WSIE 88.7 “The Sound” is a radio station housed on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Located about thirty miles outside of St Louis, The Sound serves the greater St. Louis region and southwestern Illinois, delivering a rich blend of jazz, smooth jazz, blues, and easy R&B, among other complementary genres of music. The station also offers SIUE sports and community-focused programming including three radio shows –Voices, Financial Café, and Segue – for a widely diverse listenership.
With its base on campus and long history with community affairs, The Sound naturally partners in education, providing opportunities for students in Mass Communications, Music, Theater, and Business. Students have the opportunity to learn at WSIE through on and off-air work in the studios, board-operating for athletic event broadcasts and hosting shows. WSIE also works with the Department of Mass Communications in the provision of independent study for students desiring a concentration in radio broadcasting.
Recently, as part of an upgrade to the studio and its adjoining spaces, a compliment of Heil Sound microphones have been installed in the facility. 14 PR30s as well as PL2T booms and PRSM shock mounts will be utilized in the main studio as well as in smaller production and voice tracking rooms.
Jason Church, the director of operations and general manager at The Sound, described the new relationship with Heil Sound. “I think it’s a wonderful thing because growing up around the area and being a broadcast geek as I am, I’ve known the Heil brand name since I was a kid. Heil Sound is a legendary name around the St. Louis area, especially within the radio industry.”
And while COVID sidelined much of the in-class operations for the year, that didn’t stop the learning process. Church continues, “The main purpose of the radio station from the get-go, fifty years ago, has been for student development. With The Sound studio being here on campus they can have a real-world, hands-on environment to learn in. And we teach so that students can go on to work in a variety of formats, whether it be traditional radio, streaming, podcasting, YouTube, you name it. They come here and work on real equipment and learn to present themselves on the air in a professional manner.”
Michelle Levitt, marketing director for Heil Sound, was instrumental in putting together the partnership with SIUE and The Sound. “I was contacted by a representative at the school about underwriting partners. Knowing that Heil Sound has such a long history in the St Louis broadcast market, it seemed like a natural and perfect fit. I’m looking forward to hearing a broadcast with the new microphones!”
