WGMU Radio is a college

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

located on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States. It broadcasts a range of music, sports, news and talk.

Location

Offices are in the Student Union Building II, The HUB, and the studios and broadcasting facilities are located in the George W. Johnson Center.

History

WGMU was founded in 1981, at which point it had an AM signal. In 1999 WGMU applied with the FCC to get an FM licence but was unable to obtain it. At some point, the station stopped broadcasting over AM; WGMU is currently broadcast exclusively through the internet.

Output

The station broadcasts live 24/7 featuring a wide range of programming, including local music, mainstream music, news, sports and talk programming. Interviews and in-studio sessions are done regularly with local bands. Due to its close proximity to

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, political figures have appeared on the station. WGMU streams on it
website
on iTunes, on-campus television channel 8.2, TuneIn and RadioFlag through their iPhone/Android applications and websites.

Sport

Amongst its roles at the university, WGMU functions as the home station for the

George Mason Patriots The George Mason Patriots are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing George Mason University (GMU), located in Fairfax, Virginia. The Patriots compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of t ...

athletics team, who achieved international fame in the 2005-2006 season. The station broadcasts every home game for both the women's and men's teams as part of the Athletic Department's Go Mason Digital Network. Broadcasts begin 30 minutes before tip-off with Pride of the Patriots for the women's games and 45 minutes beforehand for the men's games with WGMU's own pre-game show.

Music

WGMU is also home to a wide variety of musical shows. In 2006, WGMU aired live call-ins with such artists such as

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

, Necro, New Riders of the Purple Sage's

Ronnie Penque Ronnie Penque (born March 23, 1962) is a bassist, singer and songwriter who has been working in the music industry for over 30 years. He has been the bassist for the country rock band New Riders of the Purple Sage since 2005. The New Riders eme ...

, Giddle Partridge, and Deep Red. In 2007, WGMU invited Virginia-based artists and bands such as

Dermaptera Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cerci, a pair of forcep-like pincers on their abdomen, and membranous wings folded ...

, guitarist Phil Venable (The Venables, Crankcase), ukulele player/singer Mike Ratel, guitarist Wes Howard, and Sansyou up for on air concerts. In 2010-2011 they interviewed notable people such as Jimmy Fallon, Russell Brand,

Keith Morrison Keith Morrison (born July 2, 1947) is a Canadian broadcast journalist. Since 1995, he has been a correspondent for ''Dateline NBC''. Career Beginning his career in the 1960s, Morrison was a reporter and anchor at local stations in Saskatchew ...

, Presidential Candidate and former Governor of New Mexico

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

and original MTV VJ and current

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

80s on 8 host

Nina Blackwood Nina Blackwood is an American disc jockey and music journalist, who was the first of the original five MTV VJs (along with Mark Goodman, J. J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn). She has been an actress and model. Early life and career Bl ...

. In 2013, WGMU interviewed

Workaholics ''Workaholics'' is an American sitcom created and predominantly written by Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, all of whom star in the series. ''Workaholics'' originally ran on Comedy Central from April 6, 2011, to Ma ...

actor Erik Griffin, former pop star

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...

, musician

Claude Von Stroke Barclay Macbride Crenshaw (born July 7, 1971), who is known by the stage name Claude VonStroke, is an American house producer based in Los Angeles. He owns Dirtybird Records based in San Francisco. In July 2006 he released his debut album, ''Bewa ...

, Former

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

defensive end

Renaldo Wynn Renaldo Levalle Wynn (born September 3, 1974) is a former American football defensive end. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Notre Dame. Wynn also played for the Ne ...

and personalities from

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

and

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

. In 2017 the WGMU show Something Different interviewed

Gwar Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...

member

Sleazy P. Martini Sleazy P. Martini is a persona, character played by Virginia, American artist, filmmaker, musician, performance artist, writer Don Drakulich in the heavy metal band Gwar. He wears two oversized gold necklaces, one with a dollar symbol, and one w ...

; in 2019 they interviewed Jodi Eichelberger of LazyTown fame for their puppetry special.

Management

Bryan Childers is the current General Manager and the longtime faculty adviser is Professor Rodger Smith. WGMU contributes to listings published by the media company Spinitron.

References

External links

WGMU Radio Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wgmu Radio Internet radio stations in the United States GMU Defunct radio stations in the United States 1981 establishments in Virginia Radio stations established in 1981 George Mason University