ON THE AIR 16 Hours a Day

DURING the past few years, WDBS, Dartmouth's undergraduate radio station, has grown from a parttime, extracurricular activity to a full-time operation, which has equalled, if not surpassed, botli the facilities and programming of many of the country's smaller commercial stations. Since 1951, the station has increased its air time by eighty per cent, almost doubled its staff, duplicated its facilities, and greatly increased its advertising revenue.

WDBS is a non-profit operation, chartered by the Council on Student Organizations. The station operates on a carriercurrent system, transmitting its low power signal by means of the college power lines.

Dartmouth radio now goes on the air at 6:30 a.m., before most of the campus is awake. Except for a two-and-one-half-hour break during the late morning class hours, broadcasting continues until 1 a.m. The daily sixteen-hour schedulers announced, engineered and produced entirely by students. On special occasions, such as election night or Winter Carnival and Green Key weekends, the station operates twenty-four hours a day.

In its early years, WDBS went off the air during final exams. Last year, however, it was suggested that a group of staff members studying at the station might try broadcasting at the same time. Now WDBS provides classical music around the clock throughout the final exam periods. This service has been greatly appreciated by the student body, judging from the number of requests received, especially during the early morning hours.

The station's regular programming contains varying types of shows in an attempt to satisfy the diverse tastes of the student listening audience. For example, on the musical side, classical devotees have their daily afternoon and evening recorded concerts, opera lovers have their Sunday afternoon full-length presentations, and popular music fans have their nightly request shows.

On the educational side, a new series 01 programs entitled "Your Faculty on the Air" made its debut last fall. It consists of five weekly programs presented by faculty members on subjects ranging from international developments to book reviews. The series includes a Monday night preview of local events called The Hanover Scene," written and narrated by Prof. Almon B. Ives of the Department of Speech. Prof. Herbert F. West of the Comparative Literature Department keeps students up to date on literary developments with his "Hanover Browsing" commentary every Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday are devoted to the interpretation of national and international events by members of the Great Issues Course and Department of Government. On Friday, members of the Economics Department discuss recent business and financial trends.

WDBS has also proved to be an effective outlet for student talent of various kinds. During the past year, campus pianists, jazz combos, quartets, and western balladeers appeared on shows such as At the Keyboard," a weekly piano recital originating from the lounge of the Hanover Inn, or "Variety Time," a program which spotlights student musicians. Members of The Dartmouth Players have found that WDBS' dramatic offerings provide another medium for their talents. At the present time rehearsals are under way for Dracula, Dartmouth radio's first hour-long dramatic presentation.

Recently, the station has put a greater accent on "remote" broadcasts, i.e. those originating outside of the studios. Last fall, the complete nine-game schedule of Dartmouth football games was broadcast for the second consecutive season. All the home basketball, hockey, and baseball games are carried, as are some of the more important away games in these sports. The station maintains direct lines to all of the more important campus buildings. This permits it to broadcast various concerts and lectures throughout the year without too much difficulty. In recent years, arrangements have been made with national network affiliates to bring to the campus broadcasts of such important national events as congressional committee investigation hearings, the "State of the Union" message, and the World Series.

Because of the growth of the student body beyond the capacity of Webster Hall, WDBS now provides the most effective method of communicating to the entire Dartmouth student body. President Dickey has utilized the facilities many times in recent years to address the students on such topics as "Campus Social Life" and "Communism and the Colleges."

The station's ability to quickly inform the campus of important developments has been recognized by town and college officials. For example, during last spring's flood emergency, the station was requested to make announcements for the Dean, the campus police, the bank, the DDA, various courses and the state highway department. WDBS' announcement about the football rally following the victory over Yale this fall brought out one of Dartmouth's greatest welcoming receptions.

Increased programming has forced the station greatly to expand its technical facilities. Equipment ranging from more microphones to an extra remote unit had to be purchased. To get an idea of the equipment required to operate under such a comprehensive program policy, you might consider a night last winter when in the course of four hours WDBS recorded a piano recital from the Hanover Inn, a Shakespeare reading by Prof. Edmund H. Booth from Dartmouth Hall, and a "Student-Faculty Quiz" program from the main studios, while broadcasting games from Davis Hockey Rink and Alumni Gymnasium.

