The 1960s
WBRU Joins the FM Revolution
Ambassador "Super 80" Tabletop Transistor Radio, ca. 1960
By the mid-1950s, WBRU-AM shared the "Top 40" format typical of AM stations nationwide. Frequent jingles, brisk and animated DJs, and mainstream music were its trademarks.
In the 1960s, FM radio swept the nation. FM's higher-quality stereo sound appealed to fans of contemporary rock and roll. The FM airwaves offered space to try new things, in an era defined by experimentation.
By venturing into the FM realm, student managers hoped to make WBRU operate and sound more like a professional radio station. In 1965, WBRU secured a major loan from Brown University — $30,000 for the purchase of an FM license, plus $10,000 for equipment and the installation of a transmitter atop the Wilson Laboratories.
When WBRU-FM signed on as "the radio voice of Brown University" on February 21, 1966, rock music had no place in the program. The new station stood by the safe format of big band and classical heard on WBRU-AM years before.
In 1969, WBRU-FM found its niche as a commercial, student-run, progressive rock station, the first of its kind in Providence. Progressive rock stations broadcast in stereo; played albums instead of 45s; supported countercultural music; and let the Disc Jockey rule the playlist.
Risky Rock 'n' Roll
In debt to Brown from day one, WBRU-FM's managers saw rock as a risk. The station's University funders, and even some of its managers, feared the unruly new genre would alienate a huge potential audience and convey the wrong message about Brown. Some staffers also feared that an unsanctioned format change would jeopardize WBRU's relationship with Brown, to whom the station literally owed its FM license.
Yet as WBRU-FM's ratings fell and debts mounted, it seemed that a rock format was the key to commercial success. WBRU staffers realized that "beautiful music" wasn't college music and that to attract major advertisers, the station had to tap the lucrative youth market. That meant rock and roll.
The progressive rock format launched in 1969 enabled WBRU-FM to reach an enormous new audience and forge a new identity.