The service, called Zipwhip, utilizes cloud technologies to integrate messaging into existing landlines.
When students text Impact’s phone number, Zipwhip transfers the message to the Internet, where the station can view it on computers and mobile devices.

The service would remove the need for listeners to call the station, although that still is an option.
Zipwhip CEO John Lauer said radio stations are perfect candidates for his company’s service because they have a need for new technologies to interact with listeners.

“Our cell phones have trained us to love and adore texting,” Lauer said. “Texting is just such a broad communication medium now.”

Vibe host and station manager Sam Riddle said the station hasn’t decided whether to fully implement the service for the rest of Impact’s schedule, but felt the technology would help the station adapt to a world of rapidly evolving technologies.

“We thought it’d be a good way to contact people who may not want to call in their request … but still want to give us a request very easily,” Riddle said. “It really was a way for us to better reach MSU students and kind of innovate.”

English and women’s and gender studies senior Kelsey Weyhing listens to Impact in her car and said the ability to text the station would encourage her to interact with the station.

“I think utilizing the cell phones, I think anything on social media is really important,” Weyhing said.