WBRU
City of license	Providence, Rhode Island
Broadcast area	Southern, New England
Slogan	"The Original Alt Rock"
First air date	Frequency: May 10th 1948 (as WJAR-FM/95.5)
Frequency	95.5 (MHz)
Format	Alternative Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop
ERP	18,500 watts
Class	B
Callsign meaning	BRown University or BRUnonia
Owner	Brown Broadcasting Service, Inc.
Website	www.wbru.com

WBRU is a commercial radio station in Providence, Rhode Island that broadcasts on 95.5 FM. It was the first student-owned-and-operated college radio station in the United States when it started as the Brown Network at Brown University in 1936.^[1][2] Its slogan is "95.5 WBRU, The Original Alt Rock." Its transmitter is located in Providence. Image File history File links Wbru. ... In the United States (and potentially elswhere), each radio station or TV station is assigned a city of license by the Federal Communications Commission that they must serve. While this has become far less meaningful over the decades, stations are still required to post their public file somewhere within the... Nickname: Beehive of Industry, The Renaissance City, The Divine City Location in Rhode Island Coordinates: Country United States State Rhode Island County Providence Government  - Mayor David N. Cicilline (D) Area  - City  20. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... FreQuency is a music video game developed by Harmonix and published by SCEI. It was released in November 2001. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... Alternative rock (also called alternative music[1] or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or ERP is determined by subtracting system losses from system gains. ... The watt (symbol: W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one joule per second. ... This is the list of broadcast station classes. ... Call sign can refer to different types of call signs: Airline call sign Aviator call sign Cosmonaut call sign Radio and television call signs Tactical call sign, also known as a tactical designator See also: International Callsign Allocations, Maritime Mobile Service Identity This is a disambiguation page — a navigational... A website (or Web site) is a collection of web pages, images, videos and other digital assets and hosted on a particular domain or subdomain on the World Wide Web. ... Nickname: Beehive of Industry, The Renaissance City, The Divine City Location in Rhode Island Coordinates: Country United States State Rhode Island County Providence Government  - Mayor David N. Cicilline (D) Area  - City  20. ... The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an SI measure of length... Brown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nickname: Beehive of Industry, The Renaissance City, The Divine City Location in Rhode Island Coordinates: Country United States State Rhode Island County Providence Government  - Mayor David N. Cicilline (D) Area  - City  20. ...

History

Founded by two freshmen at Brown, David Borst and George Abraham, the first broadcast of the Brown Network was transmitted on November 30, 1936, from George Abraham’s room, who originally conceived of the idea as a way to share his record collection and serve as a personal disk jockey for his friends. By the next year, he had installed wires through the trees on campus, assigning students in Slater, Sayles, Brunonia Hall, Littlefield, Caswell, and Hegeman to act as “section managers” who would receive the signal on their receiver and transmit it to the rest of the dorm. The equipment in his room expanded and he made his roommate move into the smaller of the two rooms in Slater, and Abraham moved his studying to the basement. Brown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... This early photograph by the Abraham brothers of climbers on the Napes Needle on Great Gable in the English Lake District inspired many to take up rock climbing. ... November 30 is the 334th day (335th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 31 days remaining. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The New England Hurricane of 1938 destroyed most of the wires in the trees and Borst and Abraham were forced to move the wires into the steam tunnels beneath the campus. In February 1940, the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System was formed by 13 colleges, and it held its first meeting at Brown. Lowest pressure ≤938 mbar (hPa)[1] Damage $306 million (1938 USD)[2] $6. ...

In 1962, the Brown Broadcasting Service (BBS) was established as a separate entity from the University and in 1965, the BBS purchased the FM license from WPFM, and split into two stations: WBRU-AM and WBRU-FM. WBRU-AM continued to broadcast locally as a carrier-current station (distributed through Brown's electrical system) and operated as the training station for WBRU-FM. Later, in 1997, it became known as BSR (Brown Student Radio) and began broadcasting on 96.5 FM as well as leasing 19:00-Midnight on WELH/88.1, owned by The Wheeler School. During the 1970s, WBRU-FM broadcast at 20,000 watts on 95.5 FM and established itself as the principal progressive rock station in Rhode Island and southern New England. Attempts to boost the signal to 50,000 watts with a transmitter on the Sciences Library failed because of the interference it caused to sensitive scientific equipment. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... Progressive rock is a radio station programming format that prospered in the late 1960s and 1970s, in which the disc jockeys are given wide lattitude in what they may play, similar to the freeform format but with the proviso that some kind of rock music is almost always what is... Official language(s) English Capital Providence Largest city Providence Area  Ranked 50th  - Total 1,214* sq mi (3,144* km²)  - Width 37 miles (60 km)  - Length 48 miles (77 km)  - % water 32. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ...

