In the 1970s WVUD became Dayton's first album oriented rock station, providing an alternative to Top 40-formatted WING. The station leveraged a 50,000-watt transmitter and a 500-foot tower (situated on Stuart Hill, the highest point on the university's campus) allowing the station's signal to reach well into eastern Indiana and northern Kentucky, gaining a wide and extremely loyal listening audience in the tri-state area. While the station's management, programmers and sales staff were all seasoned radio professionals, the air staff consisted solely of University of Dayton students. From the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, WVUD's General Manager was University of Dayton Communication Arts Department Chairman George Biersack. Biersack hired former WVUD staffer and UD grad Chris Cage (Caggiano) from WING as the station's Program Director and Biersack's marching orders for Cage were to "grab the 18- to 34-year-olds" but to "avoid that WING sound". Cage's Music Director was Kevin Carroll, who went on to work for several major record labels. Cage was succeeded by Geoff Vargo, and Carroll was replaced by Dan Covey, who later landed at WING.