WMSE-FM
| City | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Branding | WMSE 91.7FM |
| Frequency | 91.7 (MHz) |
| First air date | March 17, 1981 (Officially at 91.7 FM, at 1000 Watts. The station had been broadcasting "engineering test" prior to the first on-air date. March 17th was chosen as St. Patrick is the Patron Saint of Engineers at MSOE, and his feast day marks a week-long celebration there.) |
| Format | Alternative, Blues, Jazz, New Age, World |
| ERP | 3,200 watts |
| HAAT | 40 meters |
| Class | A |
| Callsign meaning | We're Milwaukee's School of Engineering |
| Owner | Milwaukee School of Engineering |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.wmse.org |
WMSE (91.7 FM) is a non-commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, playing a wide-ranging eclectic music format run by volunteer DJ's. The station is part of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE).
On July 22, 1922, a broadcasting license was issued jointly to the School of Engineering of Milwaukee and the daily evening newspaper, The Wisconsin News, which was owned by the Hearst Corporation. The call letters assigned (sequentially, they had no meaning) were WIAO. Since December 1, 1921, radio stations had been assigned two wavelengths: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "broadcasting news, concerts and such matter", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "broadcasting crop reports and weather forecasts". As such, WIAO was licensed to broadcast on a wavelength of 360 meters (833.3 kHz). Although its license called for “unlimited” time at a power of 500 Watts, the fact that the three other Milwaukee stations: WAAK (Gimbel Brothers department store), WCAY (Kesselman O’Driscol Music Co.) and WHAD (Marquette University), were also licensed for the 360 meter band, meant that WIAO had to share time with them.
At 10:15 a.m. on October 23 of that year, WIAO went on the air from the school's Marshall Street building with 100 watts of power, using a student-built transmitter. That power level was formalized on January 9, 1923 when a new license was issued.
On July 23, 1923, another new license was issued — this time solely to the School of Engineering — specifying a power level of 200 Watts. The power level was reduced to 100 watts on October 9.
In January 1924, The Wisconsin News, began programming the station on a part-time basis. On May 31, 1924, the station was authorized to shift its frequency to 246 meters (1220 kHz). The station did so at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 9. On August 18 of that year, WIAO changed its call letters to WSOE. On December 31, the school announced that it had purchased all of the equipment of WCBD in Zion, Illinois (one of the first religious stations, which also preached "flat earth" information). The purchase included a new, more powerful (500 Watt) transmitter and twin towers, which were mounted atop the school's Oneida (now Wells) Street building. The new WSOE was dedicated on July 8, 1925. At that time, The Wisconsin News took over programming the station full-time, while the School of Engineering took care of technical operations. Formal approval of the power increase was issued on July 15.
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