History
What is now known as WKCR-FM originated in the early part of the twentieth century as the Columbia University Radio Club (CURC). An exact date of origin is not known, but documentation of the CURC as an on-going organization exists as early as 1936. The club was not a radio station as we know it, but rather an organization concerned with the technology of radio communications. The group shared a prestigious association with Major Armstrong (E '13), the man who invented both AM and FM broadcast radio. This association accounts for the marginally accurate phrase, "The Original FM" that one will often hear alongside the WKCR call letters.
In 1939, Major Armstrong turned his attentions towards commercial broadcasting. This spurred the CURC to shift from a club concerned with radio technology to a de facto radio station that provided broadcasts to the campus. It was in these early days of radio that the FCC granted the CURC its license - the precise date of which is October 10, 1941. Following World War II, the FCC began codifying the formalities of being a radio station, and it was at this time that the call letters, WKCR (King's Crown Radio), were adopted. Shortly thereafter, WKCR formally embraced the FM broadcast convention.
For the next ten to twenty years, WKCR-FM functioned as an intellectual radio station. Programming was largely Columbia classroom events, classical music, and broadcasts of the United Nations. After the student strike of 1968, this format changed. The station shifted its emphasis from being an illustration of the university to presenting non-commercially viable programming to the metropolitan area. Jazz provides the core of this broadcast approach, which is neatly summarized in the slogan, "The Alternative". Please read about our individual departments for more information about our concept of alternative programming.
Philosophy
WKCR maintains its commitment to alternative programming to this day. In today's parlance, this means that, at WKCR, the recorded legacy of the arts is preserved, optimized, and shared for free.
Broadcasting is about providing the public access to all types of information. Nonetheless, in the past decade, commercial broadcasting has diminished to an extreme the presentation of many forms of art. Heads of state, entire countries, intellectuals, and important personages of all ranks have deemed these art forms valuable, yet due to the fact that commercial broadcasting has almost completely dropped the ball in this regard, there exist few channels for their promotion and dissemination. It is both our triumph and tragedy that we are the only people putting these art forms on the air in the metropolitan area.
WKCR has received recognition and accolades from the press, members of the artistic community and thousands of listeners in the New York area and around the world for our efforts on behalf of music and the arts. Surely, this large outpouring of support has been a major factor in the long-standing preservation of our unique tradition. We seek to educate and entertain, and to pass this tradition on to each incoming student body.
Articles
Dean of Jazz
Students' Love for Art
60th Anniversary
WKCR and Sputnik
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