Peace, love, and college radio

Skidmore’s student-run college radio station, WSPN 91.1 FM, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. Based in the basement of Skidmore’s Jonsson Tower dormitory, the station is completely managed by a student “e-board” (executive board) and consistently ranks as one of the top 10 college radio stations in the country (No. 8 according to The Princeton Review in this year’s rankings).  

I’ve been a part of the e-Board for the past year as its webmaster (redoing the website to be more accessible and cohesive and keeping its blog running) and as the social media manager (in charge of the list of the public service announcements that WSPN airs and making sure its Instagram account is up to date and fun). I’ve had a radio show for even longer.  

Part of what makes WSPN special is its ability to bring together Skidmore students and the city of Saratoga Springs. Every year, a slew of community DJs sign up for a show, a committed group that includes a tarot card reader and Skidmore staff. Everybody who wants to have a show must first attend Big Meeting, the annual “how to” the e-board hosts to recruit DJs.  

A lot of the community DJs have had a show for years, and their legacy reminds students that they are part of a longstanding and long-loved tradition. Generations of Skidmore alumni in broadcasting and media made some of their first media appearances on WSPN, including NPR’s Elissa Nadworny ’10 and Washington Post audio producer Ariel Plotnick ’15, who once served as the station’s general manager.   

The other day I brought my dad, Corwin Ravenstar, a Saratoga Springs local, in to cohost with me. He had a show at WSPN with his two “townie, not Skiddy” friends in the 1990s.  

“Between me, Adam Wilcox, and our friend Brian Smith, we had a collection of a few hundred Grateful Dead bootlegs,” my dad recalled. “Back then there weren’t too many DJs, so we’d take over the studio for a few hours and play our coveted tapes.” 

The station is broadcast throughout the city, so students have a voice in the sounds of Saratoga Springs, as well as on an online stream so friends and family can tune in from anywhere. 

WSPN is a lot more than just a radio broadcast — it’s a community and one of the many student clubs at Skidmore. Every year, we host three major concerts, one of them being the annual Earth Day in collaboration with the Students Events Council (SEC), Lively Lucy’s, Environmental Action Club (EAC), and SuCo (the Student Government Association’s Sustainability Committee).  

Earth Day is Skidmore’s largest concert. Multiple popular musicians take an outdoor stage while students sell their art at a marketplace, and different clubs run activities like a rock wall or a bouncy house.  

Last year, WSPN hosted their first drag show, titled “Let them Eat Cake,” bringing in local queens to perform dressed in Mary Antoinette spin-offs. The show went so well, featuring a costume contest with a prize (cake), that this year for the annual Halloween show, they’re doing it again with spooky song covers.  

WSPN is also a great resource for students interested in music and media. The studio has a recording room where musicians can get high-quality recordings of their songs. In a nod to NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts,” “WSPN Presents” lets student (and faculty) musicians perform acoustic sets at the station in front of its massive CD collection. The series is on YouTube and new videos get uploaded each semester.  

Additionally, WSPN has its own website with a blog, allowing aspiring critics and journalists the chance to publish music-related writing and photography. 

I spoke with WSPN’s co-general managers, seniors Eli Smith ’25 (an international affairs and French double major from Greene, Maine) and Sara Powers ’25 (a computer science major with a geoscience minor from Worcester, Massachusetts) about the station.  

Eli, who was a programmer for the past few years before stepping into the GM role, said the leadership role is a good way to gain professional experience while doing something that inspires him.  

I like that WSPN allows over a hundred people to participate each semester and have a really fun experience with the music they love. I love just being able to tune in at any time and hear my community.”  

He hopes that the station’s broadcast range can get boosted with the help of a new antenna and WSPN will get additional financial and logistical support.  

Sara, the station’s previous technical director, wasn’t initially planning to continue as GM past last summer, but said she and Eli realized that the position made more sense as a two-person job.  

“I’m really glad it worked out. It’s great to be able to take the station in the direction we want it to go. Compared to a lot of other college radio stations, WSPN really prioritizes making radio accessible to as many people as possible. It sometimes blows my mind that we’re able to run such a packed program of unique shows each semester.”

When asked about her goals for the station, she said, “I hope to see us have a larger presence both on campus and in the Saratoga community. I’d like us to work more closely with administration and put ourselves out there to the student body. We’re already a big organization, but I think we can extend our outreach even further.” 

 Regardless of your musical taste, there’s space for everyone at WSPN. As soon as you enter the station, you’re greeted with hundreds of CDs and records lining the shelves, old posters from alumni graphic designers, mismatched armchairs, and a stuffed wizard plushy (the WSPN Wizard is the radio’s icon).  

In the room with the mics, there’s a wall of handmade posters for the year’s shows (made at the annual poster-making party), and the atmospheric dark purple lighting makes it feel colorful and cozy, perfect for Saratoga winters.  

WSPN has accumulated a lot of traditions over its half-a-century run, and we hope it continues to serve as a musical bridge between Skidmore students and the local community for a long time. 

Just like the e-board always signs their emails,  

peace, love, and college radio.