WEOS is primarily a public radio news, information and music station, broadcasting to the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.  We air many popular public radio programs from NPR, PRI, the BBC World Service, and Pacifica Radio...including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Democracy Now!, Fresh Air, Living on Earth, Only a Game, Whad'ya Know?, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!, World Cafe, and This American Life.

We also air several locally-produced programs, such as Jazz & More with Jake, Out of Bounds, Stuck in the Psychedelic Era, Metallic Onslaught, Gospel Outreach, and Unwelcome Guests.

Weeknights at WEOS, we turn the airwaves over to the fine students of Hobart & William Smith Colleges; our parent organization.  The music can be - and often is - extremely varied, but tends to be along the cutting-edge, underground alt-rock format.

Our main signal is 89.7, transmitting from a few miles west of Geneva, and reaching from Canandaigua to Auburn, to Ithaca, to Watkins Glen, to Lake Ontario.   We also have repeater stations on 90.3 in downtown Geneva and 88.1 in Ithaca.

How to Get Involved at WEOS
WEOS is professionally operated by a General Manager (Aaron Read) and Station Manager (Greg Cotterill).  We also have several student employees from Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and some volunteer DJ's from the local communities.

We're always looking for folks...on-campus or off...who're interested to volunteer at WEOS!  We need help with on-air announcers, news, events production, office, sales, sportscasters, and support staff. If you are interested, you can come to one of our staff meetings throughout the academic year, or contact us directly at weos@hws.edu.

How is WEOS funded?
WEOS is funded by underwriting contributions from local businesses, donations from our loyal listeners, some federal grants from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.  We also receive some funding from our parent organization (and FCC license-holder) the Hobart & William Smith Colleges.

We can't emphasize enough: quality public radio costs money.  We rely on contributions from our listeners to keep going, so please help us with your donation: click here to give online.

How do I get to WEOS's studios?  (Directions)
The WEOS studios are located on the campus of the Hobart & William Smith Colleges, in the city of Geneva, New York.  This is in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York...roughly halfway between Rochester and Syracuse.

General Directions: Our street address is 113 Hamilton Street, Geneva, NY 11456 which is also known as Routes 5 & 20.  We are a bit more than one block west of the intersection of Rt.14 (South Main Street) and Routes 5 & 20.  Once you pass Pulteney Street, look for the first house on the left (it's got a WEOS neon sign in the window).   The driveway is to the left of the house, there's free parking in the back.   Please go to the back door and ring the doorbell.

From the I-90 Thruway/points north: Take exit 42, after the tolls turn right on Rt.14.   Continue for 4.1 miles.  Turn right on Gambee Rd (at Vance Metal Fabricators).  Cross the RailRoad tracks.  Take next left onto Genessee St.  Go until Genessee ends.  Turn right on Castle St, then the next left onto South Main Street (back on Rt.14).  At the signs for Rt.5&20, turn right, then right again onto Hamilton/5&20.  Go through the light at Pulteney, and we're the first house on the left.

From Ithaca/points south or east: Take Rt.96 to Rt.96A to Rt.5&20 West.  Stay on 5&20 past Rt.14 & Pulteney Street, and we're the first house on the left.

From Canandaigua/points west: Take Rt.5&20.  When you reach the City of Geneva, you'll past the HWS athletic fields on your right, and go up and over a small hill.   After the hill, the next traffic light is Pulteney Street.  WEOS is the last house on the right before that light.

The History of WEOS

WEOS started in 1947 or 1948 as a carrier current radio station at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, primarily as a means of rebroadcasting recorded lectures from Western Civilization or other classes for students to either re-hear, or in some cases, hear for the first time if they missed class. However, there are records and citations that mention broadcast experiments and other related efforts in earlier years, one involving the broadcast of a Hobart and Union College football game in 1920.

The station was operated by students, many of which were part of the Delta Chi fraternity. The station's studios were in Smith Hall, before moving to the basement of Sherrill Hall, where real broadcast studios were built in the 1960s. The studios remained there until 1998.

The Station was granted a construction permit in 1970, for 91.3 MHz, at 10 watts ERP. However, this frequency would have precluded Syracuse from getting a public radio station (WCNY). Through negotiation, the station applied for and changed its frequency to its current 89.7FM. The station went on the air in 1971, broadcasting a variety of programs both recorded and live, all forms of music, news, and sports, including those of NPR. The transmitter site was on the roof of Eaton Hall.

Through a series of power increases and improvements, the station increased its power and coverage in steps, first to 250 watts, then 460 watts, and finally 1500 watts. The latter moved the transmitter site and tower to the roof of Winn-Seeley Gymnasium in the mid 1970s. The station had an old RCA tranmitter and a Phelps-Dodge 4 bay antenna.

