WRAS (FM)
College radio (7 p.m. to 5 a.m.) | |
Subchannels | HD2: College radio "Album 88" HD3: Oldies "Reelin' In The Years" |
---|---|
Affiliations | NPR (daytime only) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Georgia State University |
Operator | Georgia State University |
History | |
First air date | January 18, 1971 |
Call sign meaning | Radio at State[1] |
Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 23959 |
Class | C1 |
ERP | 50,000 watts |
HAAT | 318 m (1,043 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°44′41.4″N 84°21′35.7″W / 33.744833°N 84.359917°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Album 88 24 hour feed GPB Atlanta 24 hour feed |
Website | www.wras.org www.gpb.org/atlanta |
WRAS (88.5
The transmitter is located off Interstate 20 on Old Flat Shoals Road Southeast in Atlanta. The Album 88 student studios and offices are located on the campus of Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta, while the GPB studios are located in its headquarters off 14th Street in Midtown Atlanta.
Students at Georgia State host and produce all of the programs on Album 88, with the exception of
Programming
Album 88
In addition to a student management team, Album 88 has over 50 student
The staff of the radio station has also organized the annual music show called WRASFest, usually spotlighting local and underground talent.[6][7]
GPB
On May 6, 2014, Georgia State University announced that WRAS would turn over its daytime hours to a new Atlanta-only service from the radio division of
GPB paid $150,000 to GSU for the rights to broadcast on WRAS, in addition to a commitment to have GSU communications-major students obtain
History
On January 18, 1971, WRAS first
The callsign WRAS was not first on the list of preferred callsigns for the station. The callsign WGSU and a few others were already taken, so WRAS was accepted, standing for "Radio At State." The first image lines for WRAS were "The Stereo Alternative" and the "Stereo Odyssey," although most listeners simply referred to the station as "rass." In 1982 the student general manager at the time changed the image line to "Album 88" and lessened the use of the callsign after seeing Arbitron radio ratings diaries in which listeners regularly confused FM stations WRAS,
Album 88's first general manager was Richard Belcher, well known in later years to Atlanta television viewers for his
. Alumni of the station span the range of media, from executive positions at the major recording labels and cable networks to air talent at radio and TV stations across the country.Album 88 has won numerous awards, frequently beating out
Album 88 has played a crucial role in "breaking" a wide range of artists including
On March 14, 2008, an F-2
GPB transfer
Despite being in the works for years, the signal transfer arrangement with GPB was kept secret until the day after
Claims were made that the new daytime programming had the benefit of bringing more NPR news and talk programming to radio listeners in Atlanta. Until the fall of 2015, Atlanta's main NPR affiliate, WABE, had long aired classical music during the day between the morning and afternoon "drive time" periods. A number of NPR programs popular elsewhere in the U.S. were not heard in the Atlanta market until WABE launched an all-news stream on its third HD subcarrier; still others were heard on Clark Atlanta University's WCLK, an otherwise jazz-formatted station with a weaker signal than WABE. But with WABE's move to replace daytime music with informational programs (made in response to the new WRAS programming as perceived competition), much of GPB's shows on WRAS began, inadvertently or not, duplicating programming already airing on WABE.
This is the second time that GPB has made use of a student station from a
Album 88 supporters also raised concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest by Douglass Covey, Vice President for Student Affairs at GSU. Until April 2014, he served on the board of Public Broadcasting Atlanta, the arm of the Atlanta Public Schools that operates WABE and WABE-TV, during the same time GSU was negotiating the deal to bring GPB into competition for listener donations and corporate underwritings that would otherwise go to support WABE.[12]
Reactions
As one of the most influential college radio stations in the nation, support for keeping the Album 88 format on WRAS full-time, with no outside programming, came in from across the country.[13] Efforts to save full-time programming on Album 88 were organized.[11] Some called for a boycott of Georgia Public Broadcasting and its underwriters.[14] In late June, 55 stations in 25 states broadcast a live program in support of Album 88. These efforts, however, were unsuccessful in persuading either GSU or GPB to annul the arrangement.
Album 88 alumni proposed the use of a low-power FM translator for GPB programming in the Atlanta area.[15][16] Another solution would have been the purchase of a different, presumably commercial, FM station in the Atlanta radio market. But those ideas were rejected. Ultimately, the plan was allowed to go forward, and student programming was relegated to off-time hours on the analog waves.
References
- ^ "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web. Archived from the original on 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WRAS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "melodically challenged podcasts for radio". Archived from the original on 2020-07-19. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
- ^ "dot dash". Archived from the original on 2022-03-30. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
- ^ "WRAS Programming -". Archived from the original on 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
- ^ "Georgia State Signal". Archived from the original on 2022-09-25. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
- ^ "the Masquerade". Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
- ^ "Broadcasting Yearbook 1973 page B-47" (PDF).
- ^ "Students opposing WRAS deal get new support". Current. Archived from the original on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
- ^ "Graduating GSU Seniors Hold Protest at Commencement for WRAS". May 12, 2014. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
- ^ a b "#savewras | Save WRAS 88.5 Atlanta". Archived from the original on 2018-01-31.
- ^ "'Most Interesting Man in the World' inspires Nappy Roots | Creative Loafing". Archived from the original on 2014-07-03. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
- ^ "Hawg and Ale Smokehouse opened a new location this week, Sabbath Brewery takes over the old EAV Barbell and more | Creative Loafing". Archived from the original on 2014-05-07. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
- ^ "Boycott Georgia Public Broadcasting | Save Album 88". Archived from the original on 2014-05-24. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
- ^ "WRAS alumni offer alternative proposal to current GPB/GSU deal | Radio and TV Talk". Archived from the original on 2014-07-01.
- ^ "Album 88 Alumni releases plan to keep station student-controlled - Atlanta Business Chronicle". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
External links
- WRAS / Album 88 official site
- GPB Atlanta official site
- WRAS in the FCC FM station database
- WRAS in Nielsen Audio's FM station database