It may not be quite as well-listened to as its commercial sister station 99 Rock, but don't dismiss Dartmouth Radio just yet. Despite a relative dearth of listeners, Dartmouth radio (better known as WebDCR or, more simply, DCR) provides its student disc jockeys, or "jocks," with both a forum for self-expression and a venue for learning about the medium of radio, according to program director Shirine Sajjadi '11.
"Our purpose is to be an outlet for students interested in dabbling in radio, and in projecting their opinions and voices to a larger audience in free format their show can be about whatever they want it to be, and whatever it is they're interested in or want to share with the world." Sajjadi said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
DCR which switched to an exclusively online format in 2008 is distinct from Dartmouth's other, perhaps more prominent, student-run FM station, WFRD, better known as 99 Rock. Although both stations operate under the student-run umbrella organization Dartmouth Broadcasting, WFRD reaches listeners from all over the Upper Valley.
"WFRD is our commercial FM station that plays only rock," Sajjadi said. "WFRD is much more structured and formal, since it is a Billboard-recognized commercial station, and has a much larger listenership than DCR."
DCR, on the other hand, runs on a budget supported mostly by alumni donations and has "not many" listeners, Sajjadi said.
Yet according to Sajjadi, DCR's freedom from the financial demands intrinsic to its sister station allow the former to be "much more interactive and fun, since there is essentially no regulated, imposed structure."
Any student is eligible to sign up for a time slot on DCR, according to Ben Gifford '10, who co-hosts one of the five most popular DCR shows, "Dog's Bollacks," with Max Pollack '10.
Gifford is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.
Every Thursday, starting at 10 p.m., Gifford and Pollack deliver "high quality music and banter" to their listeners, as the duo wrote in a recent campus-wide e-mail.
According to Gifford, after playing Frank Sinatra's version of "The Girl from Ipanema" the show's standard introductory ditty the pair takes turns playing sets of a few songs each, engaging in witty repartee and reading listeners' feedback (received in realtime via BlitzMail) in between each set. Gifford and Pollack conclude each two-hour show with a reading of a Zen koan, or parable "because it's the right thing to do," Gifford said.
According to Gifford, who first DJ-ed at DCR somewhat by accident when Pollack asked him to fill in for another friend during their freshman year, the pair is rather casual in their approach to radio.
"We enjoy spending an hour or two together as bonding time each week," Gifford said, emphasizing DCR's minimalist approach to regulating its content.
While Gifford and Pollack's formula of music and banter seems to represent the general standard for DCR's programming, many shows take an altogether different approach, such as Colin Harris '13's exclusively country program "The Colin Harris Show," another one of DCR's top five programs, which strives to "bring the sounds of the South to coldest New Hampshire," as Harris' tagline proclaims.
Like Gifford, Harris explained that he began hosting his show "almost by accident" in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
"During Orientation, I happened to walk by the radio booth, and casually asked when WDCR played country music. I was shocked when they told me there was no country show on WDCR, and I volunteered right then and there," Harris wrote.
Mia Jessup '12 and Maria Carolan '12's decision to take up radio broadcasting similarly exemplifies how DCR can function as an outlet for student expression.
"Our dinner discussions are often the best, most entertaining part our day. We wanted to do the show as a way of extending the absurd conversations we normally have, and letting our friends at Dartmouth and elsewhere listen in and take part," Carolan said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
According to Carolan, their show "Bro-Botz" (previously dubbed "Sun Goddesses") explores "the intersection between robots and bros, two prevalent life forms on this campus."
"The show gives us an opportunity to share our weekly musings and anecdotes, kind of like therapy with frequent musical interludes. Imagine eating a tray of brownies in your bed while your favorite guilty-pleasure '90s pop band plays a private concert in your room. That feeling of 11-year-old euphoria is what Bro-Botz aims to achieve," Carolan wrote.
Despite giving students a place to air their thoughts, however, DCR faces several difficulties that pose less of an issue to WFRD, not the least of which is its limited audience, especially among students.
"Campus recognition is one of our largest problems," Sajjadi wrote. "The majority of our listenership comes from friends and relatives of people during their shows, with the occasional few alumni who tune in."
Student jocks do encourage students to tune in by sending mass e-mails and taking advantage of the interactive features of radio (Gifford and Pollack, for example, hold contests in which the first listener to e-mail in receives a cash prize of $1.)
On top of this difficulty is DCR's low budget and aging equipment, according to Sajjadi. Yet these difficulties don't seem to phase her.
"We make the most of all our really old equipment," she wrote.
The student jocks share this attitude, appreciating DCR as a novel college experience rather than dwelling on the low listenership. Thus DCR remains a notable, if quiet, voice in the Dartmouth community.
