WMBR

WMBR

City of license	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Broadcast area	Boston metropolitan area
Slogan	First on your FM Dial
Frequency	88.1 MHz
First air date	April 10, 1961 (as WTBS)
Format	Freeform
ERP	720 watts, Stereo
HAAT	90 meters
Class	A
Facility ID	64683
Callsign meaning	Walker Memorial Basement Radio
Former callsigns	WTBS (1961-1979)
Owner	Technology Broadcasting Corporation
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	WMBR.org

WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds. Both students and community members can apply for positions, and like many college radio stations, WMBR offers diverse programming.

The current General Manager is Zoë Rogers, and the Program Director is Ahmed Hussain.^[1]

The station's board of trustees is the Technology Broadcasting Corporation, whose members are appointed by the President of MIT. The officers are: President - Henry Holtzman; Vice President - Anne Slinn; Clerk - Todd Glickman; Treasurer - Shawn Mamros.

History

This is the third set of call letters for the station.

The first MIT student broadcasting station first signed on as WMIT on November 25, 1946. It had a "carrier current" AM transmitter located in the Ware entryway of Senior House dormitory and broadcast over power lines at 800, and later 640 kilocycles ("kilocycles per second" being the proper period term for the unit of frequency now called the "kilohertz"). Audible only within a few hundred feet of the dorms, under FCC Part 15 regulations it could and did broadcast commercials and was self-supporting.

In the mid-1950s, the possibility of an FM license was explored and it was discovered that the call letters WMIT were (and still are) in use by a North Carolina station serving the Asheville area. WTBS (for "Technology Broadcasting Service") was chosen as the best alternative. New facilities were constructed in the basement of Walker Memorial, including a switching and mixing console designed by A. R. Kent and Barry Blesser, believed to be one of the first all-transistorized consoles ever built. On April 10, 1961, WTBS-FM signed on with 14 watts of effective radiated power at 88.1 Megahertz FM.

WTBS continued to operate the carrier-current system to the dormitories, with an identical program, except for commercial breaks, during which the noncommercial FM station filled time with public-service announcements, and, later, parody "ads" for products such as "Apple Gunkies" and firms such as "Nocturnal Aviation". The all-request "Nite Owl" was a popular weekend feature, and a "Waveform of the Week" was broadcast for the enjoyment of MIT students watching the program on oscilloscopes.

In the late 1970s, Ted Turner, then operator of WTCG in Atlanta, Georgia, wanted to use the call letters "WTBS" (for Turner Broadcasting System). Although call letters are not technically for sale, Turner and WTBS worked out a strategem whereby Turner gave a $25,000 donation to WTBS with an agreement that WTBS would apply for new call letters, with a second donation of $25,000 promised if the FCC were to subsequently grant the letters "WTBS" to Turner. All went as planned, WTBS used the donation for new transmitter equipment, and on November 10, 1979, the station signed on as WMBR with 200 watts of power.

References

1. ^ WMBR 88.1 FM : WMBR - Staff and Management

Further reading

• "The Boston Radio Dial: WMBR(FM)" - information and history of WMBR

External links

• Official WMBR website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WMBR
• Radio-Locator information on WMBR
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WMBR
• Breakfast of Champions searchable database
• Late Risers Club website
• Late Risers Club documentary website

Coordinates: 42°21′44″N 71°05′02″W / 42.36222°N 71.08389°W / 42.36222; -71.08389