A Recap of WNYO’s 2020-2021 School Year

Greetings WNYO listeners! Productions Director Landon Mauricio here.

WNYO has survived the 2020-2021 school year that has been plagued by COVID-19, lack of in person classes and more importantly, the lack of in person clubs. During the Fall 2020 semester,  restrictions were tight and club involvement not only at WNYO but in all clubs on campus, was low.

As a transfer student coming in from a community college, I was very excited to get started at WNYO and the other media organizations on campus. I’ve heard of all of the great things that WNYO was known for and I was looking forward to getting involved. As soon as I got here, I ran for Productions Director and got the position and I was pumped to get into the studio. Due to COVID-19 and I wasn’t able to even see the inside of the WNYO office until the beginning of the Spring semester.

Although the station was up and operating during Fall 2020, we were not allowed into our offices and the virus forced us to have to do our radio shows from home through a virtual software. This was one of the main things that hurt WNYO involvement, because being in the studio and behind the microphone in our wonderful on-air studio is a HUGE part of the WNYO experience.

The Executive Board, headed by General Manager Jenn Robilotto, had to come up with plans to keep the club alive.

This led to the rise of our Podcasting Department, headed by senior Podcast Director Matt Watling. I have to say, our podcasters have done an absolute great job! From this, WNYO has produced great podcasts such as Dylan McGlynn’s Talking Shop, Sydney Selleck’s The Freshman Experience, and Zac Case and Joey Palatsky’s 104 Sports Report, just to name a few. We saw that even though we weren’t able to be in our offices and our studio, WNYO found a way to thrive!

WNYO was able to rise from the ashes this school year, with lots of more involvement coming in with the spring semester. With COVID on the downfall, some restrictions on clubs were lifted and we are finally able to get WNYO staff and members into our offices. Although it is not the same as it once was, it has been great to see my fellow WNYO E-Board members, and it has been even better to get to know, help, and work with the club’s members.

The station was also able to purchase and install a new automation software, Wide Orbit. We were able to get rid of the ENCO system that we had.

We also saw the return of Live Sports in Spring 2021 with the effort of our Sports Director, Aaron Valentino and 104 Sports Report’s Zac Case. Due to COVID (again), winter sports for Oswego State were cancelled, so there was no opportunity to cover our own school’s winter sports. Aaron and Zac came up with the idea that the station would cover Oswego High School’s hockey games, and broadcast them. This was a great success! We had high-quality sports broadcasts from this.

Later on in the Spring semester, the WNYO Sports Department, led by Sports Director Aaron Valentino, was back in full swing. WNYO covered Men’s and Women’s lacrosse, as well as baseball and softball. New WNYO members were finally able to get the live sports experience they were looking forward to, and returners were able to get back into the swing of things!

WNYO was also able to obtain a new website! Web Director Patrick Ochang and GM Jenn Robilotto worked hard on giving WNYO a new home on the interwebs, and thanks to that, I was able to make this post in the first place, and I encourage you all to make blog posts too!

With live shows returning to the WNYO airwaves, the club is slowly but surely getting back into the place that it was pre-covid.

I’ve only mentioned by name a few of the WNYO E-Board members in this post, but that doesn’t mean that they were the only ones who played a huge role in this year. Our entire E-Board has done a great job keeping this station alive this year. Here are the names of all the E-Board Members who I didn’t mention in this post.

Abby Connolly (Programming Director), Jacob Johnson (News Director), Miguel Ortiz (Hip Hop Director), Skye Hosford (Music Director), Micheal Oher (Chief Engineer), Adriana Loh (PR Director), and AJ Battista (Business Director).

The club would also not be the same without the help of al of our members and our on-air DJ’s. This year all of our on-air shows have been amazing, and without those shows and the people who do them, WNYO would be a very different place this year.

Seniors, thanks for all your hard work this year, and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

To close off this post, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been apart of WNYO this year. We truly couldn’t have done it without you! I hope everyone has a great summer break, and I cannot wait to work with you all again next year!

~ Landon Mauricio, Productions Director.