On a crisp November afternoon, I marveled at the autumnal beauty at Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley. Bright red leaves clung to the trees within view of Ward Manor, a gorgeous 1916 mansion that is now a residence hall and home to college radio station WXBC. Tamar Faggen, WXBC’s General Director enthusiastically greeted me and led me downstairs to the station’s digs in the basement.
Already feeling like old friends since we’d chatted over email about our shared interest in college radio history, the visit was full of rushed and excited conversation about Faggen’s discoveries related to WXBC’s storied past. A Bard College senior, Faggen was inspired so much by her work at the station, that she decided to write her thesis about the history of WXBC. She shared photos and audio from the station’s past and we talked about the twists and turns when researching a radio station. “WXBC has had many cycles of collapse and rejuvenation over its 75 year history,” she explained. It’s a statement that could be applied to so many college radio stations that have ever-changing staffs of student volunteers.
Brief History of College Radio Station WXBC
Students launched WXCB (“x” for experimental and “bc” for Bard College) in 1947 as an AM carrier current station. Bard College Archives and Special Collections has posted amazing photos from those early days, including shots of student performances and of the studio set-up. AM broadcasts continued for decades, with WXBC’s website circa 2003 stating, “We broadcast on frequency 540AM from the top of Stevenson Gymnanium [sic]at a whopping 10 watts.” By 2007, the website describes the broadcasts as 5 watts over “a legally-operating, unlicenced [sic] radio signal on 540AM.” Those AM transmissions seem to have ceased by 2008, with WXBC’s website stating late that year, “For the convenience of all listeners, WXBC broadcasts online at wxbc.bard.edu. We are not currently broadcasting at 540 AM.”
WXBC in the 2000s
As far back as 2002, WXBC was streaming online, as it is today. In order to address technical issues and changing needs, Faggen helped to relaunch the station’s stream in October, 2021. That followed a down period for WXBC, which coincided with the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Faggen recalled that when she transferred to Bard College in fall 2020, she heard about the radio station from a friend while they were both quarantined in the same hotel. He was one of the heads of WXBC and relayed to Faggen the challenges they were having getting the station up and running again. “It just fell apart,” Faggen explained, telling me that the station did not broadcast in fall 2019 or spring 2020. By fall 2020, the station came back, but had limited participation.
Relaunching the Station in 2021
After DJing for two semester, Faggen and another fellow WXBC participant, Ray Camp, were asked to head up the station. One of the first things that they did was restructure the organization, so that there were more roles than just the two club heads. Faggen added that they spent a lot of time “researching and planning how to bring the station back to life,” which in large part meant finding a new streaming service. WXBC went with Mixlr, in particular because it offered a chat feature and the ability to record shows. When the station relaunched on October 1, 2021 for World College Radio Day, there were 35 DJs, up from 7 the year before.
Alumni Outreach Leads to Exploration of WXBC’s History
In preparation for that World College Radio Day broadcast (for which WXBC was a featured station in a global marathon), WXBC reached out to the Bard alumni office in order to obtain recollections from former station participants. Faggen was blown away by the response and the number of stories that were sent in, telling me, “that kind of started this question for me of ‘I wonder what the history of WXBC is?'” As a result of that initial alumni outreach, they heard from WXBC members who had been involved with the station as far back as the 1940s, with one even donating a copy of his radio show as well as transcripts and newspaper clippings. “This was a really big moment for us,” Faggen explained. And it’s clear that building connections with alumni and learning more about the station’s history has helped to generate excitement and enthusiasm at WXBC.
Growing Interest in WXBC
Faggen was upbeat about WXBC continuing to grow during this school year (2022-2023), with more staff being brought on, including a new Tech Director. She said that each semester there are more programs, including more diversity in the schedule. “I’m really proud of how the station was able to survive the pandemic,” she said, adding, “I think that killed a lot of college radio, but for me…I really discovered the passion that I had for the power of the human voice.” Describing that period of extreme isolation during COVID-19, Faggen pointed out the potential of radio. “This is something we can use to connect with the rest of the campus. Everyone’s alone in their dorm room, but we can all connect,” she said.
And with WXBC’s stream now on a platform with a chat feature, shows have become even more interactive, with lots of commentary between DJs and their listeners. Faggen said she’d love to have the station on FM, but was savvy about the downsides. With a scarcity of licenses, a lengthy process, and student turnover; it just didn’t seem like a viable option. And, indeed, previous attempts to go FM never came to fruition. A group at Bard College even acquired a license in 2007 (WLHV-FM), which it gave up in 2012 before building a station. In contrast, WXBC’s current status as a streaming station, free of FCC rules, provides them with more flexibility. “There’s a freedom that I think is really powerful about it,” Faggen explained. And with more than 50,000 listens in the year following the relaunch, the WXBC crew was feeling good. The number of DJs was rising too, up to 47 in November, 2022, chosen from more than 75 applications.
Packed Schedule and Wide Range of Radio Shows
The WXBC schedule is packed with 2-hour shifts from 6am to 2am, 7 days a week. A hold-over from COVID is a one-hour break between shows, to allow for a buffer between DJs. Although this interval began as a safety precaution, it has continued because people enjoy the smoother transition to the following show. This schedule also allows DJs and hosts to stay on the air a bit longer if they choose.
The line-up of programs is great mix and many shows are full of personality. Some of the spring 2023 shows include “Snot Rocket,” “Quantum Healing Sounds,” The Worst Show,” “Liminal Waves,” and “Teenage Kicks.” Airing the day before Halloween, “A History of Goth: Freak History Radio Night,” was one show that captivated me. A historically-based investigation of the concept of “goth” as well as goth music, the show made me think about goth in a different way. The host traced goth music back to the Doors, the Velvet Underground, Roxie Music, David Bowie, and Brian Eno. And I was surprised to hear Alice Cooper mentioned as one of the proto-goth musicians. His song “Dead Babies” was played as evidence of that and it was a convincing example of an artist playing around with ideas that came to fruition with later bands like Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
WXBC’s Vibrant Basement Home
In addition to the vibrant sound of WXBC, the station space is also full of life. An artistic display of the station’s call letters is perched on a shelf, with each block letter decorated in a unique style. One is covered in moss, another plastered with googly eyes, and the most fanciful features a collage of tiny boob photos, likely cut out of magazines.
Colorful streamers adorn the wall above the studio equipment and a nearby shelf was full of decorations, trinkets, and music books. A Donna Summer tape sat near stacks of 45s and shelves of CDs and vinyl records. And those pieces of music aren’t just relics from the past, DJs can and do play physical music, although “a lot of DJs use Spotify,” according to Faggen. WXBC is outfitted with a tape deck, turntable, and CD players and Faggen confirmed that there are DJs who even play cassette tapes. She added that there’s been a shift in the past few years, with many of the newer DJs using “vinyl and CD equally to digital audio files. It’s about 50/50.”
Plans are afoot to revamp an additional WXBC room down the hall. Shut down during the pandemic, it has served a variety of functions over the years, from a lounge to a recording studio. It is hoped that it can eventually be used as a “live room” for music performances in the future.
Thanks to WXBC + More Radio Station Tours
Thanks to WXBC’s Tamar Faggen for the visit and ongoing conversations about college radio history. She and I will both be speaking at the upcoming Radio Preservation Task Force Conference at the Library of Congress. Please join us at the event if you want to hear more about college radio history, including Faggen’s discoveries about WXBC’s past. This is my 169th radio station tour report and my 111th college radio station recap. View all my radio station visits in numerical order or by station type in our archives. And watch this space for additional tours in the next few months.
