Colorado State University-Pueblo’s student-run radio station, Rev 89, has made some major changes and improvements in recent months. Beginning in November of 2015, the station introduced voice tracking and live streaming, a first in the station’s 45-year history.
Rev 89 has also made some changes and upgraded their website, improving upon past versions. Owner and operator of Pueblo graphic design company Multi-Designs, Nicki Hart, designed the most recent website. Hart is also an alumna of CSU-Pueblo.
According to Jenna Mangino, the station’s faculty advisor, the site is able to do online contesting and feed stories from the CSU-Pueblo Today. An app is also in the works and will is expected launch sometime this year.
Expanding the radio station has had a wide variety of benefits. The website’s popularity has resulted in local businesses hoping to sponsor the station.
“The benefits have included reaching a global audience and expanding our listenership outside of Pueblo. Families of students from Colorado Springs, Denver, California, all over the nation or around the world, are finally able to tune in and listen to their loved one on air,” Mangino said. “It’s expanded our terrestrial signal and made it possible to take the station with you wherever you go. We’re very excited and proud that Rev 89 is now global.”
Running the website and keeping it up to date is now easier for the tech-savvy radio station staff. The Rev 89 staff is mainly focused on their on-air work when it comes to responsibilities.
The Rev 89 staff does everything from on-air work, voice tracking, production, producing daily news segments for the Five at Five to various other segments and hard work that comes with working at a successful radio station. The website provides a vast amount of exposure for the station while being easy to maintain.
Other changes that have been taking place recently include a new staff and implementing a radio automation system. This year’s Rev 89 staff is new and Mangino said she is excited to get everyone up to speed on the station’s new technology.
The station now has WideOrbit, a program Mangino called the most sophisticated radio automation system on Earth.
“The implementation of WideOrbit has changed the way we teach broadcasting in the department and is something the students really enjoy learning,” Mangino said.
