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Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) is an organization with a membership of over one thousand non-profit, education-affiliated radio stations and webcasters. Founded in 1940, IBS is headquartered in New Windsor, New York, with a legal office in Washington, D.C. In addition to providing support for establishing and operating noncommercial radio and webcast operations, it frequently represents its members with FCC negotiations, copyright issues, and litigation.
A majority of the over 2,500 educational radio stations do not affiliate nationally, but of the ones that do, IBS represents over 90%. The organization is also a member of the National Association of Broadcasters. The entire staff of IBS is composed of unpaid volunteers.[ citation needed ]
For over 80 years, IBS has held an annual spring national conference in New York City, at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Part of the convention's proceedings is the announcement of awards presented to outstanding college and high school operations. [1] IBS also holds a series of "Coast-to-Coast Fall Conferences" at select member colleges. [2]
IBS was founded in 1940, by George Abraham [3] and David W. Borst, [4] who in late 1936 had established the first low-powered AM carrier current radio station on a college campus, "The Brown Network" at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. IBS's organizing convention was held at Brown on February 17-18, 1940, and attended by representatives from twelve colleges with existing or proposed carrier current stations. George Abraham was elected the IBS Chairman, Peter Thorpe the Advertising Manager, David Borst the Technical Manager, Joseph Parnicky the Program Manager, and Louis M. Bloch, Jr. the organization's Business Manager. IBS's role was defined as a medium for the exchange of ideas and programs, in addition to working to attract national advertising contracts for the member stations. The first IBS intercollegiate broadcasts began on May 9, 1940, with a five-part series that was carried by stations located throughout New England at Brown, Harvard, Williams, and Wesleyan universities, in addition to the Universities of Connecticut and Rhode Island. [5]
In August 1940, Bloch moved to New York City in order to promote the stations and sign advertising contracts for the then twelve-station organization, known informally as the "Gas Pipe Network". A small office was established at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street and a rate card prepared, operating under the slogan "From Princeton to Stanford, IBS Sells the Colleges". [6]
Although the initial IBS member stations were all AM carrier current stations that were financed by selling commercials, the organization eventually concentrated on promoting noncommercial educational FM stations. In 1940, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established the first band for FM broadcasting, consisting of forty channels occupying 42 to 50 MHz, with five of these channels reserved for educational stations. [7] In 1945 the FM band was moved and expanded to one hundred channels, from 88 to 108 MHz. IBS, in an effort led by U.S. Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker, organized witnesses to testify on behalf of educational radio, and was instrumental in getting the FCC to secure an FM "reserved band" of twenty education channels from 88.1 to 91.9 MHz. [8] Later, IBS helped promote the establishment of low-power 10-watt Class D licenses, to provide for low cost entry-level noncommercial stations. In later years the organization added webcasting stations to its roster.
FM broadcasting in the United States began in the 1930s at engineer and inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong's experimental station, W2XMN. The use of FM radio has been associated with higher sound quality in music radio.
WGHR was a noncommercial radio station operated exclusively by the students of Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia, United States. The station was supported by students and its listeners to provide different programming and represent its community with a wide variety of musical genres.
The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa and in Australia and New Zealand, it spans from 87.5 to 108 megahertz (MHz) - also known as VHF Band II - while in the Americas it ranges from 88 to 108 MHz. The FM broadcast band in Japan uses 76 to 95 MHz, and in Brazil, 76 to 108 MHz. The International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT) band in Eastern Europe is from 65.9 to 74.0 MHz, although these countries now primarily use the 87.5 to 108 MHz band, as in the case of Russia. Some other countries have already discontinued the OIRT band and have changed to the 87.5 to 108 MHz band.
A non-commercial educational station is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements, as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and was originally intended to offer educational programming as part, or whole, of its programming. NCE stations do not pay broadcast license fees for their non-profit uses of the radio spectrum. Stations which are almost always operated as NCE include public broadcasting, community radio, and college radio, as well as many religious broadcasting stations. Nearly all Non-Commercial radio stations derive their support from listener support, grants and endowments, such as the governmental entity Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that distributes supporting funds provided by Congress to support Public Radio.
