WBAU

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WBAU is the now-deleted call sign of the student-operated radio station located at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York.

WBAU was located at 90.3 on the FM dial, which it shared with WHPC, owned by Nassau Community College. Under the original agreement, WHPC owned the frequency from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM, and WBAU owned it from 5:00 PM until 1:00 AM. The two stations then switched ownership of the frequency on an "odd/even day" basis, although neither station operated between 1:00 and 9:00 AM until 1982, when the agreement was amended to allow WBAU to operate daily between 6:30 and 9:00 AM.

WBAU was originally called WALI, and broadcast entirely through carrier current at 640 on the AM dial. When, in 1971, the school decided to expand broadcast to the FM band, a protest by nearby WHLI (based on the call letters sounding so similar) led to the change to WBAU. Under these new call letters, the station began FM broadcasting in July 1972. The first record played was "Long Time Gone" by Crosby, Stills and Nash.

WBAU's broadcast tower was originally located in Mitchel Field; however when the tower was taken down in 1981, the station reduced power to 130 watts and moved their antenna to the top of the student center. Three years later they secured a new, higher location atop the Marriott Hotel in Uniondale, New York. The new antenna broadcast WBAU's signal at an effective radiated power of 1100 watts, making it one of the strongest signals on Long Island at the time.

In August of 1995, due to a clash of philosophies between the university president and the student run radio station, WBAU was abruptly shut down by the university. Its license and equipment were reportedly "voluntarily" sold to WHPC. The remnants of the dual control room, multichannel studios and the 10,000+ album record/CD library, which took over 40 years to collect, were discarded by the university.

[edit] Alumni and Other Brushes With Fame

• Artists who first got public exposure via WBAU include:
  • Run-DMC
  • LL Cool J
  • Public Enemy.
• Jonathan Wolfert, founder of Jam Creative Productions is an alumnus of WALI/WBAU.
• WKTU and MTV jock André Doctor Dre Brown first broadcast from WBAU.