In 1952, with the advent of afternoon broadcasting, the staff found that they no longer had enough room for rehearsals and recording sessions. Members of the technical department decided to design and build an independent broadcast unit across the hall from the studios on the top floor of Robinson Hall. These new facilities now leave the main studios free during the afternoon hours. They also permit more flexibility in the evening programming.

Along with the expansion in air time and in physical plant and equipment, WDBS has enlarged its staff. It now takes almost one hundred students to operate the station's business, production, and technical departments. A full-scale freshman training program is run every semester by the station's personnel department. The program, complete with a twenty-page manual, lectures and hour examinations, provides regular competition for positions in all departments of the organization. Saturday afternoons are set aside for "Freshman Airtime" to give the current crop of heelers practical experience in all phases of broadcasting. Of the fifty-six men who decided to enter the formal training program in September, twenty-seven became junior staff members last month. Some fifty additional '57's have entered the second semester program.

Although the majority of the students who compete for positions would like to become announcers - ninety-seven took the auditions in September - they soon find that WDBS offers practical experience in many behind-the-scenes fields. Programs must be engineered, written, produced and directed, as well as announced. Public relations, audience research, traffic, news and record departments must be maintained. Finally, there is the business department which offers probably the most useful experience, since few station members actually plan to make radio their career.

Recently, the advertising department split itself into two groups - local and regional - so as to better service its numerous new contracts. Last spring, the business staff held its first annual open house for sponsors in an attempt to acquaint the local merchants with the station's facilities. WDBS receives its national advertising through the Ivy Network, a group which has member stations at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Pennsylvania and Cornell, as well as Dartmouth.

The station's public relations department ran into difficulty when The Dartmouth found that it no longer could devote space to WDBS' elongated program schedule. The department decided to publish its own weekly Newsletter, which includes the week's program log, the daily classical music schedule, and articles and pictures pertaining to broadcasting highlights. The Newsletter is delivered door to door in every dormitory on Monday evenings.

In recent years, WDBS has taken on many additional activities. The staff finds time to make recordings for various administrative and faculty .departments, and to assist other campus organizations with their sound effect problems. The station feeds two weekly programs and numerous special-event broadcasts to WTSL, Lebanon. Last year, WDBS recorded a thirty-minute glee club program for the Mutual Network. The station's recording of President Eisenhower's 1953 commencement address was used by the NBC network and several independent stations.

By whatever criteria you choose, WDBS has grown tremendously in the past few years. And it is continuing to grow. In fact, the major problem facing the new directorate which takes office this month is to keep the station from growing beyond control. When you consider that they must supervise this sixteen-hour-a-day operation in the time left after classes and study, using personnel who have no tangible incentives other than the desire for experience, you can appreciate the challenge they face — and the magnitude of their daily accomplishment.

On the spot for the dedication of the artificial ice system in Davis Rink, WDBS picks up the remarks of Herbert F. Darling '26, fund chairman.

It. A. Patterson '57

At the studio end "Dracula" looks nowhere near as blood-curdling as it will sound when the hour-long drama is fully recorded for later broadcasting. Donald R. Meltzer '54, author of this article and member of the 1953-54 directorate of WDBS, is second from right.

President Dickey, prior to his most recent "fireside talk" to the student body, chats with WDBS leaders, (l to r) Peter E. Roos '54, station manager this past year; Norman R. Bander '54, program director for 1953-54; and Peter G. Robinson '55, technical director in the new directorate.

A program theme is "waxed" in the studio

Hundreds of popular records are on file

THe night befor the student vole that rejected fraternity discrimination clouses WDBS broodcast a panel discussion by (l to r) Jomes M.Wechsler '55 Tau Epsilon Phi president; Mi Kromer '54 Prologopitus chairman; Donald A. Swanson '54 Interfraternity Council president; president of the Cosmopolitan Club.