In the '70s, the station's format was known as AOR - Album Oriented Rock. Playlists included music by emerging bands like The Talking Heads. In 1988, the station began to identify itself as "alternative," and it has maintained that identity since. WBRU was also frequently named one of the best radio stations in the country by numerous trade magazines such as Billboard and Rolling Stone (which named it best radio station in the country in a medium size market three years in a row, the only radio station ever to achieve that). Talking Heads was an American rock band existing between 1974 and 1991, composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison. ...

The station is a huge part of the Providence music scene, and has been instrumental in introducing to the area alternative bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and countless other important bands. It was the first radio station in the United States to play Ben Folds Five and Talking Heads. Kurt Cobain's last radio interview before his death was on WBRU. In 2006, WBRU was the first U.S. radio station to play "Supermassive Black Hole" by British band Muse and leaked the Beck single "Cellphone's Dead" before being hit with a cease and desist order. Nirvana was an American rock band originating from Aberdeen, Washington. ... Pearl Jam is a Grammy Award-winning American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington. ... Ben Folds Fives self-titled debut album Ben Folds Five (1994–2000) was a three-member band formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who until their breakup in 2000 were a mainstay of piano rock. ... Talking Heads was an American rock band existing between 1974 and 1991, composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison. ... Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. ... In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek , Mousai: from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- think, from which mind and mental are also derived[1]) are 50 goddesses or spiritual guides who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing... Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, known by his simple stage name of Beck. ...

On March 31, 2006, WBRU claimed to be sold for two million dollars to Initrode (Office Space) and changed the format of the station from alternative rock to "Buddy FM" - mainstream popular music. It was later found out to be an April fools joke, and, as of noon on April 1, 2006, WBRU had "regained" control of their radio station and began playing their normal playlist once again. Later that day, they confirmed that they were back to being WBRU, and that Buddy FM was no longer functioning. During this time, this Wikipedia page was fervently edited, and briefly would rank higher than the station's own website on Google. March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (91st in leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Office Space is a cult 1999 comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. ... — Mark Twain April Fools Day or All Fools Day is a notable day, though not of its own right a holiday, celebrated in many countries on April 1. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Google, Inc. ...

Between April 17 and April 21, 2006, WBRU played their entire music catalog by title from A-Z, starting at 5:30 p.m. with "About a Girl" by Nirvana on the 17th and ending around 11:15 on the 21st with "Zombie" by The Cranberries. The songs ranged from new music (by such bands as Panic! at the Disco and Zox), 80's and 90's pop rarely played by the station (such as Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy") and classic punk (i.e. Sex Pistols and New York Dolls). April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... About A Girl is a song by the American rock band, Nirvana. ... Nirvana was an American rock band originating from Aberdeen, Washington. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Panic! at the Disco is an alternative rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. ... Zox is the name of a band from Providence, Rhode Island. ... Right Said Fred is the name of a British pop band, which was founded in 1989 by brothers Richard Fairbrass and Fred Fairbrass from East Grinstead. ... The Sex Pistols were an iconic and highly influential English punk rock band, formed in London in 1975. ... The New York Dolls are a rock band formed in New York City in 1972. ...

On June 15, 2006, the station began streaming live online June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Timeline of notable events

