WRSE is on the Air - Preview

This blog originally posted April 8, 2015.

Welcome to Roseville!  Or should I say welcome back?

This is the first of 36 episodes following life on the air and in a town full of cheeseheads.

Here it is again, with some minor edits and revisions along the way.  Thanks for stopping by.

Friday morning, WRSE-AM and WMJM - FM sign on the air in the mythical community of Roseville, Wisconsin.

Pete Moss is the morning news man and the news/farm/sports director.  Jeff is the morning drive disc jockey who serves as station engineer.  The two have worked together for years.

Morning radio is its own animal.  It's different for other reasons in Roseville.  Small town radio is where you learn who was born and who passed away.  It updates news from around the world, but lets you know what's happening at town council; on the school board; and which kids are representing the school at the FFA Convention.

Jeff's job in the morning is waking people up with a mix of good music, timely weather, and what folks need to know before they head out the door.

It's difficult to find radio stations like WRSE and WMJM anymore.  It's what might be called hyper - local, if the station cared about such labels.  What makes the stations different and what keeps the advertiser's cash coming in for their sponsorship is that everyone listens to the stations at some point every day.

Listen for a full day and you hear a variety of music.  There are pinches of polkas, dollops of rap, helpings of country, and healthy amounts of classic rock and adult contemporary.  Last year the station started special hours featuring music choices from kids in the elementary school and another hour programmed by older adults at the city's retirement village.

You can't find the station on the radio, but you will be able to learn about the station and the friends and neighbors they serve in a new blog series called On the Air.

Starting tomorrow (September 14) new chapters will go live at 9 and 3 Central Time, with two chapters served daily through the Epilogue on October 2.  

I enjoyed my life on the air for a small Iowa radio station back in the 1980s and tried to capture some of the flavors of those days and how I might do it again someday.  Thanks for reading.