WBRS

[Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>]

Back in my days at Brandeis (class of '92), WBRS prided itself on 24/7/365 
operation, no matter what. This extended, during
a 1989 power outage on campus, to broadcasting from the hallway outside the 
station's transmitter room in the Rabb Graduate
Center using power grabbed from an emergency lighting fixture and audio 
from someone's Walkman. Of course it also meant,
during summers and school breaks, overnights that consisted of album side 
after album side being played while the jock on
"duty" slept or did something else on the sofa in studio B.

In that era, the Southbridge 100.1 operated from Southbridge, which meant 
that WBRS had little else competing on 100.1 as
the signal headed east into Boston. I remember hearing the station easily 
in the car while heading into Brookline and Brighton,
and there was indeed a terrain quirk that gave the signal something of a 
hot spot at Logan. WBRS must have been receivable
in parts of Medford as well, since I recall WMFO simulcasting WBRS' live 
music "The Joint" program in that era as well. The
signal never went west or north even prior to WWFX; terrain shielding faded 
it out just past the Rt. 20/Main Street exit on 128
heading north, and it was long gone before Natick heading west.

Even then, there was concern among some of us about WBRS' unprotected Class 
D status. I tried to raise the issue at board
meetings during my tenure as news director, but the board in that era 
seemed more concerned about who was sleeping with
whom and what music was and wasn't being played (notwithstanding an 
official station policy that claimed not to pass any
judgments whatsoever on the quality of music, which was every bit as 
ridiculous as it sounded), and so no efforts were made to
increase power or move the transmitter site. (It was around that time that 
I got a job at a real radio station working with real
radio professionals like a certain Mr. O'Neill and ceased to be involved 
with WBRS...)

In the end, it wouldn't have mattered - since WBRS indeed operates as an 
unprotected class D, if WWFX changed city of license
to, say, Southbridge and moved its transmitter to Framingham, there 
wouldn't be a thing WBRS could do about it. I used to think
this was a bad thing; from what I've heard of the station's current status, 
I'm not sure I still care all that much...

s