• 1936 - First broadcast of the Brown Network
• 1940 - The newly-formed Intercollegiate Broadcasting System holds its first meeting at Brown
• 1962 - Brown Broadcasting Service (BBS) is established as a corporation independent from Brown University
• 1963 - The first BBS/WBRU constitution is written
• 1966 - WBRU-FM broadcasts at 20,000 watts
• 1969 - WBRU is the first progressive rock station in the market
• 1971 - Attempts to broadcast at 50,000 watts failed due to interference with sensitive scientific equipment
• 1974 - WBRU is granted tax-exempt status
• 1975 - First paid professionals are hired
• 1976 - Station receives first Gold Record for airplay of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run."
• 1979 - WBRU moves its studio to 88 Benevolent Street, its current location
• 1981 - (October) Competitor WHJY signs on
• 1984 - Elvis Costello stops by with a box of records and plays DJ for an hour
• 1988 - WBRU adopts a modern-rock format, called "The Cutting Edge of Rock"
• 1991 - WBRU hires its first professional program director
• 1992 - Student station members reverse a decision which would turn WBRU into an NPR affiliate
• 1993 - WBRU wins first place in the Rolling Stone Readers' Poll for best medium-sized market
• 1994 - WBRU wins first place again in the Rolling Stone Readers' Poll
• 1995 - (June) WDGE signs on and becomes a direct competitor with WBRU
• 1995 - WBRU wins first place again in the Rolling Stone Readers' Poll
• 1999 - WDGE officially signs off (due to WBRU's dominance in the market) and is replaced by WHKK
• 1999 - Station members vote unanimously against a joint sales agreement with Capstar Broadcasting Company
• 2000 - WFNX, a Boston station, extends into Providence to compete with WBRU
• 2002 - Competitor WKKB signs on in Middletown, RI
• 2004 - WFNX signs off in Providence
• 2004 - WKKB becomes a Spanish station
• 2006 - As a three-day April Fool's Day hoax, WBRU pretends to be bought-out by Initech (Office Space) who change the station's format to "Buddy FM"
• 2006 - On June 15 at approxamitely 07:48 EDT, WBRU morning show host Donni Khan announces that "WBRU is now streaming live on the web, replacing pornography as the number one use of the internet"
• 2006 - The station plays its entire catalog from A-Z
• 2007- As its annual April Fools' Joke, the station (as of the evening of March 31st, 2007) is currently stuck in a time warp; it is currently 1997, and all music played was recorded before the date. This is obvious in a few simple ways- for instance, the Screamer of the Week is currently Radiohead's "High and Dry", off their 1996 album The Bends.

Brown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... WHJY is a commercial radio station in Providence, Rhode Island that broadcasts at 94. ... This article is about the magazine. ... WFNX is a New England commercial alternative music radio station. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Office Space is a cult 1999 comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. ...

Today and governance

WBRU-FM is one of the few college radio stations that operates on a commercial basis. WBRU receives no funding from Brown University, while still being staffed by Brown students. There are several professional staff members who work with the students, but the station is jointly governed by a body called the Station Membership, which consists only of student members, and a Board of Directors, chiefly made up of station alumni along with the student General Manager.

Today, WBRU is known for playing alternative rock, hip-hop and jazz music, and skews younger demographically than some of its competitors. Jazz is played in the early hours of every morning, hip-hop is played all Sunday, and the rest of the time is devoted to alternative rock. Alternative rock (also called alternative music[1] or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ...

Radio Shows

The station has many popular radio shows, such as 12 Cuts Above The Rest, which is a countdown of the 12 most popular songs on the station as voted by the listeners. Also the Nine O'Clock New's, which plays 5 new songs that listeners then must vote on. Through this, acts like Panic! at the Disco, Say Anything, Flyleaf, Shiny Toy Guns, Regina Spektor, Tally Hall, Kill Hannah and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus became popular artists on the station. Other shows include: Panic! at the Disco is an alternative rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. ... This page is about the film Say Anything. ... Flyleaf is a alternative rock band from the Temple/Belton, Texas[1] area. ... Shiny Toy Guns is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California that was founded in 2002. ... Regina Spektor (Russian: ) (born February 18, 1980) is a Soviet-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. ... Tally Hall is a rock band formed in December of 2002 based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, now under the Quack! recording label. ... Kill Hannah is a rock band from Chicago, Illinois, currently signed to Atlantic Records. ... The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is a pop punk/post-hardcore band that was originally formed in 2003 in Middleburg, Florida. ...

• The List, which plays a random rock list such as Top 20 Alt Rock Vocalists or Top 40 Alt Rock One-Hit Wonders,
• Essential Albums, which plays three or four songs off of a notable alt-rock album every day.
• Home Bru'd Six Pack, which plays six local rock songs.

