adminWUOG At 50: How One Radio Station Created a Lifetime of Friendships
Brought together by radio, University of Georgia alumni reunited for an afternoon of reuniting and reminiscing on their WUOG experiences.
WUOG 90.5 FM is the University of Georgia’s alternative college radio station. Airing its first broadcast in 1972 with a 3,000 watt signal, the station has gone on to be one of the most powerful college stations in the country, reaching its current 26,000 watts in 1994.
The panel, “Talk About the Passion: WUOG at 50 – Looking Back and Looking Ahead” was held at Grady College in room 100 on Oct. 21, 2022. Aptly named, the panel illustrated the impact WUOG 90.5 has had on five alumni, and the immense passion was felt throughout the room.
94 steps is what it took to get up to the WUOG room on the fifth floor of Memorial Hall. A feat mentioned by several of the panelists. Despite the headquarters having changed locations in 2009, the panelists discussed how life changing those 94 steps were. Richard Warner, CEO of Aware Force, says he was “there every day for the next three years” when asked about the iconic fifth floor. The steps act as an inside key for every member prior to the location change, it serves as a memory connecting the generations of WUOG employees.
“They are it, they were it,” says Richard Warner when asked about the long lasting relationships formed via WUOG. He then directly addresses the younger generation in the room by stating “as you go through life, you cannot make new old friends,” in continued reference to how important the friendships he made through WUOG has been for him.
Iris Levin was simply in attendance, but the former WUOG member had several callbacks to her time at the station. “We called it a ferrarity,” a combination of the words fraternity and sorority, Iris says when reminiscing on the feelings of community WUOG brought. This feeling of community felt throughout Iris’ college years led her daughter, Amy, to become involved with WUOG during her college career as well.
Condace Pressley, another panelist, was one of the only people in attendance from a more recent generation of WUOG, but her feelings remain the same as her colleagues. When asked what WUOG taught her, she responded with one word: “everything.” She discusses how “you never meet a stranger, you always meet a friend,” when you’re an alumni of WUOG. The network community Pressley created aided her through her 30+ year career.
The sense of community remained present for the entire hour and a half of the panel, only growing with each story. WUOG has provided a space for lifelong friendships to change students’ lives and careers since 1972 with no plans of slowing down.
Why I Wrote the Story
I am heavily involved in campus organizations and I felt it was important to write a story that shows how vital involvement is for college students. The impact of the panelist stories is felt throughout this article, and if I can encourage anyone to join WUOG, or any campus organization, through this piece, I will have succeeded.