Dartmouth Broadcasting is a business. It's not just a business serving your suitemates, or that girl in your psychology class, or even just the beloved denizens of Hanover; Dartmouth Broadcasting is a business (with a capital B) serving 30- to 40,000 listeners in the Upper Valley.
"It's a business. We're actually running it, there's lots of money involved, and you need to be careful," said Deborah Wassel '07, General Manager of Dartmouth Broadcasting. She's right: With an annual operating budget of $300,000-$360,000, self-supporting and funded entirely through advertising, there's no room for error.
The College's FM station, 99ROCK (WFRD-FM), is the nation's only student-run, fully commercial radio station. Running on about 3400kW of power, WFRD will be nearly doubling their output (and, subsequently, their range) to 6000kW in the next two weeks, promising to expand their audience, which is already 10 times larger than the number of undergraduates in Hanover. Two years ago, WFRD began competing in the official Arbitron-rated market against significantly larger radio conglomerates -- and they've more than held their own. WFRD will also be unveiling their new and improved website in the coming week, complete with a streaming live broadcast of both 99ROCK and its sister station, WDRC 1340 AM.
With a staff of roughly 15 student disc jockeys, 99ROCK specializes in "crunchy '90s rock," in the words of Wassel, playing the likes of Green Day, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Sublime. Hits from the late 1980s and modern-day chart-toppers sneak onto the playlists -- which are generally preset but can be altered by the DJs -- as well. From midnight to 6 a.m., an automation system, just three years old, allows music to rock through the night. For the other 18 hours of the day, however, a DJ is present in WFRD's third-floor Robinson Hall studio.
The Rock 'n' Go morning show, featuring Upper Valley personality Chris Garrett, has been gaining momentum since its inception just a few months ago. Wassel is looking forward to getting more students involved as she plans to expand the show to a "zoo" group format, featuring news, weather and other staples of a full-service morning show.
The FM station also features broadcasts of Dartmouth football and hockey games, commencement exercises, caller requests and contests -- the most recent featuring a trip to Las Vegas as its grand prize.
WFRD's AM counterpart, WDRC, is the "more typical college station," as Wassel points out, powered by just 1000kW and essentially stretching no further than the borders of Hanover. Students get weekly two-hour slots with which to do virtually whatever they wish: classic rock to talk shows to opera to rap to reggae and beyond. Shifts from 4 p.m. to midnight are filled almost everyday of the week by the 30 to 40 AM DJs. Students have the ability to call in, but calls cannot be broadcast live on the air.
With a listener base ranging from a group of dedicated friends (AM) to 40,000 residents of the Upper Valley (FM), Dartmouth Broadcasting allows for a number of enticing student DJ positions. As Wassel highlights, however, the business end of things that occurs behind the scenes is just as engaging. Real world financial experience is a natural result of working for a completely independent, self-supporting, $300,000 organization. Working with advertisers such as Ramunto's hones marketing skills while coordinating events like the 99ROCK barbecue during orientation and music during the bonfire help the student staff develop public relations expertise.
While Dartmouth Broadcasting is run entirely by students, it is far from enjoyed entirely by students. When asked whether or not they listen to 99ROCK and/or WDRC, an overwhelming majority of students replied that they did not; some even questioned the existence of either station. An anonymous AM radio DJ acknowledged that "AM radio is amazing here and no one listens. It is too bad."
While many students cited their preference for their personal digital music collections, and others failed to remember the last time they even listened to the radio, the lack of publicity for Dartmouth Broadcasting arose as an issue as well. "I don't listen to Dartmouth College radio because I've never heard what programming it has, and I don't know what frequency it is, or anything about it really. I don't feel like I've really been exposed to Dartmouth radio and what it offers," said Emily Fiocco '10.
When asked about Dartmouth Broadcasting's apparently low profile on campus, Wassel did not seem to think that publicity was a significant problem. While she admitted that AM DJs tend to "only get as many listeners as [they] blitz out to," Wassel stressed the fact that 99ROCK, the FM station, is a business that stretches beyond the College on the Hill. With tens of thousands of listeners in the Upper Valley listening to the nationally competing WFRD-FM, the student population at Dartmouth is hardly their primary focus.
Students who are involved, however, have much to look forward to. It's not surprising to note where the Dartmouth Broadcasting alumni (some of whom remain on the Alumni Board of Overseers) have gone. One works at ESPN, another started her own marketing company for radio stations, many have gone into television and a current student is even fulfilling an internship with New York's Q104.3, the nation's number one classic rock station.
Besides the life skills, practical real world experience and opportunities for internships afforded by working with Dartmouth Broadcasting -- great things to be sure -- the literal perks are thrilling as well: pre-release CDs and interviews with famous bands, to name just a few. As Wassel said, after exhausting a list of the obvious and practical benefits of working with the business that is Dartmouth Broadcasting: "What can I say? If nothing else, its just really, really fun."