In the age of wi-fi and iPhone, plain old radio seems such a standard form of communication that we take it for granted. Surprisingly, until recently, this was not the case at UW-Stout.

 According to transfer student Matt Kaskavitch, radio “was dormant here at Stout for three or four years.” The information communication technologies transfer student had three years of radio experience before arriving at the broadcast-less campus.

 Last winter, when fellow IT major Ian Itow asked Kaskavitch if he’d like to start an internet-streamed radio station, Kaskavitch was all ears. Kaskavitch explains that they decided to expand the radio idea into “media as a whole,” at the suggestion of Phil Lyons, the new assistant vice chancellor for student life services. Lyons had worked at Saint Louis University, exploring “media convergence ... which is the idea that video, podcasts, news, music, blogs, calendars, activities are all beginning to converge ... to combine the media experience with a social community.” Lyons recognized talent in Itow and Kaskavitch, and felt SLU’s community “would be worth trying to recreate at Stout.”

 Stout Media became the name of the venture, and its mission statement, “to enrich the lives of the student body by establishing a well connected cross-campus and off campus media outlet for all interested in University of Wisconsin Stout culture and life.”

 “It’s still kind of a lot of scattered things,” says Kaskavitch, but currently Stout Media includes a blog, podcasts, videos and radio.

 In September, the debut of StoutCAST in UW-Stout’s Price Commons finally achieved the rebirth of radio at Stout. Kaskavitch serves as the main broadcaster and DJ for music radio station, which plays a variety of genres 24/7.

    The long haul to get there began in early spring 2008. Stout Media received recognition and funding from the Stout Student Association, and began networking. The founders became President Itow and Vice President Kaskavitch. According to Kaskavitch, “The startup work that we had to go through the first six months was pretty much just me and Ian.”

 Though the executives work 35-plus hours per week, and the team has expanded, they seek still more Stout student contributors. Stout Media strives to be a link between organizations; “Our publications official works with other student orgs to develop their stuff,” Kaskavitch said.

 Nearly a year of toil is now accessible to UW-Stout students. For the moment, “all of our applications are running through Facebook,” explains Itow. The Blue Devil Blog launched last June, bearing all manner of UW-Stout news, supplemented by photos and videos.

 Stout Media’s stand-alone webpage, predicted to debut in three to five months, will be a social network similar to Facebook, but dedicated solely to the UW-Stout community. Kaskavitch hopes the webpage can expand its utility, “to bridge the gap between current alumni working in the field and current students, allow them to have a meeting place, and share information, and find internships.”

 “We’re getting it up to speed and we’re turning it into a virtual community in which we’ll make a ginormous impact on the campus,” explains Itow. “It’s looking pretty sweet, actually.”

    Check out Stout Media at www.uwstoutmedia.com, or search Stout StudentMedia on Facebook.com.