Millersville University's radio station, which has been operating since the mid 1970s, is no more - sort of.

A huge ad in the university's newspaper, The Snapper, proclaimed "On Sunday, Nov. 19, WIXQ 91.7FM will go off the air forever."

Sure enough, Sunday marked the debut of the new Q92, whose slogan is "Daring to be Different."

Actually, the station will continue to offer the spectrum of musical styles for which it has become known throughout the campus community and a 20-mile radius beyond. The station's 85 weekly hours of operation won't change.

Nor will its disc jockeys. And because of Federal Communications Commission regulations, neither will its call letters.

So, why bother?

"The whole thing was basically a promotional stunt," said Millersville senior Karen Fincham, the station's promotions director.

She said that the hoax was perpetrated both to raise the number of listeners, and to revitalize WIXQ, which has billed itself for approximately eight years as "91.7 - your music alternative."

The "Q" of the station's new name was chosen to retain a vestige of the station's former name, and the "92" simply because it's easier to remember than 91.7, explained Fincham.

According to Fincham, foremost among management's reasons for the new station slogan was, "It was just time for a change."

Station manager Matt Conn said, "College radio is the great experimenting ground. Outside college, you'd never have the chance to play around with the medium like this, but here there's no advertising dollars on the line," said Conn. "So, why not?"

Since so much is remaining the same though, many WIXQ fans have claimed that the ad was much ado about nothing.

The move nonetheless has sent a ripple of discomfort through Millersville's student body. According to Conn, "We've had phone calls every day asking this like you won't believe, asking why we're going off the air," he said.

"And we tell them that we won't tell them," he laughed.

Dr. Ralph Anttonen, adviser to the campus station who doubles as Saturday night "oldies" DJ, denied that the ad was misleading, saying, "The very fact that it also said 'stay tuned for what's new' should've told people not to panic, if they'd read between the lines. Millersville's radio station is not going off the air. No way."

The 35 staff members have adhered so strictly to their vow of silence that not even administration members were able to pry the secret from the tight-lipped personnel. "Oh no, we didn't let anyone in on it," said Conn.

"But I think we've made our point. We're already getting more listeners, and our jocks are getting the chance to go through some changes, just like they would at a professional radio station," said Conn.

Conn, who's served as station manager since September, takes pride in the professionalism of the WIXQ staff. "I don't think people realize that 30 percent of our jocks work professionally. After time, down here, you're ready for it," he said.

The 150-watt station's format since 1985 has consisted of a hybrid of albums and compact discs. According to Anttonen, the station went from 10 watts to 150 around 1980, and went stereo in 1984.

Caption: DJ Jim Marchesani at the controls of MU's new Q92.

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