Student-Run WCRX Turns Up Volume With New Studios and Technology
Student Millea Erell in the new WCRX production studio. 
Student Perla Valdez shows off the new on-air studio. 
A mural by student Lilly Sundsbak greets people as they enter the new studio space. ÌÀ²»ÈÈÊÓƵ’s student-run radio station , part of the School of Communication and Culture, has a new home designed to make it easier for students to create and collaborate while connecting with audiences on campus and around Chicago.
Now located on the northwest corner of the first floor of the 33 Ida B. Wells building, the station features street-facing windows, upgraded technology, and flexible production spaces that reflect how radio and audio storytelling continue to evolve.
Partially supported by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the WCRX update was a part of a larger project to create a new Center for Student Success at the college.
A Window to an Audience
For WCRX General Manager Matt Cunningham, one of the biggest improvements of the new space is simply being seen.
“Even before I got here, the former general manager of the station wanted to have a street-facing facility just so that people can see that we’re in here broadcasting,” Cunningham says. “And now, we have it.”
Not only can pedestrians and cars see inside the studios on Ida B. Wells, but they can also hear what’s being broadcast from the studio thanks to outdoor speakers, giving student broadcasters an audience in real time and providing some extra inspiration for student on-air talent.
The move marks the latest chapter for WCRX 88.1 FM, which Columbia launched in 1982. For more than four decades, the student-run station has given students opportunities to develop programming, build on-air skills, produce podcasts, do voiceover work, and create broadcast content.
More Than a Radio Studio
The new WCRX includes an on-air studio, production studio, and multipurpose studio, along with work and conference space. The production studio supports voiceover and editing work, while the multipurpose studio expands what students can create as well as who can create it.
Open to students across Columbia, the multipurpose studio can be reserved for podcasting and other projects. Three professional-quality cameras allow students to produce video podcasts, with technology that can automatically switch cameras depending on who is speaking. Students can walk away with both audio and video they can use for full-length programs or social media.
“This room I love, because it’s getting us technology-wise to where the industry is now,” Cunningham says. “Before, we used webcams, and now we have actual professional-quality cameras that are used in podcasting.”
Columbia’s Sessions @33, which produces a live music series inspired by NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” will be among those to use the new studios. Sessions @33 brings together students from all over campus to produce the series: Audio and Music students record performances, Film and Television students film and edit them, Business and Entrepreneurship students handle marketing and promotion, and Fashion students assist with styling.
The space is already making an impression on students. Senior Radio major Evan Ellison, who hosts the WCRX podcast “I-94 Huddle,” watched the facility take shape over the summer.
“It’s amazing,” Ellison says. He was especially impressed by student-created wall mural that greets people as they approach the new WCRX studio space.
Connecting WCRX’s Past and Future
That mural was created by senior Illustration student Lilly Sundsbak.
Sundsbak collaborated with the architecture team on dimensions and mock-ups before the finished artwork was printed and installed as a wall wrap.
Her concept connects WCRX’s history with its future. The right side includes images of older technology Sundsbak discovered while doing research in Columbia’s archives, while the left side features newer technology representing the station today.
“The radio station mural here was just created out of wanting to celebrate the legacy of WCRX and celebrating the new students coming in,” Sundsbak says.
It’s a fitting theme for a station that has been part of Columbia for more than 40 years. The new WCRX preserves the hands-on spirit of student radio while giving the next generation of Columbia creators the tools and the visibility to take it in new directions.
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