The student-run radio station at UW-Madison is providing a temporary home for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism which is cleaning up from office flooding.
Eight WCIJ staff members are working from the offices of WSUM while water damage from a pipe that burst Feb. 2 or 3 in Vilas Communication Hall is repaired. It is unknown when the Center can return to Vilas Hall.
WSUM is located on the fourth floor of the Student Activities Center across East Campus Mall from Vilas Hall. The WCIJ phone number remains the same — 608-262-3642 — but the phone itself was destroyed, so callers will hear a greeting and should leave a message until full service is restored.
“We want to thank General Manager Dave Black and his entire crew for being so accommodating,” said Andy Hall, the Center’s executive director. “They really threw us a lifeline after our offices were flooded.”
WSUM Engineer Laura Gutknecht and News Director Will Kenneally have been especially helpful with the relocation.
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication on the fifth floor of Vilas Hall, where the Center has been based since it opened a decade ago, also was dislocated. The incident heavily damaged the first, fifth, and sixth floors of Vilas Hall.
Hall said that the Center has shipped a stack of waterlogged notes to a Texas facility for restoration. While the Center’s critical files and equipment are intact, it is working with its insurance carrier to determine the value of ruined electronic devices and equipment.
“It feels exhilarating to see our staff persevere throughout this challenge to continue producing strong investigative reporting and training the next generation of investigative journalists, ” Hall said. “They are unstoppable.”
WCIJ is a member of the WBA and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association is a supporter of the Center.
