news-record.com

Shaina Machlus became a DJ at the campus radio station in her first semester at Guilford College. Now a senior, Machlus is general manager at the station, WQFS-90.9.

The popular station - regularly included on lists of the nation's best college stations - has been such a big part of her life she can't imagine doing without it when she graduates. Luckily, by that time, she'll be able to listen to it anywhere she can get an Internet connection.

"We'll begin webcasting live on the Internet hopefully by this summer," Machlus says. "We're really excited about it. It's something that so many managers at the station have been so passionate about, and worked so hard toward. I'm glad it's on its way to being done."

The move will make the station's real-time broadcast available on its Web site - and bring its diverse music and news programming to an audience wider than its immediate broadcast area.

The technology needed to webcast was largely financed by money from the school's student senate, which recently got behind the project. Machlus says beyond benefiting those who want to listen off campus, it will give the students running the station the Internet skills they'll need for a radio career.

"This is the future," Machlus says. "If you're not using this technology, you're behind. And I think we were behind, but with this we're catching up."

The campus stations at UNCG, NC A&T and Elon University already webcast. High Point University launched a new radio station this week - online only.

The new station, http://hpuradio.com, is starting slowly. Though it broadcasts online 24 hours during the school year, live DJs are only on air from 4 p.m. to midnight.

The station's DJs are culled from a radio class in the university's Nido R. Qubein School of Communication and will get credit for their work at the station.

Although WQFS is non-profit and does not air commercials, Machlus says it has always wanted an audience beyond Guilford College's campus.

For years, the 44-year-old station has welcomed DJs from beyond the student body, and many of its long-running shows have had fans for decades.

"With the webcasting there's really no limit to who can listen," Machlus says. "We want to reach everyone, everywhere."

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com