WKCR-FM

WKCR-FM
Broadcast areaNew York metropolitan area
Frequency89.9 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingWKCR 89.9FM NY
Programming
FormatCollege radio
Subchannels
  • HD2: WWFM simulcast (Classical)
  • HD3: NPR
Ownership
OwnerColumbia University
History
FoundedFebruary 24, 1941 (1941-02-24)
First air date
May 14, 1956
(68 years ago)
 (1956-05-14)[1]
Call sign meaning
"King's Crown Radio"[2]
Technical information[3]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID68270
ClassB1
ERP1,350 watts
HAAT284 meters (932 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
40°45′21.4″N 73°59′08.5″W / 40.755944°N 73.985694°W / 40.755944; -73.985694
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/

WKCR-FM (89.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Columbia University and serves the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1941, the station traces its history back to 1908 with the first operations of the Columbia University Radio Club (CURC). In 1956, it became one of the first college radio stations to adopt FM broadcasting, which had been invented two decades earlier by Professor Edwin Howard Armstrong. The station was preceded by student involvement in W2XMN, an experimental FM station founded by Armstrong, for which the CURC provided programming. Originally an education-focused station, since the Columbia University protests of 1968, WKCR-FM has shifted its focus towards alternative musical programming, with an emphasis on jazz, classical, and hip-hop.

WKCR has been described as one of the premier stations for jazz in the United States, having been involved in the New York jazz scene from its founding; one of its first broadcasts was the earliest performance by Thelonious Monk on radio. Through The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, it has played an instrumental role in the development of hip hop since the 1990s. It was also one of the first stations in the United States to broadcast salsa music.

The station made its first AM broadcast out of John Jay Hall and its first FM broadcast from Philosophy Hall, where Armstrong had invented FM. In 1958, it moved its transmitter to the DuMont Building on Madison Avenue. Following a decade of bureaucratic struggle against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Federal Communications Commission, it began transmitting from an antenna atop the World Trade Center in 1985. After the towers' destruction in 2001, the station broadcast for a brief period of time from a backup transmitter on the roof of Carman Hall, before moving to 4 Times Square in 2003, where it remains today. Its studios are currently located in Alfred Lerner Hall.

  1. ^ "Columbia To Test FM: Students Open Week's Trial Of Campus Station Today". The New York Times. May 13, 1956. p. 35.
  2. ^ "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web.
  3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WKCR-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.