Fairfield University’s radio station is set to open its doors to the public in the upcoming weeks following a months-long renovation process.

“[This] is the first renovation that we’ve had since basically the station started,” said senior student Sam Ponessa, WVOF’s station manager. “It’s a big deal.”

While a ribbon-cutting ceremony is expected to occur at some point in March, the station is already in the process of providing central staff members with training for the new equipment.

“We are going to have student shows starting before March,” he said. “Technically speaking, this room at least, is functional and ready to go. All we need to do is get the web stream, which is where we go live, and then get the FM air back.”

Reclaiming the FM waves will mark the official return of student programming to the non-commercial radio station. According to Ponessa, since the renovations started in the summer of 2024, NPR took over the radio waves to fill the airtime not used by students.

Ponessa, who is in his third year working with the radio station, shared that the new radio studio will feature new digital and wireless equipment, allowing student productions to air at a higher quality level.

The new radio studio includes one host microphone and four guest microphones, which represents one additional microphone compared to the previous configuration. In addition, the studio also has a TV with Apple TV connectivity.

It also represents the first time changes have been made to the radio station since it was relocated from the basement of Regis Hall to the current office located in the lower level of the Barone Campus Center in 2002.

In the near future, there are plans to continue renovating the contingent studios.

“Long-term there’s just a lot of opportunities to do really cool multimedia stuff. So, for the first time, we are going to be able to branch outside of just audio. We’re going to have video cameras in here, in the podcast studio and the multimedia room,” Ponessa added.

Those additional opportunities include video broadcasts, live bands and the ability to connect the radio station to the Media Center and the RecPlex.

The modernization efforts affected more than 2 dozen student-run shows. However, while the station doors remained closed, the station remained active.

Junior Andrew Jamieson, who leads the sports division of the station, said they had to pivot in the face of the studio closure.

His team of almost 20 students have not only remained active on campus but they have expanded the reach of their operations. They have called every basketball game of the season from the Leo D. Mahoney Arena and away games from Sacred Heart University and Quinnipiac University.

The sports transmissions are streamed live on the WVOF Sports YouTube channel, where students and fans of the Stags can listen to the play-by-play commentary from the students.

“If you go on to the Fairfield Stags athletic website, they now put all of our game links,” Jamieson said as he emphasized his vision of leaning into sports journalism.

In addition to the game’s commentary, Jamieson has also leaned into podcasting, interviewing Fairfield University players and coaches and uploading those interviews to the YouTube channel.

Last week, they were invited to attend an on-campus podcast recording with Mike Francesa, who is considered to have one of the most successful sports radio talk shows in the early 2000s.

Now, as his team prepares to return to the studio, Jamieson remains optimistic that his success with the sports team amid the studio closure can inspire former student hosts to return to the cabin and lead the next generation of Stags in the Studio.