Happy College Radio Day! In honor of the annual celebration of student radio (this year on October 2), we invite you to explore the college radio collections in the Internet Archive’s Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC). Some of the latest additions include materials that shed light on college radio’s earliest days.
In 1906, students at Harvard University offered to send wireless messages across “the yard” as part of the Weld Phonepterograph Company, which founder Robert Gowen described as “the first college radio club.” Other clubs followed, responsible for some of the first student-created broadcasts and student-built stations in the 1920s.
Recently added items from the Dartmouth College Radio Association help tell the early story. By 1920, the club operated amateur station 1YB. In 1924, licenses were obtained for experimental and commercial broadcast station WFBK. New materials from the Milwaukee School of Engineering include clippings, QSL cards, and WMSE metal charts from the 1980s featuring bands like Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax.
The DLARC College Radio collection also contains Duke University Radio collection items, including photos of station WDBS from the 1950s and show flyers from current station WXDU.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing