WONY Oneonta

by Collin Ungerleider (Oneonta, NY)

The entrance to WONY in the basement of Alumni Hall

WONY Oneonta is SUNY Oneonta's student-run radio station, noted for the variety of content afforded by its free-form on air format. WONY was founded in 1962, and has a long, proud history of bringing entertainment and information to SUCO students as well as the greater Otsego area.

The door to Studio A, where DJs broadcast live

"I love the people . . . that's number one" says Julia Falcone, WONY's Music Director. DJs at WONY contribute to a tight-knit and welcoming community at the station, nearly resembling that of a greek life organization. As DJ Drew D'Ambrosio puts it, "It's more or less a family . . . we love to see each other grow."

WONY is also host to a handful of Oneonta community members and SUCO faculty who host their own shows at the station, including history professor William Ashbaugh. "Some of my students noticed that I was always talking about music, and they said . . . we kind of have a dearth of people right now if you wanna try out for the station and learn how to do it all, we could do that."

WONY's mixing board, which controls everything that goes over the air

WONY presents itself to the SUCO campus as a place of free expression and collaboration. The format of the station has always been kept open to allow DJs to explore genres and artists not normally represented on commercial radio, and to introduce listeners to new music. "If there's one thing I want people to know about WONY," says General Manager Jessie King, "is that it exists for everybody . . . our purpose is to provide news and entertainment for basically everybody around us, and it's something that everyone can participate in."