WSIA

WSIA is a college radio station located on the campus of The College of Staten Island, part of the City University of New York. The station broadcasts on 88.9 MHz FM. WSIA is an alternative rock station, with specialty jazz, rock, and urban formatted content, in addition to talk radio.WSIA transmits from a site atop Todt Hill to Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, New York. WSIA can also be heard in parts of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Union County, New Jersey, Essex County, New Jersey and Hudson County, New Jersey.HistoryIn the mid 1970s, a group of students interested in radio gathered in a room used by the college amateur radio station, WB2BAZ, in the C Building of The College of Staten Island's Sunnyside campus. They ran some wire to the cafeteria and started spinning records. These students worked with the College and applied for an FM license. They were granted a construction permit.In the late 1970s, a new group of students applied to the Student Government and Association for money to commence construction. In 1980 a general manager, Greg Adamo, was hired to handle the daily tasks of the station and coordinate the construction of the station. In early 1981, an agreement was reached to acquire an antenna site on Todt Hill which is noted as the tallest point on the East Coast. Phone lines were eventually installed for the transmitter. The remaining construction of the studio was expedited in the basement of the E Building on the Sunnyside campus. On August 31, 1981, WSIA commenced regularly scheduled programming. It was the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work by members of the College and students.