Wilder Hall is in the midst of a five-year renovation process which is now slated to conclude in summer 2026. The renovations, which were originally planned to be completed this semester, will modernize the building to fit safety codes and the specific needs of student organizations that are situated there. But some student organizations that use the space say they have encountered extended difficulties in communication with the College and considerable inadequacies in their temporary locations.
The WOBC-FM station was first relocated from the space it had occupied for 40 years in fall 2022 to install a necessary new fire staircase and other fire suppression components. The temporary WOBC space, Wilder 402, is a single room on the fourth floor of the building. The finished renovations to the building are slated to include an office and multiple booths and recording spaces, but the time in the intermediary space has marked a severe struggle for the organization, according to WOBC Board members.
WOBC Station Manager and College fourth-year Taso Mullen and WOBC Music Director and College third-year Ilan Kahanov said that the student-run station has been caught between the Office of Student Involvement, Facilities Operations, the contractors executing the renovations, and the intricate setup of the Oberlin organization that technically holds the station’s broadcasting license.
Mullen and Kahanov reported that, while all entities appear to be trying their best, continuous failures in communication between these offices have put severe pressure on the organization, as participation and community within the organization have decreased because of their continued lack of a complete and meaningful space.
“Once the renovations began, we would receive very little communication from the College at all about the timeline or what [the new station] would look like as things were moved around and changed,” Mullen said. “It was really difficult because [the WOBC Board] constantly gets asked about when we’re going to be in our new space, when we can return to that reach that we had … and we still don’t know.”
WOBC’s contracted engineer Tracey Liston and its previous faculty advisor, Chair of TIMARA and Professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts Tom Lopez, OC ’89, repeatedly raised concerns about the safety of the temporary space for WOBC’s expensive broadcast equipment, which is highly vulnerable to lightning and other electrical concerns.
In an email from last March shared with the Review, Liston wrote that the current electrical infrastructure running to WOBC in Wilder 402 was too volatile to justify purchasing new broadcasting equipment for the current temporary setup, as the new materials would be at severe risk. Lopez echoed that statement.
“I think it would be a waste of money to invest in expensive new equipment for the temporary studio given the lack of appropriate grounding,” Lopez wrote.
These technical failures, according to Liston, do not only prohibit the purchase of new equipment, but put current materials, which must follow tight standards to align with legal requirements for broadcasting required to keep WOBC on air, at risk.
The Outings Club, which once had its office and gear rental space on the third floor of Wilder, has also had their materials put at risk.
“With the renovations, that office was closed and we were given an attic space, which was really unideal,” College fourth-year and Outings Club officer Ariana Daney said. “It’s basically a metal cage in the attic, where there are mice. … You see the remnants everywhere, the ventilation is horrible. … We had to bin up everything, which wasn’t good for our gear, and the space wasn’t big enough.”
Daney said the Outings Club was unable to operate their gear rental program, a central function of the club, while they were in the temporary attic space. For the Outings Club, struggles in communication also defined the period of interrupted operations.
“The main issue throughout was any time we needed anything — because this was not a functional space for us … — we had to reach out like six times,” Daney said. “The school didn’t help us get a new space or anything like that. We kept asking about a different space … and toured a space in the basement of Kahn [Hall], but nothing happened with that for weeks, then we asked again and again. No one knew who we could communicate with, and no one was offering us a space that worked.”
Finally, the Outings Club was offered a new space in the basement of Burton Hall. They moved their materials to the new space and have been fairly satisfied since.
“It’s great because we have a space where there’s a light, and we have our shelves, and we can get things without having to crouch in the mouse poop to find a box to open it up. … We’re in the process of trying to make it work,” Daney said.
For the students at WOBC, the end does not feel in sight. The updated date to finish the renovations and open the new station — summer 2026 — is a recent development from a timeline set to conclude this semester, spring 2025.
Dean of Students Thom Julian, who worked closely with both WOBC and the Outings Club on temporary space arrangements, extended sympathy to the student organizations and stressed that student participation in the renovation process has been integral.
“As with any complex and multi-phase renovation, several factors may delay work, such as supply chains, contracts, and budget,” Julian said in a written email to the Review. “Before launching the renovation, several focus groups were held with student leaders, and we received unanimous positive feedback about the project. We recognize that renovation timelines are not always ideal, and we will continue to work with our community to make sure that the critical work of student organizations can continue uninterrupted.”
For WOBC student participants like Mullen, who has been a part of the organization since her first year and recalls good vibes and warm memories from the old WOBC space, the new renovations are promising, but the sense of lost time and meaningful place is distinct.
“[The lack of space] has definitely decreased involvement,” Mullen said. “When we used to have a space, when there was a place to go, people would hang out there even if it wasn’t the time for their show or meeting for a staff meeting. It was just a nice place to go and hang out, and people enjoyed looking through the music.”
She recalled a sticker-covered booth window that stood in the station for WOBC’s first 40 years, and Kahanov mentioned “about 20,000 plastic circles,” WOBC’s extensive collection of CDs and vinyl, including special radio cuts and vintage promotional material. For most of the renovations, the window and physical media collection — housed in 450 movers boxes — sat in a storage unit. They were recently delivered back to campus, but remain largely inaccessible to the WOBC community
