WDSO

WDSO (88.3 FM, "The Rock") is a radio station located at Chesterton High School, in Chesterton, Indiana. The transmitter is located at Chesterton Middle School. WDSO is a non-profit high school station. All of the disc jockeys are high school students, ranging from freshmen to seniors.

WDSO
CityChesterton, Indiana
Broadcast areaPorter, Lake and LaPorte counties
BrandingThe Tune of the Dunes
Slogan"The Rock of Chesterton"
Frequency88.3 MHz
First air dateAugust 1976
FormatHigh School
Language(s)English
ERP400 watts
HAAT41 meters (135 feet)
ClassA
Facility ID17731
Transmitter coordinates41°36′29″N 87°03′37″W
Call sign meaningDuneland School Organization
Former frequencies89.7
OperatorChesterton High School
OwnerDuneland School Corp.
(Duneland School Corp)
WebcastListen Live
Websitewdso.org

Format

WDSO's music format is variety. There are six main decades of music, ranging from the 1950s to today's music. Among these are Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Green Day, Radiohead, and The Smiths. WDSO also broadcasts most Chesterton High School Basketball and Football games.

History

During the summer of 2000, WDSO moved to new facilities at the new Chesterton High School. The new high school radio station includes the main broadcast studio, four production studios as well as an Engineering room and Music Library which also contains WDSO's Archives. It also included a News Room, however, in the Spring of 2019 it was converted into the fourth production studio. The studio also includes a TV production studio and control room, from which the High School student news broadcasts are recorded. The WDSO transmitter remains at the old high school building (now Chesterton Middle School). WDSO became one of the first radio stations in the world to utilize fiber optic cable to transport the radio signal over a mile-and-a-half (2.4 km) from the studio to the transmitter.

On February 19, 2002, WDSO was honored at the Indiana General Assembly in Indianapolis. House Resolution 38 recognized WDSO for its 25 years of broadcasting. Author of the Resolution was State Representative Ralph Ayres from Chesterton also a Social Studies teacher at Chesterton High School. State Representatives Duane Cheney from Portage and Charlie Brown from Gary were also sponsors of the bill. All three legislators represent the Duneland School area. In the Senate, sponsors of the bill were Senators Rose Ann Antich from Merrillville and Bill Alexa from Valparaiso.

March 2004 marked the start of WDSO broadcasting on the internet. In 2005 WDSO brought in their new Station Manager and Instructor; former WDSO student Matthew Waters. Matthew helps current students run the station alongside Operation Manager, Michele Stipanovich.

In the fall semester of 2014, WDSO purchased a brand new Nautel VS-1 Transmitter to replace their old one, which was from 1985 when WDSO was permitted to change their power from 10 watts to 410 watts, this also allowed broadcast 24/7, 365 days per year.

During the summer of 2015, WDSO stayed on air the entire months of June, July and August, making the station officially operational 365 days per year.

During the fall of 2018, WDSO purchased and installed an RDS unit, allowing listeners to see the song title and artist of the song currently playing, in their car.

In the spring of 2019, WDSO converted their "News Room" which had become obsolete, into a fourth production studio.

WDSO celebrated its 25th year of broadcasting with a Reunion/Celebration on November 17, 2001. Over 100 former and current students attended. The evening included a short program in the CHS Auditorium, refreshments and tours of the new WDSO facilities.

WDSO celebrated its 30th year on air in 2006.[1]

References
  1. Duneland
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