It’s marathon time…at 90.5 FM, Morristown High School’s free-form music station

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Sign points to WJSV studio in Morristown High School. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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By Sydney Clarke and Megan Angulo

On your mark, get set, go! Morristown High School’s favorite marathon begins tonight, Jan. 18, 2013…but it’s not what you think.

Put away your running shoes and get out your radio for the WJSV marathon! Hosted by student deejays, the show starts at 7 pm and continues until 9 am on Saturday. Members of the station stay over for a night of food, fun, and music.

The marathon is an MHS tradition. On air for more than 30 years, the show now is overseen by Michael Butler, a broadcasting teacher, and Steve Woodruff, the station’s chief engineer.

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Sign points to WJSV studio in Morristown High School. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

While parents of the deejays do not stay overnight, they are “very generous [with] food and drinks,” says Butler. WJSV is owned by the Morris School District, but mostly is student-run. It can be heard up to 15 miles out of Morristown at 90.5 FM, playing a range of music.

MHS students who are interested in joining WJSV are welcome to “come down to the station, fill out a few information sheets and then start hanging out,” says Butler.

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Jake Resnikoff and Meahgan Gibson in 2011 during an afternoon radio show at WJSV, the FM station of Morristown High School. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Allie Lott, a senior who is the station manager agrees. “Come down to the station and see what we got!” she says. Before becoming a DJ, however, students must complete a comprehensive test, a three-hour apprenticeship, as well as a board test.

 

WJSV is an FCC-licensed station, meaning that students must adhere to Federal Communications Commission guidelines.

This does not mean that it’s a job with stifling limits. “We are a free-form radio station, so we can play whatever the deejay is in the mood to play,” Lott says. Whatever your musical tastes, there are bound to be some songs you love.

So no matter whether you’re training for a marathon (the sweaty kind) or just hanging around on a Friday night, the WJSV marathon definitely is worth a listen.

Sydney Clarke and Megan Angulo are seniors at Morristown High School.

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