capital district branding wruc 89.7 fm the first station in the nation frequency 89.7 mhz first air date 1975 format college radio erp 100 watts haat 27 meters class a callsign meaning wireless radio of union college owner union college website http wruc.union.edu wruc 89.7 mhz is an independent educational college radio station owned and operated by union college in schenectady new york . the station transmits with an effective radiated power of 100 watts providing coverage over an approximate 15 mile 25 kilometer radius . wruc also streams its programming on internet radio at wruc.union.edu . the station s offices and studios are located in the reamer campus center on the union college campus . wruc s slogan is the first station in the nation . the station traces its history back to october 14 1920 the date an amateur station located at union college first began making regular broadcasts . however wruc s priority claim is not widely accepted . there are continuity issues because after the demise of union s broadcasting station wrl in 1924 the college did not resume any broadcasting activities until 1941 . in addition there are several stations that claim even longer histories . contents 1 programming 1.1 union college radio alumni 2 earlier union college radio activities 2.1 amateur station 2add 1920 2.2 experimental station 2xq 1921 2.3 broadcasting station wrl 1922 1924 2.4 carrier current station ubs ucrs wruc beginning 1941 3 priority status 4 references 5 external links programming edit wruc is entirely run by the students of union college and only operates regularly when the college is in session . the station offers listeners an eclectic mix of alternative programming union sports and news . the current wruc fm station was first licensed in 1975 as a 10 watt station on 90.9 fm with the call letters standing for radio union college the same as the identifier used for a long running campus wide carrier current station . in 1983 the transmitting frequency was changed to 89.7 and the power increased to 100 watts . union college radio alumni edit dick ferguson class of 1967 the 2002 national association of broadcasters national radio award winner . ferguson retired as the executive vice president of cox radio in 2006 . 1 2 richard roth class of 1970 a former correspondent for cbs news and nbc news 3 scott wykoff class of 1985 now a reporter for baltimore radio station wbal am 4 earlier union college radio activities edit announcement of weekly programs over amateur station 2add 1920 5 although wruc as an fm station only dates back to 1975 union college has a long history of experimental radio work and pioneer broadcasting much of which was conducted by students . in the fall of 1915 a technical and training school station license was issued to walter l. upson union college with the call sign 2yu 6 which was operated in conjunction with a newly formed radio club . in the summer of 1916 dr. e. j. berg and dr. alex stevenson installed a spark gap transmitter at the college which could only transmit the dots and dashes of morse code . by late 1916 experiments were also being conducted using the newly developed vacuum tube transmitters which were capable of making audio transmissions . included as part of this work was a series of test radio concerts . however upon the entrance of the united states into world war one effective april 7 1917 the government ordered all civilian radio stations including 2yu shut down for the duration of the conflict . 7 amateur station 2add 1920 edit after the war in the fall of 1919 civilian radio licenses began to be issued again including a standard amateur station authorization with the call sign 2add granted to wendell king at the union college electrical laboratory . 8 the radio club was reformed and resumed activities which included a more organized series of entertainment broadcasts intented to be heard by the local community . the first of these broadcasts was made on october 14 1920 and a letter dated october 22 1920 that appeared in the december 1920 issue of the amateur radio magazine qst announced that the college would be broadcasting weekly radio concerts every thursday evening from 8 00 to 8 30 and from 9 00 to 9 30 eastern standard time on 350 meters 857 khz signing 2add . 5 experimental station 2xq 1921 edit an experimental license 2xq had been issued to union college in late 1919 9 and the broadcasts were soon switched to using this authorization . in the summer of 1921 an article featuring the station noted that not only were the thursday night concerts continuing but the station had added sunday night sermons prepared by union college president c. a. richmond . the same article also reported that the station equipped with the most modern of apparatus had been heard as far away as 1 200 miles 1 900 kilometers . 10 the radio club designed a portable radio for receiving 2xq transmissions and as a publicity stunt mounted it on a baby carriage that was wheeled around town to show off its capabilities . the invention was promoted as a great pacifier for a younger generation and received extensive national publicity . 11 union college experimental station 2xq 1921 2xq transmission room 10 portable receiver installed in a baby carriage 11 broadcasting station wrl 1922 1924 edit initially there were no specific standards restricting which radio stations could conduct a broadcasting service so it was permissible for stations holding an amateur or experimental license to make entertainment broadcasts . however effective december 1 1921 the u.s. department of commerce which regulated radio at this time formally established regulations defining a broadcasting station setting aside two wavelengths 360 meters 833 khz for entertainment and 485 meters 619 khz for official weather and other government reports and requiring that broadcasting stations had to hold a limited commercial license . 