In July 1988, lightning struck the antenna, and a fire destroyed the transmitter and related equipment. The transmitter was to be replaced and back on the air by the start of the school year, but the transmitter was destroyed in transit in a truck accident. The transmitter did not arrive until mid December of 1988. The Harris FM1-K was installed in a new location in Winn-Seeley gym, including its Optimod 8100A. The STL link was a buried multi-conductor shielded audio cable running from building to building from Sherrill Hall in the old Alpha System fire alarm conduit. The station used to run audio and voltages on these cables, in a home built remote control. The advent of the new transmitter and a new remote control, allowed for the stereo audio, return audio from Remote Pick up transmitters (MARTI) and the data to use this cable, which when equalized, was flat from 15 Hz to 22 kHz!. In 1989, the antenna failed, and was replaced by an ERI 4 bay antenna which is still used today for a translator, W212BA.

In 1994, The station applied for and was granted a construction permit to move the transmitter site off campus. For years, there was an effort to get the station's transmitter up on "Bean's Hill" to lessen multipath and help improve coverage. This came to pass with a move to Stanley, NY, on a tower site owned by Ontario County public safety. The station went on the air from that site briefly, before moving to a permanent new tower site directly behind the Ontario County Site on Lake to Lake Road. The ERP was raised to 4kW, with a directional antenna, to protect co-channel WITR and adjacent channel WRVO. This greatly improved the WEOS coverage area, and added better coverage towards Ithaca.

About this time, The Colleges added W212BA, at 90.3FM at 88 watts to fill in the signal on the campus. This translator broadcasts from the old WEOS transmitter site on Winn Seeley Gym. WEOS is also on the air in Ithaca, at 88.1 FM, 250watts ERP on W201CD, owned by Ithaca Community Radio. The Colleges have a construction permit for a new station in Ithaca, at 90.1FM, for 4000 watts. It is anticipated that this station could be on the air sometime by the early part of 2008.

The station's 24/7 non-commercial news and electic music format serves a large audience, with a large percentage of the listenership in the Ithaca and southern Finger Lakes area. NPR New, Pacifica, and PRI programming are a main stay, with local music and other programming, including broadcasts of Hobart Statesmen and William Smith Heron athletic contests. While the music and other programming has changed from its early days, WEOS came full circle, as it joined the Public Radio Satellite System in 1990, after grants were received from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program to purchase the equipment. The large 3.8 metre satellite dish was on the roof (technically, mounted to the side of the building at roof level) of Sherrill Hall. It was relocated in 1998, when the station's studios moved to its current location at 113 Hamilton Street.

Up until 1990, the station was at the will and whim of the students and community volunteers, as to when the station would sign on the air. In 1988, the Colleges' President, Carroll Brewster charged WEOS to become more consistent in its programming, and to pursue adding public radio programming. This was in part due to the adjacent channel issue caused with the main NPR news outlet at that time, WRVO (This was in part a mistake that the FCC made, in allowing WRVO a power increase, that actually interferes with WEOS. This interference still exists to this day, and the FCC did not remedy the error). Due to the "gray area" of no city grade coverage of public radio in the Finger Lakes, WEOS was allowed to broadcast public radio programming from NPR and PRI. WEOS also was a Pacifica affiliate at that time. At first, there was resistance from students, who equated "public radio" with classical music. However, with the programming mostly news and modern music, the quickly went away when Gulf War I occurred, and WEOS became a primary source in the area for up to the minute news and information. It was in 1990 that WEOS started broadcasting 24 hours a day, when many other public radio outlets were signing off at midnight. WEOS's schedule was adjusted so that a bulk of its news and information programming is in the day time, leaving the evening hours for music programming, by staff, students, and community volunteers. WEOS continues to produce the broadcast of visiting speakers, sporting events, live concerts, and other programming, including speakers at Cornell University.

In 2004, WEOS was the first station outside of New York City and the Albany area to broadcast in HD Radio.

WEOS also originated broadcasts for the NCAA in the early 1990s of the Men's NCAA Lacrosse Championships. This continued in the 1990s, and the broadcasts were carried by radio stations both in the United States and worldwide, including Japan and Australia. WEOS uplinked the broadcasts to both the Public Radio Satellite and commercial satellite carriers. This effort started in 1992 in Philadelphia. WEOS has also distributed web only broadcasts of various tournaments, including the NCAA Women's Field Hockey Championships, NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championships, and the ECAC Men's Division I Hockey Championships. WEOS has also fed the Liberty League Basketball Championships to the web, as web only events.

WEOS was an early adopter of webcasting, using Webradio and Broadcast America for streaming. WEOS has been using Public Interactive for its streaming, and recently switched its format to Mp3 from Windows Media. WEOS also has archives and podcasts of its programming.

Community and corporate contributions (often obtained during year round quiet fund drives) have helped the station grow in its ability to produce more local coverage and support the addition of a full time staff member. The station hopes to continue this growth.