“I’m a nurse,” read the message sent to Rita Houston, WFUV’s program director. “Today I listened in [and]  for the first time all month, [I] danced in my kitchen, relaxed for the first time in ages. Grateful to WFUV community resources for helping us stay well, stay safe, stay sane, stay connected in these uncertain times.”

Another message to Houston from a woman from New York said that the station was keeping her company during this isolating time.

“Please know we appreciate the continued joy we have always received from FUV. Now more than ever, many of us, myself included, are alone and music means so much in our daily mindset,” the message read.

For Houston, the messages are a reminder of why it’s important that she and other staff members at WFUV, 90.7 FM, continue to work hard each day, even under their own set of difficult circumstances.

“We are hearing from so many listeners about the comfort, entertainment, community, and meaning that WFUV is bringing in these tough times,” she said. “And that means so much to all of us at WFUV. The authenticity that WFUV has always represented with our music and our DJs is what listeners are responding to. Our DJs are doing a great job keeping that going under the difficult circumstances of working remotely.”

It’s been over a week since any show was broadcast live from the WFUV studios at the Rose Hill campus of Fordham, according to WFUV’s General Manager Chuck Singleton.

“Our administrative team had followed most of the work world and the rest of the University, to remote work in mid-March,” he said. “Until last week, a small crew of essential air staffers including Corny O’Connell, Delphine Blue and others, as well as George Evans, our director of technical operations, stuck it out on site at FUV’s studios. But with expanding social distancing and Governor Cuomo’s executive order, we knew the clock was running out on that.”

Evans said that the team had been putting things in place since early March to get ready for a fully remote set-up.

DJ Dennis Elsas was the first to go remote due to his experience with working from home for his other work with Sirius XM satellite radio.

“I know how to do it,” he said. “I was already set up and we figured if it works for me, we can roll it out for everyone.”

That meant making sure that on-air hosts had the recording equipment they needed set up at home, and engineers were able to make sure their shows hit their airwaves while they all were in different locations.

“Our Bronx studios are currently off-limits, but the music plays on,” Kathleen Allard, membership director, wrote in a letter to listeners. “Our hosts are broadcasting remotely from their homes, as our programmers and engineers work from theirs, performing an intricate and complicated series of processes that keeps the music going strong for you.”

Elsas said the experience isn’t that different than broadcasting from the studio, but he and others try to focus on keeping their connection to the listeners, even while remote.

“I can stay in touch with the world as I would in the studio,” he said. “With the internet, I can stay in touch with my listeners through their emails, tweets, social media, Facebook, and the music is the music.”

Evans estimated that programming has been able to stay about 95 percent the same, with just a few small items that had to go away for the time being as the staff logistically adjusted.

“There are some things that we used to do like ‘Question of the Day’ in the morning and some other things and we took that away for now—once we get a good flow and get settled then we’re going to bring what we can bring back,” he said.

Singleton said that’s a credit to the staff working quickly and learning their new remote processes.

“Our music team, newscasters, engineers, and producers rallied to get all the pieces in place, and last week our air staff began hosting their shows from home,” he said. “It was all a kind of radio moon shot, and thanks to many people, we’re now 100% remote and continue to bring you radio without interruption.”

Elsas said the biggest struggle for him and other on-air personalities is striking the right mix between entertaining the listeners and being aware of what’s going on in the world.

“I think that the biggest challenge for anyone, certainly for me or my fellow FUV DJs, but the biggest challenge is to maintain the balance between doing what we do on any given day, which is to entertain, share the music, be part of a community…[and]the seriousness of the situation that we’re in,” he said.

The station is still continuing to record its daily morning and afternoon newscasts, and the news team has created a live blog for wfuv.org to keep track of the latest coronavirus happenings. The station’s goal is to strike that balance between being a place people can go to “get away” from the constant news, but also stay a little bit informed, Evans said.

“We have a mission statement for times like this… that basically says: WFUV is here to provide a place of respite from the news cycle. We’re here to entertain, but not put you in a bubble,” he said. “We’re here to entertain you, but also give you a dose of news as well to keep you informed, but just enough that keeps you in the loop.”

Who he is
Director of Technical Operations at WFUV (90.7 FM, wfuv.org).

What he does
Evans basically keeps the radio station running, which includes servicing its transmitters, maintaining studio equipment, acquiring new technologies, and planning for those things that the station will need down the road as WFUV’s presence grows on the Internet and expands its audio and video offerings. He also occasionally fills in for DJs who are sick or unavailable and voices the station’s on-the-air underwriting announcements.

What he likes most about the job
“I love that every day there’s something different. One day I could be working out in the field at a transmitter and another day I could be working at a live venue for concerts, and other days I’m here at the Rose Hill campus. I also enjoy the challenge of putting things together to make them work, and make them work better.”

Background:
Raised in Hartsdale, N.Y., Evans worked at a radio station during his college years and taught radio production to fellow students. He attended Elizabeth Seton College in Yonkers, N.Y., and then Iona College, from which he graduated. He then worked at a few radio stations in Westchester County before coming to WFUV, where he has been for 16 years.

Hobbies/Personal:
His hobbies include music and computers—“a lot of geeky stuff”—but also one pursuit that allows him to leave it all behind: scuba diving. Since 2001 he has dived in the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands. “One of the best things about scuba diving is that you get to go underwater and you don’t take any of this stuff (electronic devices). All you’re thinking about is all the beauty around you—and how much air you have left.” He also enjoys spending time with his partner of six years and her four children, ages 6 to 13. “It’s wonderful. I’ve raised three of them since they were almost babies.”

Why he has stayed at Fordham and WFUV:
“I really enjoy the music that we play and also the teaching value that we provide to students. To me, we’re a unique radio station because of what we do and how we do it. If you hung out here for a week, you’d be amazed at the live music that we record and also how much the students are involved with that. It’s a professionally run radio station and it’s as real as radio gets. And yet we have about 75 students who work right alongside with the professional staff. Big-name artists come in here and you might see a student there at the controls doing all the mixing.

“We have students who grow so much. I’ve always been involved in the education of students, and it’s just something that’s really nice to see—bright young people who are driven to do something that they’re interested in.

“Besides that, I’m really happy to work at Fordham. It’s a wonderful place because of the community and the people. I’ve been lucky; in this business it’s hard to stay in one geographic area.”