For 50 years, WIUX has undergone a multitude of changes. But through the evolution of call letters, locations and membership, one thing has remained constant: our passion.
The past 40 years at 815 E 8th Street have been amazing to say the least, but it has put a toll on the infrastructure of the house. Moving out of “The Mansion” has been on the board of directors’ minds for a while, but it is now imminent due to external circumstances. There are two occurrences happening simultaneously; one is that the Journalism, Telecommunications and Communications and Culture are merging into the new Media School, and the second is that Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji, swapped land with Maurer School of Law to build a new fraternity on the property we are currently located at.
The new Media School will be housed in Franklin Hall and as of now moving there is our best prospect. Station Manager Joe Heath and I are on the student media organization board working with faculty to discuss possible spacing in Franklin Hall. It is not set in stone, but I am realistically optimistic that Franklin Hall will be a positive fit for WIUX. The issue we are having now is that Franklin Hall is expected to be ready by January 2016, while in the meantime Fiji plans on moving into their new house by Fall 2016. Therefore, our issue now is looking into interim spaces in case the timelines don’t match.
The Bloomington Historical Preservation Commission has been fighting Fiji to preserve University Courts, the area of land that WIUX is located. There is even a new bill introduced, Indiana House Bill 1284, which requires state universities to comply with local zoning and historic preservation regulations. This bill directly affects the potential demolition of 8th and Woodlawn. So while Fiji plans on moving in during the Fall of 2016, there are other factors that may delay their move.
There is a lot up in the air as of now, but we do know that WIUX will be moving out of 815 E 8th Street within the next two years. A lot of these university decisions are out of our hands, but the board is being proactive about what we can do for the station. Thank you for your patience during this process, and I am committed to updating you all with information as soon as we have it. WIUX is an organization made up of dedicated, passionate students who will not let the station falter no matter where we are or how we get there.
- Bari Finkel (bfinkel@wiux.org), General Manager and Joe Heath (jheath@wiux.org), Station Manager
