Stations document storied history of Brown radio
Oliver Bowers
Issue date: 1/29/07 Section: Campus News
In its 70-year history, student radio at Brown has had a number of firsts. In 1936, George Abraham '40 and David Borst '40 established the first college radio station in the country, the Brown Network, in part by stringing copper wires across campus. Then during World War II, at a time when few women worked in radio, female students filled on-air positions vacated by male students serving in combat. In the 1970s WBRU-FM became one of the first stations to broadcast rhythm and blues and soul music during the weekend program "360? Black Experience in Sound," according to Jason Sigal '07, general manager of Brown Student Radio.
"It was really ahead of its time," Sigal said of radio on campus.
These stories and others will be captured in a documentary that charts the history of Brown student radio. The 60-minute documentary, which is still in production and scheduled to air on BSR in February, has been compiled by a group of students involved in BSR and WBRU.
Sigal is one of documentary's three producers, working under executive producer Paul McCarthy '01.5, a BSR alum who has worked as a producer at WRNI, a local NPR station, Sigal said. McCarthy began work on the documentary two years ago, but Sigal and Rita Cidre '07, former general manager of WBRU, later signed on to help.
The documentary will tell the story of a student radio station that began in 1936 and split into two entities in 1966, when a part of WBRU broke off from the exclusively AM station to begin FM broadcasting. The FM station grew in popularity and became what is now WBRU. The AM channel recovered from a steady decline in popularity and became BSR when it switched to FM in 1997, according to the station's Web site.
The documentary will include excerpts of recorded interviews with listeners and Brown radio alums, Sigal said.
In addition to airing on BSR, the documentary will be available as a podcast on the BSR Web site and CDs of the program will be distributed to Providence libraries, Sigal said.
"It was really ahead of its time," Sigal said of radio on campus.
These stories and others will be captured in a documentary that charts the history of Brown student radio. The 60-minute documentary, which is still in production and scheduled to air on BSR in February, has been compiled by a group of students involved in BSR and WBRU.
Sigal is one of documentary's three producers, working under executive producer Paul McCarthy '01.5, a BSR alum who has worked as a producer at WRNI, a local NPR station, Sigal said. McCarthy began work on the documentary two years ago, but Sigal and Rita Cidre '07, former general manager of WBRU, later signed on to help.
The documentary will tell the story of a student radio station that began in 1936 and split into two entities in 1966, when a part of WBRU broke off from the exclusively AM station to begin FM broadcasting. The FM station grew in popularity and became what is now WBRU. The AM channel recovered from a steady decline in popularity and became BSR when it switched to FM in 1997, according to the station's Web site.
The documentary will include excerpts of recorded interviews with listeners and Brown radio alums, Sigal said.
In addition to airing on BSR, the documentary will be available as a podcast on the BSR Web site and CDs of the program will be distributed to Providence libraries, Sigal said.