WESU

WESU is a college/community radio station in the United States, founded in 1939 as an unofficial AM carrier current station in the basement of Clark Hall. Upon eventually gaining recognition, the station operated under the callsign WES. In the 50's, the call-sign became WESU. Then in the 60's it operated an FM station at 88.1 MHz, eventually abandoning the AM station. Between 1967 and 1990, WESU was owned and operated by an independent student group, the now-defunct Wesleyan Broadcast Association, Inc. It is currently owned by trustees of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and operated by students and community volunteers. In 1999, the station moved offices and studios from the basement of Clark Hall to its current location next the Wesleyan Argus on 45 Broad Street.

WESU operates 24 hours a day. Until 2004, WESU's format had been entirely freeform, with DJs and student staff having complete freedom to program what they will. The University had, at that time, announced its intent to seek an affiliation with National Public Radio, and to drastically change the station's format. Douglas Bennet, then President of the University, was a former president of NPR. The station now broadcasts an NPR feed from WSHU, the college station of Sacred Heart University, for several hours a day. For the remainder of the broadcast day, WESU continues to operate as a free-form station.

WESU broadcasts at 88.1 MHz on the FM dial, with 6,000 Watts ERP, circular polarization, from the top of Wesleyan University's Exley Science Center in Middletown, Connecticut. The programming is presently a mix of freeform, National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio Network Programs. WESU also broadcasts Democracy Now! and Free Speech Radio News from the Pacifica Radio Network. The radio station was shown on the show "How I Met Your Mother". At the end of the episode "The Possimpible", Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) is deleting his work experience from the radio station from his resume.