WBRU Annual Rock Hunt

In 2003 the winner of WBRU's Annual Rock Hunt was Zox. Through 95.5, Zox was signed to SideOneDummy Records and released the album The Wait, that debuted in Rhode Island at number 1. Zox's single "Can't Look Down" also became an extremely popular request on the station. The 2004 winner of the Rock Hunt was The Lingo, 2005's was Sasquatch and The Sickabillys and 2006's was The Sleazies. Zox is the name of a band from Providence, Rhode Island. ... Zox is the name of a band from Providence, Rhode Island. ... SideOneDummy Records is a Los Angeles based independent record label, home to many punk bands. ... The Wait is an album by Zox. ... Official language(s) English Capital Providence Largest city Providence Area  Ranked 50th  - Total 1,214* sq mi (3,144* km²)  - Width 37 miles (60 km)  - Length 48 miles (77 km)  - % water 32. ...

Notable alumni

WBRU staff members have gone on to excel in a variety of areas. They include:

• Christiane Amanpour, CNN Foreign Correspondent
• Ralph Begleiter, former CNN correspondent and Distinguished Journalist in Residence, University of Delaware
• Chris Berman, anchor, ESPN and ABC Sports
• Lisa Birnbach, author
• Andy Fisher, president of Cox Television
• Ben Harvey, TV and radio host, Here! (TV network) and formerly WXRK, New York city
• Stephen Hill, executive VP of programming at BET
• Tom Hunter, former president, MTV, Latin America
• George Hyde, RAB Executive Vice President
• Nancy Josephson, Co-President of International Creative Management
• Jonathan Klein, president, CNN/U.S.
• Bill Lichtenstein, journalist, filmmaker and president, Lichtenstein Creative Media
• Aaron Schatz, FOXSports.com NFL analyst and founder of Football Outsiders
• Alison Stewart, daytime anchor for MSNBC
• Peter Tannenwald, attorney
• Matt Wald, reporter, New York Times
• Ben Weiser, reporter, New York Times
• Manuel "The Wizard" Diaz, Jr., DJ, KCRH 89.9 and 106.9 FREE FM

Christiane Amanpour, CNN Publicity Photo Christiane Amanpour (born January 12, 1958) (name in Persian: ‎) is the chief international correspondent for CNN. // Shortly after her birth in London, her British mother Patricia, and her father Mohammed, an Iranian airline executive, moved the family to Tehran. ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... The University of Delaware (UD or UDel) is the largest university in the U.S. state of Delaware. ... Christopher (Boomer) James Berman (born May 10, 1955, in Greenwich, Connecticut) is a sportscaster, who anchors SportsCenter, Monday Night Countdown, Sunday NFL Countdown, Baseball Tonight, U.S. Open golf, and other programming on ESPN. He joined ESPN a month after its founding and has been with the network since. ... ESPN (which formerly stood for the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day. ... [1] ABC Sports is a division of ABC, responsible for the televising of many sports events on the network. ... Cox Communications is a wholly-privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television and telecommunications services in the United States. ... [1]Ben Harvey is a radio DJ. He previously had a show that ran from 6-10 weekdays, where it is known for the 9 oclock riot, an all fan request hour of music, as well as Prison Mail, where he shares letters sent from his loyal listeners in... here! is an American television network, which produces and airs programming for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender audiences. ... WXRK (92. ... Black Entertainment Television (BET for short) is the first television network geared towards African-Americans. ... MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... Jonathan Klein Corporate Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Getty Images]] Jonathan Klein, a native of South Africa, co-founded stock-photography company Getty Images in London, England in 1995. ... Bill Lichtenstein is an award-winning former investigative producer for 20/20, World News Tonight and Nightline, and founded LCM in 1990, following his diagnosis and recovery from bipolar disorder. ... Aaron Schatz is the creator of Football Outsiders and one of the main contributors to Pro Football Prospectus 2005 and 2006. ... Football Outsiders is a website started in 2003 that analyzes football teams and players using a statistical analysis formula called defense-adjusted value over average, or DVOA. Aaron Schatz, who created the DVOA formula, is the sites founder and editor. ... Alison Stewart Alison Stewart (born July 4, 1966, Glen Ridge, New Jersey) is a television news anchor currently at MSNBC where she hosts The Most with Alison Stewart weekdays at 3pm ET. Stewart first gained widespread visibility as a political correspondent for MTV News in the 1990s. ... MSNBC, a combination of MSN and NBC, is a 24-hour cable news channel in the United States and Canada, and a news website. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ... KIFR is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay area on 106. ...

Notes

1. ↑  Mitchell, Martha. (2003). "WBRU." Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
2. ↑  Schwartzapfel, Beth. (January/February 2006). "Radio Heads." Brown Alumni Magazine.

External links

• WBRU official website

• WBRU Alumni of the 1960s