WCBN-FM is the student-run

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. Its format is primarily freeform. It broadcasts at 88.3 MHz FM in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

History

''WCBN''
is one of the longest-standing continuous practitioners of primarily free-form radio programming. "Freeform" radio format is best described as an approach that allows the individual radio programmer (or DJ) maximum, if not complete, latitude, in determining what is broadcast from moment to moment. In practical terms this may mean that a listener may hear a number of different kinds of music in the course of a single program, often chosen spontaneously during that same program; but a listener might just as easily hear live broadcasts from a field with sounds of crickets, a radio play, poetry, or spontaneous political protest. The AP national newswire covered one such protest in November 1980 when a DJ on the station began playing

Lesley Gore Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein, May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. At the age of 16, she recorded her first hit song " It's My Party", a US number one in 1963. She follow ...

's "

It's My Party "It's My Party" is a song recorded by American singer Lesley Gore on her debut studio album '' I'll Cry If I Want To'' (1963). It was released as a single on April 5, 1963, by Mercury Records. The song was written by Herb Wiener, John Gluck Jr. ...

(and I'll Cry if I Want To)" continuously for hours when President Ronald Reagan was first elected. Other DJs joined in and the protest ended up lasting for a number of days. WCBN was created in 1952 when three existing

carrier current Carrier current transmission, originally called wired wireless, employs guided low-power Radio frequency, radio-frequency signals, which are transmitted along electrical conductors. The transmissions are picked up by receivers that are either conne ...

broadcasting systems on campus pooled resources. WCBN-AM

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

could be tuned to in University buildings at 640 kHz. Programming was coordinated between the existing broadcast facilities. In 1956 WCBN hosted the first meeting of the National Association of College Broadcasters. Until 1958, South, East and West Quad had separate transmitters, each on a different frequency, as well as one on the Hill, with a loop connecting the three studios. In 1958 John Maurer built a limiter and switching device so that sound was constant and could be switched by any studio to feed all transmitters and was wired by Cliff Vander Yacht. Dave Mills had constructed the Hill transmitter the year before and tested it at National Music Camp during the summer. Some years before, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

FCC had allocated the call sign even though the carrier current transmitters were not licensed. (CVY) In 1965, the WCBN operations were consolidated in the newly completed Student Activities Building. In early 1971, the U-M Board of Regents approved a proposal to seek a full license for WCBN on the FM band. On January 23, 1972 WCBN-FM went on the air at 89.5 MHz with a 10-watt transmitter. At this time the carrier current station adopted the new callsign WRCN, and programming was divided. In October 1977, neighboring station WEMU at

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public university, public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal ...

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti ( ), commonly shortened to Ypsi ( ), is a college town and city located on the Huron River in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's popu ...

upgraded its studios and changed its FCC broadcast frequency from 88.1 MHz to 89.1 MHz. With WCBN broadcasting at 89.5 MHz, there was a danger of station overlap. Accordingly, WCBN received a stipend from Eastern Michigan University to change its operating frequency to 88.3 MHz, where it remains today. Beginning in 1980, the station began holding regular annual on-air fundraisers to supplement its University support. The first fundraiser was organized by then-General Manager Ann Rebentisch and lasted for 88.3 hours, with a goal of raising $8,830, nearly doubling the station's funding. The event culminated on Valentine's Day with a free concert of local bands for all who had pledged to donate. WCBN's transmitter was upgraded to 200 watts in 1987, an FCC action that was delayed for several years after some disgruntled former station volunteers filed an extensive complaint letter which turned out to contain mostly erroneous information. The power increase had been deemed necessary after the FCC began threatening to reassign frequency positions of 10-watt Class D (Educational) stations like WCBN. In addition to on-air studio productions, WCBN also has a rich history of local concert sponsorship, recently hosting performances by

Jad Fair Jadwin B. Fair (born June 9, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, graphic artist, and founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese. Biography Fair was born in Coldwater, Michigan. In 1974, he and his brother David formed the ...

, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Mount Eerie,

The Books The Books were an American-Dutch duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their music typically incorporated samples of obscure sounds and speech. They released three cri ...

, and

Jandek Jandek is the musical project of Sterling Smith (born October 26, 1945), a Houston, Texas-based American Lo-fi music, lo-fi Folk music, folk singer. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 120 albums while granting an interview extreme ...

