Maybe you’re a DJ at heart with eclectic musical tastes—or you love everything about sports and dream about a career in play-by-play work. If so, check out WRIU, the University’s radio station, for a chance to have your own show or to call a soccer, hockey, or hoops game.

WRIU provides the most vibrant and widest range of musical and public affairs programming in Rhode Island. An executive board staffed by students oversees the non-commercial, 3,400-watt FM outlet, which just celebrated its 75th year in operation.

The station’s priority is to provide commercial-free programs that are unlike any already offered on other FM and AM stations in the region. It reaches nearly all of Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.

“I think what makes us so different is that we have such a variety of music. We have jazz, classical, reggae, world, electronic, and hip-hop. We also do pop, like what’s heard on the top 40 countdown, but we try to stay away from that because so many stations already offer that,” said senior communication studies major Sara Holland, the radio station’s FM program director.

WRIU is a great place to start for any career pertaining to the public…You have deadlines to meet and the duty of providing your listeners with programming they will find interesting. Most importantly, you have to do it on time.

WRIU also has an online platform, RIU2, which not only offers music but also provides extensive coverage of URI athletics, including some club sports.

Sara and other WRIU staffers are examples of students past and present who found a place to do what they love while gaining real-life experience.  Take 1988 journalism grad Gregg Perry, president of his own public relations firm, who built the foundation for his professional career at WRIU.

“WRIU is a great place to start for any career pertaining to the public because it requires you to have responsibilities and take responsibility for your actions,” said Perry, who had a lengthy and distinguished career in radio news with WPRO and WHJJ. “You have deadlines to meet and the duty of providing your listeners with programming they will find interesting. Most importantly, you have to do it on time.”

General Manager Madison Moreau, who will graduate in the spring with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, has been at the station all four years of his URI career.  “Working at the station has helped me learn effective task management,” he said. “As the GM, I have a role in all phases of the station.”

While Madison became involved with the station because his love for music, he is most proud of the work he and previous GM Chris Warren did to expand sports coverage to nearly every varsity team and several club teams on the FM station and RIU2, the online station.

“I love our staff, but one of the challenges each year is to train new student staffers,” he said. “I am proud to say that every one of our sportscasters and every member of our executive board is a URI student.”