Permafrost and Radio

IN Washington this summer, an act of Congress and a decision by the Federal Communications Commission had important bearing on Hanover and the College. The Cold Regions Engineering Laboratory slated to be established in Hanover as part of the national defense program survived the Congressional economy drive and was included in the military construction bill which passed both Houses in August and was signed into law by President Eisenhower. The F.C.C. decision approved the application of WDBS for a 250-watt commercial radio station, which Dartmouth students will operate under the new call letters WDCR.

The appropriation for CREL was $2,-496,000. This sum will finance the construction of the new laboratory on the old Record Farm on Lyme Road, made available by the College. Site testings have already been started and building is scheduled to begin next June, with completion planned for January 1, i960. The cold regions laboratory will be a merger of two existing units: the Snow, Ice, Permafrost Research Establishment at Wilmette, Ill., and the Arctic Construction and Frost Effects Laboratory at Waltham, Mass. It will employ about 130 persons at the start, most of them civilian scientists. Its operation and administration have been assigned to the Department of the Army and the Chief of Engineers. The laboratory will have no direct relation to Dartmouth College, but Dartmouth's wellknown work in arctic research, its mountain properties, and the existence here of the famous Stefansson library on the polar regions will all provide a basis for close cooperation.

Dartmouth's new radio station will not be in operation until some time in the next college year. Construction of new transmitting and antenna facilities on Chase Field is expected to begin soon. WDCR on a new frequency of 1340 kc. will reach the entire Hanover community and surrounding towns. It will be operated entirely by an unpaid student staff as a non-profit, extracurricular activity, with studios in Robinson Hall, and expects to be self-supporting through advertising.