Indiana Public Radio

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Ball State University
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Muncie, IN 47306
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History

A SHORT HISTORY OF WBST AND INDIANA PUBLIC RADIO

It all began in 1923, when two students at Indiana State Normal School, Eastern Division (i.e. Ball State’s earliest incarnation), directed by science professor Harry Howick, built a "radiophone" in an attic of the Administration Building. A loud speaker in Assembly Hall allowed students to hear radio broadcasts from New York, Chicago, and Dallas.

Over the next two and a half decades

the Science Dept. set up a low power transmitter in what is now the Burkhardt Building to conduct physics experiments (1925). Soon a wire connected the transmitter to the Ad. Building radiophone so students could hear broadcasts. The transmitter was used over the next seven years to broadcast educational, musical programs and speeches by the President of the College. Broadcasts were also heard over WLBC and WOWO (Ft. Wayne). Music Department Professor Claude Palmer formed a "radio committee" in 1931 to oversee regular programming.
A room in the Administration Building was specifically delegated for radio transmission.
The English Dept. (which included Speech and Theater) offered the first radio courses (1942).
In 1948, a radio laboratory (a studio and classroom combined) was set up in the speech building.
James "Pete" Petersen, English Dept., was the first faculty member hired specifically to teach radio courses (1949).

In the Fifties, WBST was assigned call letters and designated as a "wired-wireless" station, broadcasting from 6 to 9:30 weekdays to the residence halls. The radio had to be grounded to a heating pipe in order to hear the station. "The radio fever had hit Ball State, and application had been made by the college to start up a ‘wired’ radio station to be operated by the English Department" (Bill Spurgeon).

the station was located in one of three military barracks--where Cooper Science is now.
there had to be a wired hookup into each building that was going to receive the signal.
Board of Trustees filed for an FCC license, requesting "WBAL". Request denied because WBAL was already assigned to a CBS affiliate in Baltimore.
"…this network of wire was [gathered] at a manhole at the northwest corner of Ball Gym, the nearest access to the Speech building [also in the barracks]…Not having the professional….expertise…, we sought the advice of Harry Howick, physics prof. who suggested a practical solution: wad up a gob of bathroom tissue and hook the end of the wire on it, and hook up a vacuum cleaner to the end of the conduit…it worked." [Spurgeon in a 1977 interview]

In 1951, WBST began commercial broadcasting, permissible because WBST was classified as "wire-wireless". The money from advertising was to be used for scholarships.
A new building would be built in the late 1950s to house radio and TV studios with state-of-the-art facilities, as part of the Music-English-Auditorium building [now Emens].

The 1960s – the beginning of WBST-FM
Ball State received its first FM transmitter, with a frequency of 90.7 MHz, in 1960. The 10-watt FM station was on the air for six hours a day, often silent on weekends and during quarter breaks and holidays.
Robert J. Robbins, who had come to Ball State in 1952 as director of radio and television, signed on the new WBST station at 3:26 p.m. with a three-minute, 50-second announcement (Sept. 12, 1960). The station was dedicated later that day (7:30 to 7:58 p.m.) with a program combining live and recorded music that originated from the control room. The log for the first day’s programming shows the names of seven announcers. An announcer logged as "Hipskind" signed off that first day at 9:32 p.m.
WBST occupied its first real home in the communications wing of the English Building in 1961.

Also in 1961: Dr. William Tomlinson was hired from Stephens College and was responsible for getting the 162-foot, 10-watt tower erected a short distance east of the WBST studios at the rear of the English Building (located in Emens at the time).

1963: The Broadcasting Club is reorganized
1965: WBST does first remote broadcast, covering Homecoming Parade.
1966: David Letterman was part of a "9-man news team" announcing election returns. (He was later fired for his irreverent treatment of classical music.)

1968: John Eiden was hired by Ball State as a graphic artist; one month later, he became assistant manager of the radio station.

The 1970s: The decade began on a cautiously optimistic note. In 1970 President John Pruis submitted a proposal to FCC to increase power to 50,000 watts. He privately admitted he expected to get a smaller increase.
1971: WBST selected from among nominees from older and better-established stations to win the 1970 Major Armstrong Award. The winning program was called "Pig Latin" and presented the story of a police officer trying to do his job despite many difficulties.
1977: Arrangements are made to provide live coverage of Ball State basketball games on WBST, with Morrie Manies serving as play-by-play host. (It was not a long-lived arrangement, as it turned out.) John Eiden was appointed general manager.
1978: In December, WBST switched to a 3,000-watt transmitter located on a new tower on Nebo Road. In September, before the station implemented the new transmitter, the new tower was struck by lightning – an inauspicious beginning.

The 1980s -- the station becomes a National Public Radio member station
1980: On September 12, after more than 50 years of experimentation and twenty years of broadcasting, WBST became a member of National Public Radio with substantially increased support from Ball State University and an expansion grant totaling $98,000 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Also in 1980:

June 16: WBST becomes CPB-qualified
September 12: All Things Considered makes it debut on WBST
five full-time professionals added to WBST staff
October: WBST begins publication of a regular program guide and conducts the first membership drive for Friends of WBST (amount raised: $8,500)
Sonitrol Security Systems of Muncie signs up as WBST’s first underwriter
December: Ball State’s Board of Trustees created the WBST Community Advisory Committee

The 1990s to the present – WBST grows into a network
1990: On WBST’s 30th anniversary as an FM station, WBST sponsored a "30th Anniversary Plymouth Fury Giveaway."

1997 – 1997 was a most significant year for the station as its expansion plans came to fruition. WBSB (Anderson) went on the air in February 1997, a month before Garrison Keillor brought A Prairie Home Companion to Emens Auditorium. WBSW 90.1FM (Marion) was next, taking to the airwaves in August of the same year. The expansion into a five-station network was then completed in December with the addition first of WBSJ 91.7FM (Portland), and WBSH 91.1FM (Hagerstown-New Castle) which was added on December 31. On the next day, January 1, 1998, WBST could legitimately go on the air with its new identity as the Indiana Public Radio network.