WRBC
Encyclopedia
WRBC is the college radio station of Bates College
, located in Lewiston, Maine
and at 91.5 MHz
on the FM
dial. The WRBC studio is located in the basement of 31 Frye Street across from the student coffee house, The Ronj. The WRBC board of directors publish a music journal twice a year called The Monkey Music Magazine.
WRBC is currently ranked by The Princeton Review
as the 18th best college radio station in the United States
and Canada
, making it the top college radio in the New England Small College Athletic Conference
.
station, radio at Bates began with the efforts of rhetoric
professor and debate coach Brooks Quimby. A radio enthusiast, he ran his own amateur station, and wrote the FCC
in 1942 asking to build a 10-watt
radio station on campus. Though his efforts to secure a license were unsuccessful, he did not give up. "Bates On The Air", a weekly program produced by his Radio Class from studios in Chase Hall, debuted in 1945 on WCOU in Lewiston
. This program was also occasionally carried on stations in Portland and Augusta, and continued into the mid 1950s.
department volunteered to build the transmitting equipment for a carrier current
AM station. That fall an organizational meeting drew 150 people. The station, calling itself WVBC
(Voice of Bates College), signed on at 9:00 p.m. on Friday evening, November 2, 1951. Broadcasting from the Chase Hall studios, it initially featured a two-hour schedule of programming six nights a week. The signal could be heard at 640 kHz AM in all campus buildings, except the infirmary
.
Despite its beginning, technical problems plagued the station in the 1950s. Because of these problems Bates College again applied to the FCC for a 10-watt station on the then relatively new FM band. The staff suggested several possible call signs for the new station to the FCC including WVBC, WBCR, WRBC, WVOB, and WRJR (after the first initials of staff members Ron Cook, Joan Williams Lepper, Ray Hendess, and Robert Kalisher). The FCC decided on the call letters WRJR. The new station took to the public airwaves at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 26, 1958, at 91.5 FM, from purpose-built studios in the basement of Pettigrew Hall.
Despite its technical superiority, FM radio had yet to come into mass acceptance. Since so few people owned FM-capable radios in 1958, FM-to-AM converters were initially installed at strategic locations around the Bates College campus to rebroadcast the signal at 800 AM. However, these converters soon either broke down, or were shut down due to issues with off-campus interference. As a result, WRJR found itself broadcasting to slim audiences, both on campus and off.
In 1982, WRBC increased its power output from 10 watts to the present 120 watts. This increased the station's listening area greatly. Previously the station could only be heard on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods of Lewiston. Although previously licensed to transmit at up to 10 watts, a measurement made in 1974 recorded only 3 watts of actual output from the antenna. After the upgrade the station could now be picked up for about a 10-15 mile radius around the Bates campus. The station commenced 24-hour operation in the early 1980's. Students would work 3 hour shifts, and it was no problem finding people willing to do 3-6 am during the week. WRBC also featured news from the ABC radio network during this period, through an agreement with local station WLAM.
/Auburn
residents. As Summer 1992 approached General Manager Denis Howard and his fellow staff members announced an open invitation to residents of the greater Lewiston / Auburn area to attend the weekly station meetings. This was done to determine interest in (and the potential of) broadcasting throughout the summer months after most Bates students had returned home. This program increased the station's listenership in the twin cities significantly. Furthermore, many if not most WRBC genre directors are members of the L/A community and not Bates
students.
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
, located in Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
and at 91.5 MHz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
on the FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
dial. The WRBC studio is located in the basement of 31 Frye Street across from the student coffee house, The Ronj. The WRBC board of directors publish a music journal twice a year called The Monkey Music Magazine.
WRBC is currently ranked by The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
as the 18th best college radio station in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, making it the top college radio in the New England Small College Athletic Conference
New England Small College Athletic Conference
The New England Small College Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division III athletic conference, consisting of eleven highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities located in New England and New York...
.
History
Originally started as an AMAM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
station, radio at Bates began with the efforts of rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
professor and debate coach Brooks Quimby. A radio enthusiast, he ran his own amateur station, and wrote the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
in 1942 asking to build a 10-watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
radio station on campus. Though his efforts to secure a license were unsuccessful, he did not give up. "Bates On The Air", a weekly program produced by his Radio Class from studios in Chase Hall, debuted in 1945 on WCOU in Lewiston
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
. This program was also occasionally carried on stations in Portland and Augusta, and continued into the mid 1950s.
