There are a lot of really underrated programs and organizations at Wake Forest, but 88.5 WFDD is probably the least well known among students. The WFDD Student Ambassadors are trying to change that.
To clear up any confusion: WFDD is not WAKE Radio. WAKE Radio is really cool, but it’s a student-run radio station. WFDD is the real deal, with an awesome staff of people who report on topics like the HB2 Bill and what happened to a certain famed chili sauce.
WFDD is the public radio station for the Piedmont Triad. When most people hear public radio, they think “NPR.” That’s partially true, but it isn’t the whole story. WFDD is an independent, locally owned broadcast station, and it is a member station of NPR. That means that they broadcast programs distributed by NPR (think: All Things Considered), programs distributed by other national distributors (think: Marketplace), programs distributed by other public radio stations (think: Radiolab) and broadcast our own programs (like SciWorks Radio and Across the Blue Ridge).
Not only that, but WFDD is older than NPR itself. It was founded in 1946 as a pirate radio station, which makes it one of the oldest student-run publications on campus, second only to the Old Gold & Black. There are a few other NPR member stations in North Carolina, but WFDD is the oldest by far. This is an incredible resource right on our campus (specifically, in the little white house between the track and field stadium and Palmer and Piccolo) that hardly any students know about.
Journalism and communication professors should be telling their students about it. Tour guides should be telling prospective students about it — the 18-year-old kid from New Jersey probably doesn’t care, but his parents would most likely be really impressed.
If you have any interest in journalism, you should be listening to or reading the first-class reporting that the WFDD staff produces on a regular basis. If you have any interest in broadcast, you should try to get an internship with WFDD. Or, if you just enjoy really cool podcasts, you should come to the monthly listening parties.
