WMSV lands on 'Top 50" national list

According to this week's edition of College Music Journal, the station at 91.1 FM is one of 50 Core College Radio Reporters. CMJ defines the Core College Radio Reporters "as the most influential non-commercial college radio stations in America."

Station manager Steve Ellis said this means "our music charts and information, along with the other 49, are used to compile weekly top music charts." WMSV is one of eight Southeast stations on the list; others include two in Atlanta and one each in Chapel Hill, Columbia, Nashville, New Orleans, and Orlando.

Earlier this year, the station received five first-place awards from the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters for sports, public affairs and public service programming.

The 14,000-watt station signed on the air March 21. Using student volunteers, the station broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to a 50-mile radius of campus. "It's very unusual for a college station to be on every day of the year," said Ellis, the only full-time employee.

"Being selected for the list is very prestigious and gives us a great deal of credibility with the record industry," he said. "It also gives us credibility within the radio community, both non-commercial and commercial."

Ellis praised the 75-member staff, especially music director James Martin, a senior communication/broadcasting major. "He's done yeoman duty as music director since the first day and is primarily responsible for building the excellent relationship we have with the record industry."