WHRB Gets New Equipment; News Scope Increased

WHRB begins its 12th year of broadcasting with additional equipment and new program features much in evidence.

Summer acquisitions include a $140 microphone, a tape recorder, a console controlling ten mikes, two turntables, and a Baruch-Lang high fidelity speaker system developed by the M.I.T. Acoustical Laboratory. Enlarged executive offices and sound-proofing installation in one of the studies completed the station's physical improvements.

Increased news coverage is the primary programming revision. WHRB has scheduled six news broadcasts a day plus frequent breaks for five minutes of headlines. National and world news comes in through the United Press and the recently acquired New York Times news service. Campus events will receive on-the-scene coverage with tape re-broadcast.

WHRB also plans to present a series of 13 broadcasts entitled "The Jeffersonian Heritage"; Clande Rains will star in the programs, which present "the dramatized ideas which are the enduring possessions of all Americans and all free peoples," according to the sponsor's advertisement.

While improvements were installed last summer, about 60 percent of the station staff held professional radio jobs, including General Manager Alan J. Bell '53, Program Director Richard S. Rosenbloom '54, and Chief Engineer Augustus J. Fabens '53.

The summer also saw the organization of a WHRB alumni group under the leadership of Lawrence Leder '41, now a free-lance writer for the Saturday Evening Post and Coronet. About 60 former members of the University station met in New York City on September 13 at the first gathering of the club.

The Boston chapter of the WHRB alumni organization is headed by William H. Rahn, Jr. '45 of WNAC-TV and Martin Bookspan '47 of WCOP.