1950s
In the spring of 1951, interest in a campus radio station resurfaced among the student body. A group of students met to organize and plan for the construction. A professor in the PhysicsPhysics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
department volunteered to build the transmitting equipment for a carrier current
Carrier current
Carrier current is a method of low power AM radio transmission that uses the AC electrical system of a building to propagate a medium frequency, AM signal to a relatively small area, such as a building or a group of buildings...
AM station. That fall an organizational meeting drew 150 people. The station, calling itself WVBC
WVBC
WVBC is a radio station broadcasting a college radio format. Licensed to Bethany, West Virginia, USA. The station is owned by Bethany College....
(Voice of Bates College), signed on at 9:00 p.m. on Friday evening, November 2, 1951. Broadcasting from the Chase Hall studios, it initially featured a two-hour schedule of programming six nights a week. The signal could be heard at 640 kHz AM in all campus buildings, except the infirmary
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
.
Despite its beginning, technical problems plagued the station in the 1950s. Because of these problems Bates College again applied to the FCC for a 10-watt station on the then relatively new FM band. The staff suggested several possible call signs for the new station to the FCC including WVBC, WBCR, WRBC, WVOB, and WRJR (after the first initials of staff members Ron Cook, Joan Williams Lepper, Ray Hendess, and Robert Kalisher). The FCC decided on the call letters WRJR. The new station took to the public airwaves at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 26, 1958, at 91.5 FM, from purpose-built studios in the basement of Pettigrew Hall.
Despite its technical superiority, FM radio had yet to come into mass acceptance. Since so few people owned FM-capable radios in 1958, FM-to-AM converters were initially installed at strategic locations around the Bates College campus to rebroadcast the signal at 800 AM. However, these converters soon either broke down, or were shut down due to issues with off-campus interference. As a result, WRJR found itself broadcasting to slim audiences, both on campus and off.
1970s and 1980s
In the early 1970s, WRJR moved from its purpose-built studio in the basement of Pettigrew to its present quarters in the basement of The Office of Career Services at 31 Frye Street. The new basement location offered multiple studios which have since converted to office space. The station's transmitting antenna was also moved to its present location behind its current studios. Though the call letters WRJR had been with the station for many years, they were not immediately interpretable as being related to Bates College. Station managers, including Jonathan Hall - now a television news anchor in Boston - had tried for a number of combinations, including WBCR (Bates College Radio) and WVBC (Voice of Bates College). Fortunately for the College, in the late 1970's, an all-news AM station in Jackson, Mississippi, with the call letters WRBC. went silent. Seizing the opportunity, the station applied to the FCC for a new call sign, and on April 5, 1981 (the 126th anniversary of Bates' founding), the small college station formally became known as WRBC ("Radio Bates College").In 1982, WRBC increased its power output from 10 watts to the present 120 watts. This increased the station's listening area greatly. Previously the station could only be heard on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods of Lewiston. Although previously licensed to transmit at up to 10 watts, a measurement made in 1974 recorded only 3 watts of actual output from the antenna. After the upgrade the station could now be picked up for about a 10-15 mile radius around the Bates campus. The station commenced 24-hour operation in the early 1980's. Students would work 3 hour shifts, and it was no problem finding people willing to do 3-6 am during the week. WRBC also featured news from the ABC radio network during this period, through an agreement with local station WLAM.
1990s and present day
In 1990, General Manager Sheri Pizzi and Program Director George Reese landed funding to renovate the station's on-air and production studies and convert the entire station from LP to CD. They began a program to reach out to the local community that included shows broadcast by LewistonLewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
/Auburn
Auburn, Maine
Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 23,055 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan...
residents. As Summer 1992 approached General Manager Denis Howard and his fellow staff members announced an open invitation to residents of the greater Lewiston / Auburn area to attend the weekly station meetings. This was done to determine interest in (and the potential of) broadcasting throughout the summer months after most Bates students had returned home. This program increased the station's listenership in the twin cities significantly. Furthermore, many if not most WRBC genre directors are members of the L/A community and not Bates
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
students.