The original radio station WLHA began in 1952 but went off the air in 1993.  It restarted again as WSUM in 1997 when a group of volunteers submitted a budget to the UW–Madison administration. In 2001, the Federal Communications Commission agreed to a radio tower to be built in the town of Montrose in southern Dane County. The proposal was met with contention from local citizens of Montrose, but after a lengthy legal battle, the tower was constructed and terrestrial broadcasting of WSUM began on February 22, 2002.