KALW (91.7 MHz) is an educational FM public radio station, licensed to the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), which serves the San Francisco Bay Area. Its studios are located at Phillip and Sala Burton Academic High School off Mansell Avenue in San Francisco, and its transmitter tower is on Twin Peaks.
Carrier current transmission, originally called wired wireless, employs guided low-power radio-frequency signals, which are transmitted along electrical conductors. The transmissions are picked up by receivers that are either connected to the conductors, or a short distance from them. Carrier current transmission is used to send audio and telemetry to selected locations, and also for low-power broadcasting that covers a small geographical area, such as a college campus. The most common form of carrier current uses longwave or medium wave AM radio signals that are sent through existing electrical wiring, although other conductors can be used, such as telephone lines.
WHUS is a non-commercial educational FM college radio station. It transmits with 4,400 watts on 91.7 MHz from the main campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs-Mansfield to audiences in eastern Connecticut, southern Massachusetts and western Rhode Island. WHUS operates as a campus-focused station that features members of the student body and the local community.
WBRU is an internet radio station based in Providence, Rhode Island. The station is owned and operated by Brown Broadcasting Service, an independent non-profit organization, and is primarily staffed by students from Brown University.
WKWO is a radio station licensed to serve Wooster, Ohio. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), it broadcasts EMF's Contemporary Christian programming service, K-Love.
WONC is a radio station broadcasting an album-oriented rock format. Licensed to Naperville, Illinois, United States, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by North Central College.
KSUA is a student-run college radio station licensed to Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. Broadcasting from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) campus with 3,000 watts effective radiated power (ERP,) it serves the Alaska Interior area. When first on the air in 1984, it was one of a few commercially licensed college stations. Reorganized in 1993, KSUA now operates under the FCC non-commercial educational license public radio rules. KSUA has won statewide and national broadcasting awards.
WUKY is a listener-supported, public radio station in Lexington, Kentucky. Owned by the University of Kentucky (UK), it has an Adult Album Alternative radio format, airing more than 100 hours of music per week. Some news and informational programming is supplied by National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI), American Public Media (APM) and the BBC. The station broadcasts from state of the art radio studios in northwestern Lexington at the intersection of Greendale Road and Spurr Road.
KUT is a listener and community supported public radio station based in Austin, Texas. KUT is owned and operated by the University of Texas at Austin. It is the National Public Radio member station for central Texas. Its studio operations are located on campus at the Dealey Center for New Media. KUT is one of three radio outlets based on UT campus alongside student-run KVRX 91.7 FM and KUTX 98.9 FM.
WHPC is a non-commercial radio station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to Garden City, New York. The station is owned and operated by Nassau Community College, and began broadcasting on October 27, 1972.
WGCS is an adult album alternative-formatted broadcast radio station. The station is licensed to Goshen, Indiana, and serves Goshen, Elkhart, and South Bend in Indiana. WGCS is owned by Goshen College and operated under their Goshen College Broadcasting Corporation licensee.
WRUC is an independent educational college radio station, owned and operated by Union College in Schenectady, New York. The station transmits with an effective radiated power of 100 watts, providing coverage over an approximate 15-mile radius. WRUC also streams its programming on Internet radio. The station's offices and studios are located in the Reamer Campus Center on the Union College campus.
WRTE is an American radio station broadcasting a public radio / jazz format. It is licensed to Chicago, Illinois, United States, and serves the city of Chicago. The station is owned by Chicago Public Media. WRTE broadcasts in the HD Radio format.
KCWU, also known as 88.1 The 'Burg, is the college radio station for Central Washington University based out of Ellensburg, Washington. The history of The 'Burg starts back in 1958 when small broadcast facility, KCAT, started broadcasting on 880 AM. The 'Burg, now KCWU, has expanded its broadcast facility. It now broadcasts 430 watts effective radiated power at a frequency of 88.1 MHz.
WSOM is a radio station in Franklin, Indiana, United States. Owned by Inter Mirifica, Inc., the station is part of its regional Catholic Radio Indy network.
KKMR is a non-commercial FM radio station licensed to Arizona City, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is owned by the Educational Media Foundation and it airs a Christian Contemporary radio format, as part of the K-Love network.