WDGR Keeps Growing
Vox Clamantis in the Upper Valley
WDCR is the first and only commercial AM radio station in the United States to be operated exclusively by college or university undergraduates. While the FCC license is held legally by the Trustees of Dartmouth College, all matters of policy and management are in the hands of the student staff. Some universities own radio stations which are run by professionals; others have closed-circuits or educational stations staffed by students, but Dartmouth has the unique distinction of owning a commercial AM station operated entirely by students.
In a little over two years of AM operations, WDCR has provided programming which has acquired for the station a considerable listening audience. At first, it was mainly the undergraduate body that listened to WDCR, but the reputation of the station has grown and now we have a sizable listening audience among the residents of the Hanover, White River Junction, and Lebanon area. Our audience is estimated at 45,000, and our broadcast area extends as far as Woodstock, Vermont, twenty miles from Hanover. In order to improve the quality of its signal in fringe areas, WDCR has, through the Trustees, applied for an increase in power to 1000 watts. This application is now awaiting action by the Federal Communications Commission. It is thought that the increase in power is necessary to enable WDCR to keep up with other stations in the area both in quality and in attracting new listeners.
WDCR is on the air 18½ hours a day from September to June. It plans also to broadcast during a five-day period before and during Commencement this year, in line with the policy of covering all major events during the year. The student staff, numbering roughly one hundred, performs all the usual functions, including time selling, copy-writing, controlling, maintenance, studio engineering, announcing, production, personnel, transmitter operation and maintenance, public relation, and audience research. A semiannual training program is conducted to provide new staff members with a knowledge of all aspects of radio. All announcing shifts and executive positions are filled on a competitive basis. The station is headed by a five-man student directorate responsible for policy planning and operational administration. Four of our staff members hold FCC First Class Engineer Licenses, thus relieving us of the necessity of having an outside technical adviser. Experience gained working for WDCR is often used by the staff in summer jobs or even careers. Recent staff members have worked for WHDH, Boston, WEZE, Boston, and WSMN, Nashua, N. H.; a producer held an internship at VOA; and many others worked at independent stations throughout the U.S. Last year's sports director has been hired as the news and special events director of WBUY in Lexington, N. C. Several members of the business department have spent time in New York working with our advertising representatives.
One of the unique aspects of the station is its versatile programming. Many feature programs are produced by our own staff. One of these is Kaleidoscope, a weekly program of culture and topical interest to the College and community, using interviews with visiting celebrities and members of the Dartmouth faculty. WDCR also features Forum, a panel discussion of pertinent campus issues, such as married students at Dartmouth and the parking problem. One member of the College administration, Registrar Robin Robinson, presents two shows, Light Opera Showcase and A Little Night Music. Another faculty program is Faculty Favorites, featuring faculty members playing their favorite music. During the past two terms WDCR has carried NBC's Image Russia series, acclaimed by critics as one of the finest radio productions of recent years. Other shows are Passport to Music, which presents music from foreign countries; At theKeyboard, featuring Dartmouth students playing the piano in the Hanover Inn lobby; Interfraternity Quiz, Folkways,Modern Jazz Showcase, and a new show this spring called Major League BaseballQuiz. An agricultural program, Connecticut Valley Farm Profiles, is broadcast every morning. Both popular and classical extremes of music provide balanced musical listening. Following its policy of being "first with the news," WDCR broadcasts about thirty newscasts daily, originating with UPI, the Dartmouth News Service, and WDCR's own news-gathering facilities. In sports, we feature live coverage of all home and away football, basketball, hockey, and some baseball games. These broadcasts have been sent, on request, to alumni clubs throughout the country. World Series baseball and four daily sports shows complete our sports programming.
The academic environment of Hanover provides unequalled opportunities to interview experts in many fields. In addition to visiting professors, recent interviewees have included Governor Nelson Rockefeller '30, Vice-President Nixon, Senator John Kennedy, Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, Senator Albert Gore of Tennessee, Senators Styles Bridges and Norris Cotton of New Hampshire, Governor Robert T. Stafford of Vermont, Pierre Mendes-France, Madame Pandit, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. From the field of entertainment, WDCR has interviewed Hal Holbrook, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and the Kingston Trio.
To complete its public service programming, WDCR has instituted a documentary series of Public Issues Programs, designed to bring to light major issues of local and campus concern (safe driving, religion on the campus, military conscription, fraternity problems, atomic fallout). This project has received the commendation and support of College, state and civic officials. It was given tremendous impetus by a $1000 grant from the H. V. Kaltenborn Foundation of New York in May 1958.
Financially, WDCR is entirely self-supporting and non-profit, according to regulations of the Federal Minimum Wage Law and FCC. It is committed to long-term repayment of the College's $25,000 loan for establishing the 250-watt studio and transmitting facilities. Income is divided between local and regional selling and an increasing amount of national advertising.
Radio at the College began in 1941 with the establishment of DBS, the Dartmouth Broadcasting System, an humble closed-circuit affair serving a few dormitories. DBS closed during World War II, and resumed as WDBS in 1946, still closed-circuit. The decade 1946-56 was a period of growth and rapid maturity in sales, programming and signal range, as more dorms were added. The dreams of fifteen years were achieved when the College in 1956 authorized application for a 250-watt commercial license. FM was rejected because of lack of receivers and limitations upon quality and range due to rugged terrain.
After many heartbreaking delays, the FCC granted a construction permit for a 250-watt AM station at 1340 kc on June 28, 1957. By January work had been completed on a complete remodeling and re-equipment of our studios: two fullyequipped control rooms plus several large sound studios and offices; an overall technical setup definitely superior to most stations of comparable size. Regular AM broadcasting began on March 4, 1958.
Should the FCC approve the requested increase in power, WDCR will be able to expand facilities, increase its broadcasting area, and with the resulting increase in revenue, produce programs that will better serve its listening audience.
Since March 4, 1958, WDCR has made real progress. Community reaction has been highly favorable, and sales revenue has climbed steadily as local and national advertisers have taken the opportunity to reach the students and surrounding community listeners. The ever-growing voice of Dartmouth continues to provide a unique creative outlet for students, and a vital link between the College and community.
A record session in progress in the WDCR studios in Robinson Hall
Louis Armstrong being interviewed over the student station during his Hanover visit.
