WUSB (90.1
FM) is a non-commercial
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) to
Stony Brook, New York
Stony Brook is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island. Begun in the colonial era as an agricultural enclave, the hamlet experienced gr ...
. The station is owned and operated by
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...
, with studios located on the second floor of Stony Brook University's West Side Dining facility, and its transmitter is located in
Farmingville, New York
Farmingville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Suffolk County town of Brookhaven, New York, United States. The population was 15,481 at the 2010 census.
History
The first settlement in what is now called Farmingville occurr ...
. WUSB is a
free-form radio
Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station Radio programming, programming Radio format, format in which the disc jockey is given total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform radio stan ...
station, staffed by more than 150 volunteers who devote their time and energy for the love of music and free-form radio. The station is partially listener-supported.
History
The station began in 1962 as a
carrier current station, broadcasting only within the confines of the then-new Stony Brook campus on 820 kHz on the
AM band. The station was, at the time, an integral part of Stony Brook University's once-lively concert scene, which brought such bands and acts as
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of ...
,
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...
,
The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...
(in their first-ever East Coast concert appearance),
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
,
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...
,
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ach ...
,
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gu ...
,
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...
,
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage presence.
...
, the
Allman Brothers Band,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
,
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards.
As a teenager in t ...
,
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
,
Jethro Tull,
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later i ...
,
Hot Tuna
Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the y ...
,
Santana, Stony Brook's own
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...
, the
Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
,
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...
,
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...
,
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers, and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Robert ...
,
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
and more. Many of these musicians paid a visit to the station as well. In its earliest days, the studios were located in a "hole in the ground" in the Pritchard Gymnasium, before relocating to another cramped space in the basement of one of the dormitories, James College. One of the station's broadcasters, Paul (the Bean) Kornreich, was not only one of the station's DJ's but also its first basketball announcer. In 1975, the studios then moved to the Student Union, Room 240, where they remained until they moved to the second floor of the West Side Dining facility on January 27, 2017.
In 1965, New York mandated that all of its campus radio stations across the state make the transition to
FM, as part of its master plan for the university system. Since it was up to each individual school to obtain a license on its own, WUSB began a long battle to get a spot on the increasingly crowded FM dial. Efforts to get the station on FM began in 1970, originally with an attempt to purchase a plot of land near campus to build a transmitter. New York regulations, however, prevented that from happening. Ultimately, construction began on a tower at the top of the Graduate Chemistry building,
which, at the time, was the tallest building on the Stony Brook campus, and approval for the construction of the new station was received from the
Board of Trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit org ...
in 1973.
However, WUSB's
construction permit was challenged by
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher ed ...
, whose station,
WBAU, which at the time broadcast on the first-adjacent frequency, 90.3, out of
Garden City on Long Island (but which is no longer on the air), objected to the proposed station, citing potential interference to their signal. However, the FCC overruled WBAU's objections in 1976, and granted WUSB a license to begin broadcasting in 1977.
At the time, WUSB was Long Island's most powerful
non-commercial
A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...
radio station, putting out 4,000 watts of power, primarily covering central Suffolk County. The station signed on as an FM station for the first time on June 27, 1977, at 5:30 in the afternoon.
The station's first General Manager was Norm Prusslin, a University alumnus, employee, adjunct professor and advisor. He held this position continuously until his retirement in early 2006.
He was later succeeded as General Manager by Isobel Breheny Schafer. Many of the station's original volunteers, including its Chief Engineer, Frank Burgert, were students in 1977. Many alumni of Stony Brook remain to this day as WUSB volunteers. Rich Koch was the station's first
program director when the station began broadcasting on FM and he also remains as an active WUSB staffer.
The initial location of WUSB's antenna provided excellent coverage to the campus and much of Long Island's
north shore, but the high wattage of the station began to have adverse effects on experiments conducted in laboratories of the Chemistry building, as well as those in the nearby Physics building. In the mid-1980s, it was determined that, to eliminate interference, the antenna would either have to be moved or have its power drastically reduced. It was decided to move the antenna to a new off campus location.
After many potential locations were examined across Suffolk County, an agreement was reached with the owners of a new tower being constructed at
Bald Hill in Farmingville, New York, one of the highest points on Long Island.
WBLI
WBLI (106.1 FM) is a commercial radio station owned by Cox Radio and licensed to Patchogue, New York. It airs a top 40 (CHR) radio format. The station mainly serves Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. Its studios and offices are located o ...
had already signed on as a tenant on the new tower, and WUSB leased space on the new tower as well. However, objections were raised again, with first-adjacent stations broadcasting on 89.9 and 90.3 FM on Long Island. WUSB ultimately was able to successfully overcome these objections, and since November 1995 had broadcast from the top of the "Mile High" tower at Farmingville. The move also resulted in WUSB increasing its geographic coverage of Long Island (within its primary and secondary signal contours) by close to 100%, despite the fact that power was lowered to 3,600 watts as part of the move. An unfortunate byproduct of the move was that reception on campus worsened, due to local topography and structures creating partial barriers between the University and Bald Hill.
During normal operations, WUSB's audio signal is sent from its studios to the transmitter site via a T1 line. However, the old antenna location, atop the Graduate Chemistry building, remains as an emergency alternative to the Farmingville transmitter site, as well as an emergency studio-transmitter link to the Farmingville tower.
WUSB has traditionally been funded by students through the
Undergraduate Student Government (formerly known as
Polity). Since 1989, WUSB has held annual radiothons (originally once per year, now twice per year, in the fall and spring) to raise money from listeners to pay for the station's operating expenses. Much of the money raised goes to pay for the station's transmitter lease and fixed operating expenses.
Translator
In 2003, WUSB applied for a translator.
If approved by the FCC, it would have allowed the station to rebroadcast its signal on 98.3 FM on the North Shore. It would also improve the signal in other areas, such as the main campus where there are dead spots or interference from other stations. This application was dismissed in 2013.
The station applied for another translator to broadcast on 107.3 FM, and received a construction permit from the FCC in 2013.
A license to cover was accepted on January 6, 2017.
Notable alumni
*
Eric Corley, editor and founder of
2600 Magazine
''2600: The Hacker Quarterly'' is an American seasonal publication of technical information and articles, many of which are written and submitted by the readership, on a variety of subjects including hacking, telephone switching systems, Intern ...
*
Sam Taylor, blues and jazz musician
Radio training
Each fall and spring, WUSB holds a radio training class, open to all residents of the community as well as University students, who are interested in learning more about radio and broadcasting, and offering the opportunity for interested individuals to become volunteer staff at the station, upon successful completion of training and approval of the Program Director. On occasion, a training class is also offered by the station during the summer months.
References
External links
*
*
*
WUSB.FM/SPORTSProgramming Schedule for WUSB
{{New York college radio
USB (FM)
Undergraduate Student Government at Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
Freeform radio stations
Radio stations established in 1977
1977 establishments in New York (state)
Mass media in Suffolk County, New York