WKCR

WKCR-FM
Broadcast area	New York, New York
Branding	WKCR 89.9
Frequency	89.9 (MHz)
Format	Independent/College Radio
ERP	630 watts
HAAT	433 meters
Class	B1
Callsign meaning	W King's Crown Radio
Owner	Columbia University
Website	columbia.edu/cu/wkcr

WKCR is a college radio station in New York City. The station's signal is located at 89.9 FM and is operated by Columbia University. WKCR also broadcasts on the internet by way of an MP3 stream.

History

What is now known as WKCR-FM originated in the early part of the twentieth century as the Columbia University Radio Club (CURC). An exact date of origin is not known, but documentation of the CURC as an on-going organization exists as early as 1936. The club was not a radio station as we know it, but rather an organization concerned with the technology of radio communications. The group shared a prestigious association with Major Edwin Armstrong (E '13), the man who invented the FM broadcast technique. This association accounts for the marginally accurate phrase, "The Original FM" that one will often hear alongside the WKCR call letters.

In 1939, Major Armstrong turned his attentions towards commercial broadcasting. This spurred the CURC to shift from a club concerned with radio technology to a de facto radio station that provided broadcasts to the campus. It was in these early days of radio that the FCC granted the CURC its license - the precise date of which is October 10, 1941. Following World War II, the FCC began codifying the formalities of being a radio station, and it was at this time that the call letters, WKCR (King's Crown Radio), were adopted. Shortly thereafter, WKCR formally embraced the FM broadcast convention.

For the next ten to twenty years, WKCR-FM functioned as an intellectual radio station. Programming was largely Columbia classroom events, classical music, and broadcasts from the United Nations. After the student uprising of 1968, this format changed. The station shifted its emphasis from being an illustration of the university to presenting non-commercially viable programming to the New York metropolitan area. Jazz provides the core of this broadcast approach, which is neatly summarized in the slogan, "The Alternative". The descriptions of individual departments contain information about WKCR's concept of alternative programming.

In the late 70s, under the direction of Tim Page, the station presented the radio premieres of several leading minimalist compositions, including Philip Glass's "Einstein on the Beach" and Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians." It was the first station in the country to pay attention to this important and eventually very popular form of avant-garde music. Page also produced a benefit concert for the station at Carnegie Hall, with appearances by Reich, Glass, John Cale and David Bowie, among many others.

Philosophy

WKCR maintains its commitment to alternative programming to this day. In today's parlance, this means that at WKCR, the recorded legacy of the arts is preserved, optimized, and shared for free.

Broadcasting is about providing the public access to all types of information. Nonetheless, in the past decade, commercial broadcasting has diminished the presentation of many forms of art. Heads of state, entire countries, intellectuals, and important personages of all ranks have deemed these art forms valuable, yet due to commercial broadcasting's lack of support for artistic programing, few channels exist for its promotion and dissemination. It is both WKCR's triumph and tragedy to be the only organization putting these art forms on the air in the metropolitan area.

WKCR has received recognition and accolades from the press, members of the artistic community, and thousands of listeners in the New York area and around the world for its efforts on behalf of music and the arts. Surely, this large outpouring of support has been a major factor in the long-standing preservation of its unique tradition. WKCR seeks both to educate and entertain, and to pass this tradition on to each incoming student body at Columbia University.

Guests, Alumni & Listeners

A list of WKCR's notable guests, alumni, and listeners can be found at WKCR Guests, Alumni & Notable Listeners.

Interesting Facts

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• WKCR made its official debut on February 24, 1941
• WKCR DJs have access to over 80,000 recordings including exclusive tapes and new releases
• Current WKCR DJs Phil Schaap & Ben Young have been nominated for 11 Grammy awards (Phil has won 8)
• The Smithsonian Institute recognizes Phil Schaap, who has been a WKCR DJ since 1970, as the creator of the largest collection of interviews with jazz artists
• WKCR was the first radio station in the U.S. to broadcast the signal from Sputnik
• WKCR’s coverage of the 1968 demonstrations at Columbia University received an award from the Writers Guild of America East
• WKCR broadcasts from Times Square to a potential 15 million listeners
• WKCR broke news of the Allied invasion of Sicily two minutes before the networks (7/9/43)
• WKCR has the longest-running salsa show in New York (since 1971)
• WKCR’s 1973 Charlie Parker festival catalyzed record companies to reissue Parker’s music
• The Bach Festival in December is one of the most popular annual events on New York radio
• The Stretch & Bobbito Show on WKCR (now Squeeze Radio) was voted the “best hip-hop show of all time” by Source Magazine
• WKCR has been the home of Columbia athletics since the 1940s
• WKCR Sports broadcast Columbia's only Ivy League Championship in basketball (1968)
• When playing at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium in the video game, NCAA Football 2005, a poster advertising WKCR can be seen in the background.

External links

• WKCR Homepage
• WKCR Constitution
• WKCR "Blue Book"
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WKCR
• Radio Locator information on WKCR
• WKCR's page on StylusCity

See also: Media of New York City

Donate to Wikimedia