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On-Air Gamble
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Business New Haven
4/15/2002
By: Susan Cornell
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UNCASVILLE - The Mohegan Sun now hosts WMOS (104.7 FM), the first radio station housed in a casino.
Designed by Brennan Beer Gorman Monk/Interiors (BBGM), the 350-square-foot broadcast studio incorporates state-of-the-art, flexible equipment that allows disk jockeys to broadcast remotely from any part of the casino complex. The powerful vehicle promotes brand awareness for the Mohegan Sun and entertains listeners from New Haven to Providence with a classic rock format.
In addition to its CD library and display wall, the studio includes a cherry wood disc-jockey console topped by a sheet of floating glass and faced with stainless steel. With limited space available, BBGM worked with a radio consultant to design the deejay console to incorporate specially designed digital audio equipment with much smaller components than are found in the typical radio facility. Says Operations Manager Mark Thompson, ”The station is the first of its nature in the country - or in the world.”
AAA Entertainment, LLC purchased the frequemcy in April 2000 and operated the station under the call letters WBEA (“Beach Radio”), broadcasting hit songs from the 1980s and 1990s. Last July, Mohegan Sun partnered with AAA Entertainment and the call letters were changed to WMOS. Now, the station broadcasts classic hits from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and is known as “The Wolf.”
WMOS (MOhegan Sun) has been on the air since December, broadcasting from a temporary home in Mystic beginning in September. Explains Thompson: “The real studio is located in Long Island, on Montauk Point. The FCC treats this as a remote facility in the Mohegan Sun. We have a control room, a production room and a green room. No corporate offices.”
Crows Thompson: “Our Arbitron rating has gone from a 0.2 to 5.3 in December. We're exceeding expectations.” He adds, “We now also broadcast arena football games and can do basketball.”
To design within 300 square feet has been a real engineering task, Thompson explains. “It's a one-of-a-kind construction. The people at BBGM have designed something aesthetically correct and beautifully functioning. I'm more than pleased with the operation and equipment and the flexibility of the system.”
“The radio station is located in a retail storefront within the casino,” explains Amy Jakubowski, senior associate with BBGM.“ Our challenge was to design a space that was not only appealing visually but highly functional and efficient for the radio station staff.”
The station's visual icon, “The Wolf,” is dramatically rendered in a four-foot diameter glass sign with backlit LED illumination, mounted directly behind the deejay console. Other design elements include black pin lights suspended from a floating dropped-grid ceiling of acoustic tiles.
The fabric-wrapped wall panels offer a slight metallic sheen while concealing a doorway to a private work area. Cherry wood accents link the station's interior with the retail façade, while the graphic, custom-designed three-color carpet contributes energy to the space.
BBGM designs corporate interiors, hotels, retail spaces and restaurants. The firm has completed the state's Department of Public Safety offices; Eagleview Employee Center; and seven retail shops within the casino.
WMOS is a 6,000-watt, 24-hour vehicle for Mohegan Sun promos as well as local advertising from Connecticut and Long Island. The idea is the result of a joint effort between Mohegan Sun and AAA Entertainment, Thompson explains.
AAA Entertainment, LLC is a small- to mid-market radio operator in six markets in the Northeast and Midwest. The company operates 19 radio stations in six markets: Peoria, Ill.; Champaign, Ill.; Bloomington, Ind.; New London; Long Island, N.Y. and Providence, R.I. AAA Entertainment, LLC is a privately held company.
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