WDCR (New Hampshire)

Last updated

WDCR
Broadcast areaUpper Valley
Frequency 1340 kHz
Branding Dartmouth College Radio
Programming
Format college radio
Ownership
Owner Trustees of Dartmouth College
WFRD
History
First air date
March 4, 1958 (1958-03-04)
Last air date
August 2009 (2009-08)
Call sign meaning
Dartmouth College Radio
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 68257
Class C
Power 1,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
 43°41′59.3″N72°16′45.3″W / 43.699806°N 72.279250°W / 43.699806; -72.279250
Links
Public license information

WDCR (1340 AM) was a college radio station that operated at Dartmouth College for over fifty years. During this time, it underwent several format changes, from news to Top-40 to alternative music and in the end, oldies. Licensed to Hanover, New Hampshire, United States, the station served Hanover and the greater Upper Valley area. The station carried broadcasts of several Dartmouth College sports teams in association with the Dartmouth Sports Network, a division of Dartmouth Broadcasting. The station's license was held by the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College. [2]

Contents

History

Dartmouth Broadcasting began in the 1920s, over copper wires linking all the dorms, using the call letters WDBS (Dartmouth Broadcasting System), changing to WDCR (Dartmouth College Radio) when it became an officially licensed station of the Federal Communications Commission, its first official broadcast at 1340 AM in 1958. [3]

WDCR's origins lie in a carrier-current station, WDBS, which was started on October 27, 1941 (after a month of test programming). [4] [5] During the 1950s, efforts were made to obtain a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which would allow for an expansion of the station's reach to the rest of the Upper Valley; at 9 p.m. on March 4, 1958, WDCR signed on. [6] [7]

The station left the air on August 22, 2008, due to damage to WDCR's ground system during a construction project near the station's transmitter location; [8] soon afterward, the station announced that it had transitioned to being an Internet radio station, WebDCR.com [9] (although this station's website still features WDCR's logo). [10] The station nonetheless briefly returned to the air in August 2009 in order to maintain the broadcast license; [11] in September 2010, Dartmouth College surrendered the license to the FCC for cancellation. [12] By this point, interest in the AM station had declined due to a combination of its time off-the-air and Dartmouth's expansion of its radio operations (in addition to WebDCR, Dartmouth had established an FM radio station, WFRD, in 1976 [7] ). [12]

Related Research Articles

Dartmouth Broadcasting began in 1924 when members of the amateur radio club obtained a federal license to broadcast on the AM band, at 1170 kHz, as WFBK. Later renamed WDCH, the station continued until the fall of 1925 when an inadvertent obscenity uttered over the air caused the college president, Ernest Martin Hopkins, to permanently shut it down. Radio finally returned to Dartmouth in 1941 due to the efforts of a group of determined students and younger faculty who persuaded Hopkins to give the students a second chance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WHTP (AM)</span> Radio station in Maine, United States

WHTP is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Gardiner, Maine, United States. It serves the Lewiston-Auburn and Augusta metropolitan areas. The station is owned by MaineInvests LLC. It airs a rhythmic contemporary format, branded as Hot Radio Maine, simulcast with WHTP-FM (104.7) in Kennebunkport and WHZP in Veazie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WLLH</span> Radio station in Lawrence, Massachusetts

WLLH is a commercial radio station in Lawrence, Massachusetts, serving the Merrimack Valley region. The station is owned by Gois Broadcasting, LLC, and airs a tropical music radio format. The transmitter site is on Common Street, near the Lawrence Police Department Headquarters.

WAZN is an ethnic radio station in the Greater Boston market, licensed to Watertown. It is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting, and as of February 1, 2016 broadcasts Spanish Christian language radio format programming, simulcast from M.R.B.I.'s New York City station.

WPLM is a radio station licensed to serve Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. WPLM broadcasts to the South Shore and Cape Cod areas. The station is owned by Plymouth Rock Broadcasting Co., Inc. WPLM is silent as of January 7, 2024; it last simulcast the soft adult contemporary music format of sister station WPLM-FM (99.1).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WHYL</span> Radio station in Pennsylvania, United States

WHYL is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Carlisle, Pennsylvania and serving the Harrisburg metropolitan area. The station is owned by Harold Z. Swidler, with the license held by WHYL, Inc. It broadcasts an oldies radio format. It also carries Baltimore Orioles baseball games. The radio studios and offices are on North Hanover Street in Carlisle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPKX</span> Radio station in New Hampshire, United States

WPKX is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Rochester, New Hampshire, that broadcasts a sports radio format, largely supplied from Fox Sports Radio. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and serves the Portsmouth-Dover-Rochester media market, also heard in Southern Maine. WPKX broadcasts at 5000 watts around the clock from a transmitter off Route 108 in Rochester. To protect other stations on 930 kHz, WPKX uses a directional antenna at night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WFRD</span> Radio station in New Hampshire, United States

