WREK
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007) |
MHz (HD Radio )
Channel 17 ( Georgia Tech Radio Communications Board | |
History | |
---|---|
First air date | March 25, 1968 |
Call sign meaning | Ramblin' WREcK |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 54536 |
Class | C1 |
ERP | 100,000 watts |
HAAT | 102 metres (335 feet) |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°46′41″N 84°24′22″W / 33.77806°N 84.40611°W |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | www |
WREK (91.1
In 2007, WREK applied to the
In March 2008, WREK replaced its then 20-year-old transmitter with a brand new unit capable of three times the signal power and providing HD Radio capability. The addition of an HD Radio broadcast has made WREK among the first student-run, student-funded stations in the nation to add digital broadcasting capability.[1]
Programming
Programming is student-run and extremely diverse, including everything from
Sound blocks
Regular rotation programming blocks take up most daytime broadcasts. Certain times focus on certain themes: mornings play Just Jazz and Classics while afternoons transmit RRR (Rock, Rhythm and Roll) and nights air Atmospherics and the notorious Overnight Alternatives. These time slots are staffed by various WREK student staff and feature a wide selection of music, contests, and PSAs. The WREK website maintains a two-week archive of all regular rotation shifts, available as 128 kbit/s and 24 kbit/s downloads.
Specialty shows
Specialty Shows feature shifts dedicated to a specific genre. They air for over 50 hours a week, mainly in the evenings. They range from the Ramblin' Wreck Sports Show, a Georgia Tech sports talk show hosted by students to Destroy All Music, clatter-improv with pink noise freakouts. Other weekly shows include Electronic Sound System, an experimental electronic show featuring music and in-studio performances of new and established artists that run the electronic gamut; Velvet, featuring classic and contemporary R&B and soul; Live@WREK, a live music show broadcasting local and touring artists and bands; Girl Rock!, highlighting the work of women and non-binary artists worldwide; and Slow Riot, technical, abstract math rock and atmospheric, swirling post-rock.
Sports
WREK also broadcasts play-by-play coverage of Georgia Tech
In December 2002, WREK broadcast the entire 50-disc Merzbox by the Japanese experimental music artist Merzbow. An article in Creative Loafing described the Merzbow Marathon as "what may be the most obscure and counterintuitive move in the history of radio."
Continuing their tradition of unorthodox radio broadcasts, WREK chose to air the long-running heavy metal show WREKage for the entire 24-hour broadcast day on June 6, 2006 (6/6/6).[2] Heavy metal was played in chronological order from midnight to midnight. As an extra nod to the mystic number 666 (number), Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast was aired at 6:06 a.m. and p.m.
In Fall 2007, the critics of Creative Loafing declared WREK to be the Best Overall Radio Station in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The article describing their reasoning declared WREK to be "strange in a good way. The station's format is noncommercial and nonconforming. Few stations in the city can compete with WREK's eclectic playlist".[3]
Technical details
This section needs expansion with: move technical information here and describe construction permit, HD Radio, student engineering, etc. You can help by adding to it. (November 2008) |
WREK's transmitter is a Harris HT/HD+ which outputs a 16.3 kW
History
Georgia Tech was the home of an early AM radio station, WBBF (later WGST, now WGKA AM 920), which began operation in January 1924.[4] Much of this station's initial equipment had been previously used by the Atlanta Constitution's WGM, and was donated through the efforts of the newspaper's editor, Clark Howell.[5][6] In April 1930, the school made an agreement with the Southern Broadcasting Stations, Inc. to operate WGST as a commercial station, while still under the oversight of Georgia Tech.[7] In 1973, the Georgia Board of Regents decided WGST was "surplus property", and the next year it was sold for five million dollars to the Meredith Corporation, despite opposition from alumni groups, members of the Georgia General Assembly and even the Governor of Georgia.[8] Proceeds from this sale were used to upgrade WREK.
WREK first signed on the air on March 25, 1968, broadcasting at 10 Watts from a 20-foot tower atop the
In 1978 WREK's tower and studio were relocated. A new, 300-foot (91 m) tower was built on the western edge of the Georgia Tech campus, and the studio moved to the former WGST studios in the annex of the
After the renovation of the Wenn Student Center, WREK relocated from their temporary residence in the Office of Information Technology building to their new studio in the newly-renovated Student Center.
WREK began
References
- ^ "Engineering". WREK. July 25, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
- ^ "WREKage". Retrieved April 7, 2007.
- ^ "Best of Atlanta 2007". Retrieved September 12, 2007.
- ^ "Georgia Tech's Powerful Radio Station WBBF Arranges Ambitious Program Series for Winter", Atlanta Constitution, November 30, 1924, page 15.
- ^ "Tech Timeline". Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Archived from the original on December 23, 2006. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
- ^ Brittain, Marion L. (1948). The Story of Georgia Tech. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.
- ^ "Georgia School of Technology", Educations's Own Stations by S. E. Frost, Jr., 1937, pages 105-106.
- ^ "Atlanta Area AM Radio Stations" (leachlegacy.ece.gatech.edu)
- ^ "General Manager Richard Crouch's narrative on the birth of WREK". Retrieved April 7, 2007.
- ^ a b "WREK History". July 25, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ^ "Mendenhall Opens RF Consultancy". Retrieved February 14, 2015.
- ^ "wrek-net online streaming". Retrieved October 11, 2011.
External links
- FCC History Cards for WREK
- WREK homepage
- WREK in the FCC FM station database
- WREK in Nielsen Audio's FM station database
- RecNet query
- WREK Alumni Association - Van Leer Chapter
- WREK Air Checks
- WREK 425 Watt RF Power Amplifier Story
- WREKage - Atlanta's Metal Radio