#wuwm

The Lemon Twigs: Live at Lake Effect

Church Bells

Corner of my Eye

An Audio Letter

I’m Shiraz Bhathena and I’m the new Digital Archivist at the UWM Archives. I found one of these little guys today in our WUWM collection. While there are a number of 1/4″ audio reels in this collection, this specific Scotch Recording product was called “LIVING LETTERS”. Predating the common 1/8″ audio cassettes, one could record a short message on a small 1/4″ reel, fill out the decal and stick it to the front of the case, add postage and send it in the mail. For the sake of our donor, however, it was probably chosen because it was a smaller reel that sufficed in recording what they needed. To access this rich collection of WUWM records going back to 1966 ( Call Numbers: UWM Archival Collection 2; Accession 2006-024; Accession 2007-038), schedule a visit with the UWM Archives!

World Amateur Radio Day

Every April 18th, the airwaves swell in celebration of amateur broadcast voices across the globe. The local public radio station hosted through UWM, WUWM, got its start as a learning opportunity for Journalism students in 1963. The Journalism Department changed its name in 1970 to the Mass Communication Department. 

In 1975, the Mass Communication Department hired professionals to staff the full-time positions at WUWM.The emphasis of the Mass Communication Department throughout its existence was to provide students with the education for careers in mass communication while offering opportunities for students to work in privately and publicly owned radio stations and newspapers. Although WUWM can’t be considered “amateur” these days by any standard, the Mass Communication Department still maintains close ties with the station and students continue to work part-time for the station.

Telling the story of hearing loss is tough. It’s a disability thing. An old person’s thing. “Normal” people can find it hard to understand the impact of hearing loss on identity, self-worth, and, probably most important, relationships.

Several years ago I wrote an essay about an encounter – or lack of an encounter – with a young family at the audiologist’s office. A few weeks ago, I recorded…