting that marked
something far bigger than a new tower and HD transmitter.
“This feels like a gift to me personally,” said Paula Bridges, SIUE’s executive
director of University Marketing and Communications. “Now they have access to
it further in the further reaches of the region. Whereas now it’s been extended, it’s
been amplified and we can share in the love of the artist and the music that they’re
playing.”
For a station built on jazz — and the generations who have loved, lived and
learned through it — reach matters.
“This has been a project over 20 years in the making,” said General Manager Jason
Church. “My predecessors have tried time and time again to get a new transmitter
and a new antenna.”
The station’s previous transmitter dated back to 1986 — well past its expected
lifespan.
Church explained that listeners in Chesterfield, O’Fallon, Baldwin and other
pockets of the St. Louis region are now picking up the signal with clarity.
“It gives us a new lease on life — literally,” he said.
And for a communitysupported station that depends on listener donations, that
reach is everything.
WSIE’s story has always been about more than equipment. It’s about the students
who learn to announce their first onair breaks. The volunteers who keep specialty
shows alive. The donors who believe jazz still deserves a home on the FM dial.
Bridges captured that spirit in her opening remarks.
“The volunteers and the students who develop their talent at WSIE have kept its
music alive and its mission strong,” she said. “This ceremony is more than
symbolic — it’s a celebration of the love of the arts and a long-standing
commitment to musical excellence across our campus, the St. Louis region and
nationwide.”
Church echoed that gratitude, calling out former engineers, longtime sponsors, and
the students who keep the station’s sound fresh.
“I’ve been a huge fan of this radio station ever since I was a youngster,” he said.
“It’s a project of passion for me. My goal is to make sure that this place outlasts
my time here.”
Robyn Boyce — associate director for corporate support and one of the station’s
most visible ambassadors — expressed witnessing WSIE’s generational impact.
She remembers the students lighting up when Samara Joy won her Grammy. It
sparked the memory of the first time she saw Joy perform at Jazz St. Louis a few
years ago — and how it brought her parents back to her in a rush of sound and
memory.
“I cried because I saw my mom and dad standing up there,” she said. “They passed
on long ago, but they were right on that stage dancing. This music keeps you alive.
It keeps you moving. It’s great music.”
Boyce also sees WSIE as a bridge — connecting young listeners to the roots of the
music they hear sampled in hiphop, R&B and pop.
“All that sampling came from somewhere,” she said. “If you have these
conversations with young people today, you have to share with them that they
started all of this way back in the day.”
For Bridges, the new transmitter is as much of a cultural amplifier as it is a
technical upgrade.
“WSIE has been laboring in the love and legacy of music for decades,” she said.
“But if your transmitter only goes so far, you can only reach so many people.
Now… we can extend further west, south, east and north.”
She hopes listeners — especially young ones — understand that jazz is the
foundation beneath nearly every genre they love.
“I hope they understand that great music is great music, no matter what the genre,”
Bridges said. “And jazz is at the core of American music.”