WRCU-FM (90.1 FM) is

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

's 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 ...

. It is located in

Hamilton, New York Hamilton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Madison County, New York, Madison County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 6,379 at the 2020 census. The town is named after American Founding Father ...

, and broadcasts a wide variety of music to the

central New York The central region of New York state includes: * Auburn in Cayuga County * Cortland in Cortland County * Oneida in Madison County * Syracuse, the largest city of Central New York, in Onondaga County * Fulton and Oswego in Oswego County ...

region.

Format

Like many

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 ...

stations, WRCU's main

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

is freeform, specializing in independent rock music,

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 ...

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. Hi ...

, and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

. However, the station also has a large variety of specialty show formats, covering genres from

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 ...

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

. WRCU also has a handful of

talk shows A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (20 ...

, covering sports and politics. When the station is not on the air, late at night and during school breaks, it simulcasts

WRVO WRVO (89.9 FM) is a non-profit public radio network in Oswego, New York, licensed to the State University of New York at Oswego, operating from studios in the Penfield Library on the SUNY Oswego campus. Its multi-station network serves more tha ...

, the local

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 ...

affiliate.

History

According to alumni, the first movement for radio at Colgate was in 1913, where the "Radio Club of Colgate" was formed by students who were interested in communications.Hubbard, John D.
WRCU, the first station in the '90s
, ''The Colgate Scene'', March 1997. Retrieved 2007.06.20. The station started in the 1950s by a handful of students who were merely tinkering with random parts. They began broadcasting on AM (600 & 640 kHz) using

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 ...

on the campus under the

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

WCU. The call sign was changed to WRCU in 1958 and coverage was expanded over the Hamilton community by broadcasting over the town's power lines. The station acquired a license from 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) to broadcast as an FM station, with the call letters WRCU-FM in 1970.

Famous alumni

Joe Castiglione Joseph John Castiglione (born March 2, 1947) is an American retired radio announcer, best known for his 42 seasons announcing games of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. He has also been a college lecturer, and author. Castiglione was th ...

Lin Brehmer Lin Brehmer (August 19, 1954 – January 22, 2023) was an American disc jockey and radio personality at WXRT in Chicago. Brehmer hosted mornings on WXRT from 1991 to 2020, and middays from early 2020 until taking a leave of absence to undergo c ...

Executive Board

WRCU is managed by an executive board which consists of current students. The current board members are: Maxwell Walker, Thomas Vanneck, Scarlet Fishkind, Annabel McKenna, Bo Koebler, Kiera Tran, Jose Arriaza, Ama Nkrumah, and Isabel Drexler Booth

References

External links

WRCU 90.1 FM
* {{coord, 42.811, N, 75.532, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Colgate University NPR member stations RCU-FM RCU-FM Radio stations established in 1951 1951 establishments in New York (state)