WFRD is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Hanover, New Hampshire, and owned and operated by Sugar River Media. The station's studios are located in Randolph, Vermont. WFRD airs a mainstream rock radio format with some alternative rock and classic rock tracks. Previously, it was owned and operated by Dartmouth Broadcasting from a studio on the Dartmouth College campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WORC-FM</span> Radio station in Massachusetts, United States

WORC-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Webster, Massachusetts, and serving the Worcester metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a country radio format, mostly featuring songs from the 1990s and early 2000s, with occasional newer songs. The studios are on Commercial Street in Downtown Worcester in the Winsor Building. It carries the games of the Worcester Red Sox and Worcester Railers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WODI</span> Radio station in Brookneal, Virginia

WODI was a sports talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Brookneal, Virginia, serving Brookneal and Altavista in Virginia. WODI was last owned and operated by JKC Media Ventures LLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WCVR</span> Radio station in Randolph, Vermont

WCVR is a radio station broadcasting a hybrid country music format to Randolph, Vermont, United States. Established in 1968, the station is owned by Robert and John Landry, through licensee Sugar River Media.

WHAZ-FM is a radio station broadcasting a religious format. Licensed to Hoosick Falls, New York, United States, the station serves the easternmost portion of the Capital District, Bennington, Vermont, and North Adams, Massachusetts as a satellite of WHAZ. The station is owned by Capital Media Corporation.

WYBC is a radio station operating on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The station is owned by Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.; however, it is programmed by Sacred Heart University under a time brokerage agreement. WYBC is a public radio station, airing a news/talk format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWOD</span> Radio station in Vermont, United States

WWOD is an adult album alternative broadcasting radio station. Licensed to Woodstock, Vermont, United States, the station serves the Lebanon-Rutland-White River Junction area. Established in 1989 as WMXR, the station is owned by Great Eastern Radio, LLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSKP (AM)</span> Radio station in Rhode Island, United States

WSKP is an AM radio station licensed to Hope Valley, Rhode Island. The station is owned by John Fuller's Red Wolf Broadcasting Corporation and airs an oldies radio format. WSKP operates as part of the "Kool Radio" simulcast, along with 990 WNTY in Southington, Connecticut, and formerly with 1270 WACM in Springfield, Massachusetts.

WCVY is a local student-run high school radio station in Coventry, Rhode Island that broadcasts on 91.5 FM. The station is owned by Coventry Public Schools of Rhode Island, and broadcasts from Coventry High School. The station broadcasts a combination of adult album alternative (AAA) and modern rock music formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WNBH</span> Radio station in Massachusetts, United States

WNBH is a New Bedford, Massachusetts radio station, owned by Hall Communications and currently broadcasting a classic hits format. The station's branding refers to its FM translator station, W267CY. The station is also carried on the HD2 sub-channel of sister station WCTK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPVQ-FM</span> Radio station in Massachusetts, United States

WPVQ-FM is a radio station licensed to serve Greenfield, Massachusetts. The station is owned by Saga Communications and licensed to Saga Communications of New England, LLC; it operates as part of Saga's Western Mass Radio Group. WPVQ-FM airs a country music format.

WQVD is a radio station licensed to serve Orange–Athol, Massachusetts, United States. The station is owned by Kurt Jackson's Hampden Communications Co. It simulcasts the classic hits format of commonly-owned WQVR in Webster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WFYX</span> Radio station in New Hampshire, United States

WFYX is a radio station broadcasting an adult hits music format. Licensed to Walpole, New Hampshire, United States, it serves the Monadnock Region in Southwestern New Hampshire and Southeastern Vermont. It first began broadcasting in 2001 under the call sign WLPL. The station is owned by Great Eastern Radio. Programming is simulcast with the third HD Radio channel of WHDQ in Claremont and translator W294AB in Hanover, which serve the Lebanon-Rutland-White River Junction area; a second translator, W293AB, serves Keene.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WDCR". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "WDCR Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. ↑ "WebDCR.com - Dartmouth Broadcasting/Dartmouth College Radio". www.webdcr.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017.
  4. ↑ "WDBS - 1940's". WDCR's 50th Anniversary. WebDCR.com. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  5. ↑ Tim Brooks. "College Radio Days" (Glenville Press 2013, www.timbrooks.net A history of radio at Dartmouth).
  6. ↑ "WDCR AM 1340 - Celebrating 50 Years!". WebDCR.com. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 (PDF). 1999. p. D-280. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. September 19, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Dartmouth's 99Rock Radio Station Goes Global". March 12, 2012.
  10. ↑ Fybush, Scott (December 22, 2008). "MPBN Threatens Service Cuts". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  11. ↑ Fybush, Scott (August 24, 2009). "Buckley Sells in Syracuse". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  12. 1 2 Fybush, Scott (September 20, 2010). ""Radio 92.1" Comes to Scranton". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved September 2, 2011.


Radio svg icon.svg Flag of New Hampshire.svg

This article about a radio station in New Hampshire is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.