. They sponsored an outdoor concert featuring bouncy houses called "Bouncevember" with bands Luna Pier, Atomic Sauce, and Joe and the Ruckus. Currently, WCBN is in the process of installing a new 3,000-watt transmitter. It is expected to be operational at the end of December 2017, at which time the station will switch over to the new transmitter and antenna and utilize an extended broadcast range. Nearly all of the money used to pay for the upgrade came from fundraiser donations raised over the previous years. WCBN's programming format is one primarily of freeform music. There are also many specialty programs focusing on specific styles or origins of music. Long-running shows include ''Dance Hall

Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

''
''Nothin' But the Blues''
the country progra
''Down Home Show''
the bluegrass sho
''Bill Monroe for Breakfast''
the

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

show
Crush Collision
', the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

show
Face the Music
', the Thursday morning program featuring "AM on the FM" with weather and news alongside classical music
''Short Stack''
and the

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

show
The Prop Shop
'. Several of these programs have aired continuously for over 20 years. Sunday programming consists mainly of specialty shows featuring the music of Africa, Asia, India, Israel and the Middle East, Japan, Turkey and the Mediterranean including the Indian music sho
''Sounds of the Subcontinent''
and Latin music sho
''The Latin Hour''
The weekly, 2-hou
''Local Music Show''
features local artists performing live in-studio. The weekly sho
''Girl Power''
is an hour of music by female artists and vocalists. The sho
''The Seizure Experiment''
features hardcore

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

. In addition to musical specialty shows, WCBN features programming for the public good, including weekly talk show
''It's Hot In Here,''
which covers environmental news
''Living Writers,''''Grey Matters,''''Civics Party,''
an
''Interactive Technologies''
Freeform radio sho
Baby Blue
featured an interview with Pulitzer-Prize winning author

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, ...

. WCBN also features a sports department.
WCBN Sports
covers all Michigan athletics, local and national professional teams, and national and international sporting events. WCBN broadcasts Michigan football, basketball, hockey, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse. The sports department runs a daily sports report at 6pm Monday through Thursday and regularly broadcasts Michigan sporting events on thei
YouTube channel
WCBN Sports has also helped produce podcasts hosted by student-athletes on the basketball team.

Other information

* In addition to its FM broadcast, WCBN can be heard via the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

a
wcbn.org
* WCBN Sports runs a YouTube channel, through which it broadcasts live athletics events. * The University of Michigan also operates the

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

station WUOM-FM, which is run as a service to the community and does not directly involve students in its operation. * Ken Freedman, general manager of the longest continuously-operating freeform radio station, WFMU-FM, worked at WCBN from 1977 to 1983 and was the DJ who marked the election of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

by playing Lesley Gore's " It's My Party (And I'll Cry If I Want To) continuously for 18 hours. * Author

Mary Gaitskill Mary Gaitskill (born November 11, 1954) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Her work has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', ''Harper's Magazine'', ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'', ''The Best American Short Stories'' (1993, 20 ...

DJ'd at WCBN while attending the University of Michigan. * John Sinclair (poet) hosted a Jazz program named "Re:Visions" in the late 1970s. *

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian. She was one of the seven Saturday Night Live cast members, original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series ...

was weather girl at WCBN from 1965 to 1966. *In the past, WCBN has broadcast locally and nationally produced news and issues programming, such as nationally-produced

FAIR A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

's '' CounterSpin'', and ''Free Speech Radio News'' (who has sinc
stopped broadcasting full news segments
, as well as Dave Emory's commentary show ''For the Record''. The locally-produced

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

issues program ''Closets R4 Clothes'' had aired since 1975. *The WCBN News Department was revitalized beginning in 2004, when a group of students converged to conduct live coverage of the presidential elections. Out of this grew a more long-term project called BlackBox Radio, which produced over 50 episodes of its weekly show. BlackBox radio stopped production in 2006. * WCBN's alumni include Ted Oberg (reporter for

KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States. It is owned and operated by the ABC network via its ABC Owned Television Stations division, and maintains studio facilities on Bissonnet Street in Houston's Upper ...

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

), Fanchon Stinger (former morning anchorwoman at WJBK-TV), Beth Fertig (education reporter for

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

, New York), Kevin West (program & news director for WGOW-AM-FM in Chattanooga, Tennessee) and Pat Batcheller (host/senior news editor for WDET in Detroit).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wcbn-Fm

CBN-FM CBN-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador at 106.9 MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one eve ...

University of Michigan mass media

Radio stations established in 1972 1972 establishments in Michigan University of Michigan student organizations

History

Other information

See also

References

External links