Even though Student Radio Initiative (SRI) was off the air during winter break, the tunes can now be played without any difficulties.

During the break, the computer’s hard drive that runs the music library crashed.

Junior and previous general manager of SRI Matt Flaten said the station had recently purchased the hard drive. Flaten said that he thought the hard drive simply malfunctioned. SRI used the warranty on the broken hard drive to get a new one, but was not able to broadcast fully during that period.

“This took some time,” Flaten said. “In the meantime, we weren’t able to broadcast any songs.”

The problem is now fixed and everything is back to normal, he said.

In 1997, SRI was formed by Student Senate as a means to try other options to oppose the format change of WUEC.

Flaten took the helm as general manager for the fall semester and winter break of this year, but had to step down because he is running for Student Senate vice-president.

“There is a conflict of interest being the general manager of an organization that receives money from the Senate and being the second in command of Senate,” Flaten said. SRI is in the process of electing a new general manager, he said.

SRI is accepting applications for DJs and planing the future of the station.

One of the goals of SRI is to expand to AM radio using a carrier wave system. This would be made possible by using the wiring inside buildings to broadcast over AM radio waves.

SRI is researching the topic and hope to apply for special allocation from the Senate by the end of the semester, Flatten said.

“The main obstacle is the research aspect of it,” he said. “We need to know this project inside and out so we can show exactly how the system would work and why it would benefit students.”

SRI had a booth in Davies Center earlier in the semester where general literature, membership applications and stickers were given to those interested. T-shirts were also available for purchase.

The most recent activity SRI participated in was providing music for the Blugold Organizations Bash last Thursday.

The next event for SRI is their spring semester compact disc sale, which will be held March 18-22. Students can bring old CDs to the SRI desk in the organizational complex in 132 Davies on March 18 and 19. The CDs will be sold March 20-22 by SRI in Davies Center across from the Information Desk. CDs will cost $2. Half of that amount will go to the student and the other goes to SRI.

“This sale is also the week before spring break, so hopefully students will want to get some extra cash for their trips to wherever,” Flaten said.

Even though the station is only broadcast on the internet it has a good following with students.

“I think it’s (SRI) great. It rocks,” freshman Brian Rooney said. “I feel it’s a marvel of modern science.”