WDOM

WDOM
Frequency91.3 MHz
Programming
FormatCollege/Indie
Ownership
OwnerProvidence College
History
FoundedApril 28, 1949
First air date
March 15, 1966 (1966-03-15)
Call sign meaning
DOMinican Order[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID53676
ClassA
ERP125 watts
HAAT40 m (130 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
41°50′39″N 71°26′14″W / 41.84417°N 71.43722°W / 41.84417; -71.43722
Links
Public license information
Websitewdom.providence.edu

WDOM (91.3 FM) is a radio station licensed to Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The station is owned by Providence College[3] and broadcasts from studios and a transmitter on the campus.

WDOM began operations as a carrier current station for the campus in 1949; it began broadcasting on FM for the entire Providence area in 1966. It continues to service the Providence College community and the city of Providence. The station broadcasts indie, hip-hop, alternative, punk, electronica, rap, dance, classic rock, jazz, and country music.

History

On April 28, 1949, WDOM launched as a carrier current radio station serving the Providence College campus on 1450 kHz; a highlight of the first day of programming was an interview with Harry James on the "Guest Band of the Day" segment.[4] That first year, the station broadcast Tuesday and Thursday nights.[5] For 1951, the station broadcast on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, airing for three hours each day.[6] The early years were marked by six frequency changes in the first decades of operation; WDOM moved to Aquinas Hall in 1953, but inconsistency in WDOM's broadcasts prompted a student congress investigation.[7]

More reliable and successful broadcasts came in the mid-1950s as the result of a new transmitter, built by physics students, and equipment donations.[7] By 1964, however, the station had become a non-entity on the campus. The student newspaper, The Cowl, described it as a "phantom frequency" that had only sporadically broadcast.[8]

On November 5, 1965, the Federal Communications Commission awarded Providence College a construction permit for a 10-watt FM station on 91.3 MHz.[9] It was the culmination of FM plans first laid more than 15 years prior. In 1948, the college had obtained a construction permit for a station at 89.9 MHz;[10] at the time Albertus Magnus Hall—the science building which housed the studios—was built, it was mentioned that the plans included FM broadcasting.[11]

After going on the air on March 15, 1966,[12] WDOM increased its broadcast hours—airing ten hours a day[13]—and expanded its sports coverage, including freshman basketball and varsity hockey games.[14] The station continued to broadcast only during the school year.[15] Its music format was Top 40.[16]

WDOM grew over the course of the 1970s. The station moved from Alumni Hall to larger quarters in Joseph Hall early in the decade.[16] It had expanded its broadcast day to 21 hours by 1974 and was airing a mix of progressive rock, in-house educational and block programming; it also began to seek a power increase.[17] By 1976, 100 students were involved in the operation of the station, compared to the 15 to 20 who had been around for the FM launch a decade prior.[16] The station's classical record library received a major boost when the former WPJB-FM, which had exited the format, donated its collection to WDOM in 1976.[18]

In the end, however, it was not increased student involvement that prompted Providence College to pursue a facility upgrade, but rather a 1978 FCC rulemaking that required as many 10-watt noncommercial educational stations—like WDOM—as possible to upgrade to at least 100 watts.[19] The college applied to increase power to 125 watts and was approved by the commission on September 8, 1980,[9] and the improved facilities were activated on December 5.[20] The station continued to balance its rock output with jazz and classical programming, unduplicated in Providence.[21] However, even as these programs remained a part of the station's lineup, rock programming was the priority by the mid-1990s at WDOM; it was followed closely by the Urban Beatz hip-hop show on the weekends, which generated the most callers of any program on the station.[22][1] The station had also begun 24-hour broadcasting on weekends.[22] In the late 1990s, WDOM moved to a new on-campus location in the Slavin Center, giving it higher visibility.[1]

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, WDOM broadcast Rhode Island Public Radio when WELH, then the network's main transmitter, was knocked off the air. After sending out a message seeking aid, Providence College president Brian Shanley invited the public radio network to use WDOM's facilities, enabling RIPR to continue broadcasting to the immediate Providence area.[23]

Much of the station's equipment was overhauled in 2014; some of it had been in continuous use since the 1990s.[24]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ a b c "WDOM celebrates 50 years". Spectrum. April 9, 1999. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WDOM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "WDOM Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  4. ^ "President Speaks At Inauguration Of AM Radio Station". The Cowl. May 4, 1949. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "WDOM Begins Regular Broadcast". The Cowl. May 11, 1949. p. 3. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  6. ^ "WDOM Plans Events For Year". The Cowl. March 14, 1951. p. 1. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Lonardo, Al (March 20, 1957). "Station's History". The Cowl. pp. 3, 6. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  8. ^ "Silent 600 Kc..." The Cowl. December 16, 1964. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "History Cards for WDOM". Federal Communications Commission. (Guide to reading History Cards)
  10. ^ "FCC Actions" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 14, 1948. p. 95. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  11. ^ "Million Dollar Science Building Lessens Strain On Harkins Hall". October 6, 1948. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  12. ^ "WDOM(FM)" (PDF). Broadcasting Yearbook. 1969. p. B-149 (313). Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  13. ^ "WDOM Expands Broadcast Time To Include FM". The Cowl. March 2, 1966. p. 6. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  14. ^ "WDOM Fills First Year With Increased Sports Coverage". The Cowl. May 11, 1966. p. 10. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  15. ^ "WDOM Concludes FM Broadcasting". The Cowl. May 8, 1968. p. 3. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  16. ^ a b c Varian, Gregory (March 31, 1976). "WDOM Head: Programming Innovative and 'About the Best'". The Cowl. pp. 6, 8. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  17. ^ "WDOM Reports Expansion, Seeks "Power Increase"". The Cowl. January 23, 1974. p. 2. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  18. ^ Monti, Henry; Radcliffe, Richard (November 3, 1976). "WPJB Donates Library". The Cowl. p. 3. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  19. ^ Higgins, Maureen (October 3, 1979). "WDOM planning wattage increase". p. 2. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  20. ^ Farley, Brian (January 28, 1981). "WDOM "PC Turns Us On"". The Cowl. p. 10. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  21. ^ "Have You Heard WDOM Lately?". The Cowl. March 20, 1984. p. 9. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  22. ^ a b Keenan, Pete (September 19, 1996). "WDOM". The Cowl. p. 9. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  23. ^ Lapin, Andrew; Janssen, Mike (November 5, 2012). "Pubcasters battered by Superstorm Sandy". Current. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  24. ^ Gagnon, Dan (September 25, 2014). "WDOM's New Sound for the New Semester". The Cowl. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  25. ^ "WDOM Program Guide". The Cowl. October 17, 1979. p. 12. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.