WHIP, Temple's student-run radio station, is about to step into the national spotlight.

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment has announced that WHIP will be one of 14 college radio stations in the nation selected to pilot a new college radio category on iHeartRadio, the media giant's free, industry-leading digital radio service. The service comes as a free download for users of PCs, smartphones, tablets and connected car stereos, and includes iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices. WHIP, the only college station in the region among the 14 selected, is expected to make its iHeartRadio debut in late February.

For WHIP, which went digital in 2007 when it moved into a new studio in the TECH Center, being chosen by iHeartRadio represents an unprecedented leap forward in the station's visibility and reach. WHIP currently averages fewer than 200 unique visitors per week. According to Clear Channel, iHeartRadio's mobile app has been downloaded 47 million times and logs 75 million hours of digital listening a month. It's a big change for a station that less than a decade ago broadcast on an FM signal so weak that it couldn't be heard outside of Temple's Student Center, WHIP's former home.

To the approximately 75 students who participate in WHIP, being part of the iHeartRadio service "adds a sense of legitimacy," said Robert Lawton Jr., WHIP's general manager and a senior marketing major in the Fox School of Business.

"The biggest thing is that it makes it a lot easier to discover and listen to our station," Lawton said, "and when we approach local businesses about sales and advertising, they'll feel more comfortable going on the air and doing business with us."

While WHIP expands its audience, Clear Channel also gets something in the deal — greater diversity in programming and a breeding ground for the industry's future talent, from new artists to on-air hosts.

"We not only want to be everywhere listeners are but also provide as much choice and diversity as possible," Clear Channel president and CEO John Hogan told Rolling Stone. "By bringing college radio to [iHeartRadio], we have the chance to offer fans something new and different, including access to unique music, talent and programming that they can't hear anywhere else. By assisting with artist and album discovery, letting graduates reconnect with their alma mater, and creating a direct pipeline to tomorrow's most promising acts and on-air personalities, it creates a win for everyone involved."

WHIP — which stands for "we have infinite potential" — debuted a new and diverse "block programming" format this semester. The station's four main blocks of programming are news and early morning entertainment from 6 a.m. to noon, sports talk (currently the station's most popular block) from noon to 4 p.m., alternative rock from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and urban top 40 from 8 p.m. to midnight. WHIP also recently launched live play-by-play broadcasts of most men's basketball and football home games.

According to Lawton, the station requires all shows to seek out and play local artists, including Temple artists.

"We recognize that there's a lack of variety on the air, especially locally," he said. "But we do want structure. We want this to be a learning environment."

Lawton noted that WHIP does follow Federal Communications Commission rules, despite the fact that its Internet-only distribution does not require the station to do so.

"These students work so hard behind the scenes to keep the station going," said John Di Carlo, the station's adviser andTemple's student media program director. "I'm proud of their effort, leadership, creativity and professionalism. They've earned a bigger audience."