As summer comes, students leave and WGUR 88.9 FM “The EDGE” fades to autoplay without the voices of the student volunteers who keep it vibrant.

But this summer, WGUR will sign off with the hopes that they will sign on next year larger than ever.

An application WGUR filed with the Federal Communications Commission could net the student-run voice of Georgia College & State University an increased output and signal area that would project The EDGE out of downtown Milledgeville and onto stereos of listeners across the area.

The currently 37-watt station started out as a 10 watt station with the call letters WXGC on Sept. 22, 1975, WGUR General Manager Korey Sutton said.

“You can see we haven’t gotten much more wattage in the 30 years since,” he said.

The possible increase would boost the station’s signal strength to 5,000 watts, an increase that could push their listenership throughout Middle Georgia. But that’s just on old-fashioned radio receivers. By streaming their broadcasts over the Internet, WGUR has reached listeners as far away as Germany.

“Our first market is the college, but now we can tap into the outside community,” Sutton said. “Having people, Europe, listening overseas is something no [other organization] on campus can say. We are growing in leaps and bounds.”

WGUR benefits from the energy of the students who volunteer time to fill open slots Monday through Friday. About 63 students volunteered to fill the station’s programming hours this last semester. Students do all the programming from straight news format programming to variety shows and, of course, music.

“Usually students bring in their own music,” WGUR Faculty Adviser Angela Criscoe said. “The campus holds a kind of blanket license through BMI and ASCAP that allows the station to play just about everything.”

By volunteering with the university’s student-run radio station, GCSU students get an experience they probably wouldn’t be able to have through classwork or interning with a commercial station.

“Volunteers get the experience to come in and get their feet wet in a fun environment,” Sutton said. “But we all take it seriously; there are rules to live by.”

Sutton produces a show called “Almost Cancelled,” which features a variety of humorous sketches. The show allows Sutton to write his own material and refine characters he has created specifically for the show. He said the show has gained a loyal following of listeners who give him feedback about what they did and didn’t like. Sutton said his Dad is one of his loyal listeners.

But the family members of the student disc jockeys aren’t the only ones listening — the university community has been tuning in as well.

The Student Activities Budget Committee gave the WGUR a one-time award of money to buy equipment for a new production studio. Criscoe said it is one more step toward producing the quality programming GCSU deserves.