WMSE Programming Philosophy
WMSE 91.7FM is a non-profit, listener-supported radio service educationally licensed to the Milwaukee School of Engineering. WMSE’s on-air staff is made up of dedicated community volunteers who specialize in the genre that is featured on their respective programs.
As an innovative community station, we exist to provide our listening audience with music and information unavailable elsewhere on the mainstream media outlets and seek to give exposure to artists and issues which are not getting commercial airtime. The station has also strongly supported local music, arts, and culture since its inception in 1981 and broadcasts high-quality music and programming 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. To support this diversity of programming, WMSE/MSOE believes in The First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech that protects programming. While we realize that freedom of speech is a fundamental right, we exercise judgment to stay safely within the parameters of the FCC’s radio programming regulations. In keeping with this philosophy, WMSE does NOT recognize the Safe Harbor provision. (A safe harbor is a provision of a statute or a regulation that reduces or eliminates a party’s liability under the law, on the condition that the party performed its actions in good faith.) Every volunteer DJ is required to read and acknowledge their understanding of these programming criteria as part of their training as detailed in our volunteer DJ training manual. The station has a responsibility to the institution and therefore operates in accordance with the strategic vision of MSOE. A critical component of that responsibility is the direct impact we have on the community we support. As highlighted in our annual report, WMSE provides media sponsorship, visibility and support to countless area community organizations and nonprofits including airing over 17,500 public service announcements each fiscal year.
We recognize the profound responsibility of representing our station, university and the Milwaukee community. WMSE strives to surpass the expectations of those who support us as well as those who rely on us for critical support every minute that we are on the air.
Tom Crawford
Station Manager-WMSE 91.7