12 on march 2 1922 union college was issued its first broadcasting license with the randomly assigned call letters of wrl authorizing use of the 360 meter entertainment wavelength . 13 an expanded series of broadcasts followed including vesper services in april and a series of special transmissions during the college s 126th commencement exercises in june . 14 however the initial enthusiasm for broadcasting soon waned and the radio club s focus returned to experimental work including two way shortwave communication across the atlantic using its experimental station 2xq . on november 11 1922 wrl was used to broadcast a play by play recounting of the union hamilton football game . but a report at the time noted that union has not been active in popular broadcasting this season the students devoting their efforts to transoceanic tests . 15 wrl s last license was allowed to expire on january 25 1923 and the station was formally deleted from the government list of active stations on december 18 1924 . 7 carrier current station ubs ucrs wruc beginning 1941 edit after the closing of wrl union college did not operate a broadcasting station for the next 17 years . the resumption of broadcast activities was the result of the development of a new form of transmission system . in 1936 students at brown university in providence rhode island developed the first campus based carrier current radio station initially called the brown network . carrier current stations employed very low powered am transmitters with their signals carried over wires often running through steam tunnels that linked together various buildings and dormitories . these transmission lines then fed the radio signals into a building s electrical wires allowing radio receivers located close to the wires to pick up the transmissions . 16 because they were such low power with their signals most commonly limited to a college campus plus the immediately adjoining neighborhoods carrier current stations did not require a license from the federal communications commission or qualify for officially assigned call letters . the carrier current innovation soon spread to other college campuses especially in the northeastern united states . in the fall of 1941 the union college radio club founded its own carrier current station transmitting on the am band at 640 khz 17 which went into operation on september 22 1941 with college president fox as the debut s featured speaker . the new station informally adopted the identifier ubs for union broadcasting system and initially provided service to just the north campus and the kappa alpha fraternity although this was later expanded to campus wide . the intercollegiate broadcasting system ibs had been formed in february 1940 to coordinate activities between individual colleges and to solicit advertisers interested in sponsoring programs geared toward college students and the union college radio club became a member of ibs on december 28 1941 . 18 in 1939 the union college radio workshop was formed to provide students with practical radio experience . initially the group worked in conjunction with general electric gaining experience in radio programming production at that company s experimental fm station w2xoy and its shortwave stations wgeo and wgea . in mid 1942 the radio workshop group merged with the radio club forming the union college radio society . reflecting this change the carrier current station now became known as the u.c.r.s. network boasting a staff of twenty five students with studios located in the college s electrical engineering building . 19 in early 1947 as a result of a contest the station s identification was changed to wruc standing for radio union college . in 1948 the normal operating schedule was daily from 7 a.m. to 9 15 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. and the station was described as an educational experience in the operation of a model broadcast station that also provided for all students the programs they wish to hear . 20 by 1963 wruc had fallen silent with its equipment in disrepair . restoring operations was taken on as a project by richard ferguson and jeffrey hedquist and after being revived it was again operated as a commercial station eventually programming a high energy top 40 format simlar to wabc in new york city . operating hours were expanded to 18 hours a day . in the summer of 1966 a telephone line was used to transmit the programs to nearby skidmore college where for a time a second carrier current facility rebroadcast the programs for that campus . 21 priority status edit wruc refers to itself as the first station in the nation and this slogan has been consistantly adopted by union college s various broadcasting endeavors . 22 union college s claim of priority was made as early as 1922 initially for its broadcasting station wrl . at this time kdka in pittsburgh pennsylvania which began broadcasting under the special amateur call sign of 8zz on november 2 1920 was widely said to be the first broadcasting station . wrl supporters countered that wrl s predecessor station 2add was the first one to regularly broadcast musical programs 23 and because 2add s october 14 1920 start was three weeks prior to kdka s therefore wrl should be considered the true pioneer broadcaster . wrl ceased operations in 1924 so wruc s current primacy claim requires stringing together a series of subsequent union college broadcasting operations starting on the am and ending on the fm band that begins with a standard amateur station 2add 1920 followed by an experimental station 2xq 1921 an am broadcasting station wrl 1922 1924 then after a 17 year gap when there was no organized broadcasting conducted at the college an unlicensed commercial am carrier current facility ubs ucrs wruc beginning 1941 and finally beginning in 1975 a licensed non commercial fm station now with wruc call letters officially assigned by the fcc . the existence of the 1924 1941 gap