Donation to WNHU Spurs Renovation of Studios

Renovations have begun on WNHU's future talk studio. With the former music library moved, the room will allow enough space for roundtable-style shows and other more elaborate productions.
Photograph by Brandon T. Bisceglia.

The University of New Haven's award-winning radio station will soon be getting an upgrade.

WNHU 88.7 FM has received a $6,000 donation to renovate its studios from Barrett Outdoor Communications, a West Haven-based outdoor advertising company.

Barrett Outdoor Communications owner John Barrett donated the funds after his son, Patrick, became involved with the station, says WNHU General Manager Bryan Lane.

“There's currently only one room for producing,” says Lane. “His (Barrett's) son was getting shut out a lot.”

The station, which is housed in the basement of Maxcy Hall, sold off the bulk of its physical music library several years ago, after digitizing some of its collection. When Lane was hired in January 2009, there were about 20,000 CDs and 5,000 vinyl albums. Most weren't being used anymore, and there was no reason to keep more than a few thousand around.

Reducing the size of the library opened more space to expand other activities. “The only problem was that we didn't have the funds,” says Lane.

Lane says the elder Barrett came to him with the offer after learning about his son's experiences. They began discussing what could be done with the configuration of the studios if the money was available.

With the donation, the station will be able to turn the room that formerly housed the library into a full-fledged talk studio, complete with a table and multiple microphones for guests. What is left of the music library is being relocated to a walk-in closet down the hall.

Other moves will also take place. The Charger Stream studio, for instance, will be taking residence in Lane's own office, which he says is too large for his needs.

The renovations are likely to last throughout the summer.

There are other changes that Lane would like to see for the station over the next few years. His biggest goal is to train more students to take on more production and management responsibilities at the studio.

“This is the fourth crew that I'm employing,” he says. “We're getting closer and closer to having the students run things.”

Aside from simply learning how to do more on their own, Lane says that putting students in charge will give them more opportunities to interact with the wider community.

“There's a perception that WNHU is a community station,” he says, “because we have so many people from outside the university here.”