| City of license | Atlanta, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Atlanta metropolitan area |
| Branding | Album 88 |
| Slogan | Left on the Dial, Right on the Music |
| Frequency | 88.5 MHz |
| Format | college radio |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 133 m (436 ft) |
| Class | C1 |
| Facility ID | 23959 |
| Callsign meaning | Radio at State (Georgia State[1] |
| Owner | Georgia State University |
| Website | Official website |
WRAS ("Album 88") is a college radio station in Atlanta with a frequency of 88.5MHz, which has been in operation since January 18th 1971. It is owned by Georgia State University and its on-air staff are all GSU students, with the exception of those who broadcast the University's athletic events for the station (the Georgia State radio network). WRAS has the highest power (100,000 watts ERP) of any student-staffed radio station in the world — a distinction it now shares with WREK FM in Atlanta since October 2011.
The name "Album 88" dates back to the late 1970s. It refers to the "album based" rotation the station employs: stressing several cuts from each album rather than a single. The station is non-commercial, with the only breaks in between songs being song listings, public service announcements, promos for various WRAS shows, brief news segments, and community affairs shows.
The station has won countless awards frequently beating out commercial radio stations from the Atlanta weekly Creative Loafing, the monthly Atlanta Magazine and the College Music Journal. The station has over 50 student volunteers who host rotation shifts as well as specialty shows (which fall outside of rotation). Many of the non-student envoys to the administration of the school also worked at the station in their college days.
Among the specialty shows at WRAS are: Nippon Music Champ (one of the few Japanese music shows in the southeast), The Georgia Music Show (dedicated exclusively to artists from Georgia), I Don't Care (punk), Soul Kitchen (funk, soul, disco and related), Crossroads (blues), Beatscape Lounge (ambient, electronica and nu jazz), Subterranean (drum and bass), Cowtipper's Delight (classic country and alternative country), Dot Dash (post-punk), Hotel Parallel (drone music and space rock), Mighty Aphrodite (female vocalists), We're Not Gonna Take It (heavy-metal music), Tower of Song (psyche, prog, freakbeat), a large variety of hip hop including the long-running shows Tha Bomb, Rhythm and Vibes (Atlanta's longest-running hip hop show) and Hush Hush (instrumental hip hop), Martinis Con Queso (lounge) and many more.[2]
WRAS has played a crucial role in "breaking" a wide range of artists including R.E.M., Deerhunter and Outkast (the latter band, WRAS was the first to play on radio). The station featured more commercially-identifable rock in the 1970s and early 1980s; many of the platinum and gold records that hang in the station's offices reflect this. According to Bob Geldof he penned the Boomtown Rats hit song, "I Don't Like Mondays" in the WRAS office after reading a telex report of the schoolyard shooting on which the song is based.
On March 14, 2008, an F-2 tornado struck Atlanta's downtown core and led to the evacuation of students and employees from various areas of the Georgia State campus. WRAS was thus forced to suspend broadcasting for nearly two days. (See 2008 Atlanta tornado)
As of October 2011[update], WRAS has a construction permit to move to the Atlanta Public Schools facility, which transmits WABE FM 90.1, and WPBA TV 21 (DTV 30.1) east of downtown. It currently transmits via a studio/transmitter link from the Panthersville area (no apparent relation the the GSU Panthers mascot), located southeast of the city between I-285 and I-20).
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