Student Life: WOBC Radio Station Records

The first Oberlin College radio programs were reputed to have been produced in the physics laboratory as 8YAE in 1923, with Men’s and Women’s Glee Club broadcasting their annual tours from Cleveland Stations as early as 1924. College records more definitely pinpoint 1927 as the first College broadcast. The first from the campus was made in the spring of 1928 at the quadrennial Mock Political Convention as a local broadcast over WHK Cleveland.  There were many isolated programs during the period from 1927 to 1937.

The first series of broadcasts was offered in 1931-32, completely musical, by faculty and students of the Conservatory. A second series of broadcasts, also local, was given in 1934-35, again musical and originating from Cleveland. A third group of early local broadcasts consisted of fourteen which started in February 1936. These were given at two-week intervals over WTAM for a half hour on Sunday afternoons. Professor R. A. Jelliffe of the English Department acted as narrator for this program, known as “Oberlin-on-the-Air.”  The programs were not always musical; various professors from departments of chemistry, history, English, political science, zoology, economics and art offered programs.

Of the broadcasts for 1938-39, eighteen were on national networks, five on N.B.C., and thirteen on M.B.S. (Mutual Broadcasting System). Eleven others were local broadcasts from Cleveland, and the rest came from other points in the country. Oberlin was unable to broadcast locally, and had to do most of its broadcasts from Cleveland for lack of a suitable telephonic connection.

In 1949, the forerunner of today’s WOBC-FM was established as KOCN-AM, the Oberlin College Student Network, which made its first broadcast as “Oberlin-on-the-Air” on November 5, 1950 at 590-AM via police call lines to eight dormitories. The first broadcast originated from a building located at 32 East College Street that was later demolished to allow the construction of the Oberlin Inn. When construction of the Inn began in the mid-1950s, the radio station moved to the garage behind Grey Gables, a building on West College Street that was later demolished to construct the Mudd Center.

In the early years of the station, studio equipment and broadcast electronics were built by Oberlin College students, save the purchase of used turntables and microphone.  The AM signal was broadcast directly to dormitories over a network of wire and transmission boxes attached to electrical poles in town. The station’s called letters changed from KOCN to WOBC in 1952 to comply with new call-letter standards. In 1953, the station acquired a teletype machine as a result of a sponsorship deal with Lucky Strike which provided news updates. The station published program guides beginning in 1959, and it continues to this day.

In 1961, WOBC-FM, a 10 watt, non-profit educational station at 88.7-FM was created and in 1963-64 moved to its present home on the third floor of Wilder Hall, the Oberlin College Student Union. To create space for the station, part of Wilder Hall’s dormitory area was remodeled based on designs drawn up by WOBC staff members in consultation with members of the business office and the Office of Buildings and Grounds. Funds were drawn from the College and from the Student Union Fund of student donations. The studios were completed in January of 1964, after improvements were made following testing of their technical properties. That year the station provided continuous on-the-spot coverage of the College’s Republican Mock Convention; a special live broadcast of the Martin Luther King, Jr. campus assembly address; and a special Election Night broadcast for students, featuring coverage of local elections not available from area stations.

The station began broadcasting 24 hours a day during the 1970s. In 1972 WOBC’s sound quality was vastly improved when the station began broadcasting in stereo. During the first two decades of the station’s operation, programming consisted largely of classical music, news, jazz and popular music. In 1974 the station offered far more than music.  “The Oberlin Radio Workshop” was a weekly dramatic program of plays in the style of the 1930s and 40s.  “Paint It Black” was a weekly show devoted to black news and features, focusing on both national and campus events; a highlight of the show was an interview taped with Duke Ellington when he played at Oberlin the previous year. “Herstory” offered music by women as well as women’s news and pertinent information. “College Question” was a game show with teams of students in competition.  On Sundays the station produced an hour-long program with a compilation of the week’s news, local, national and international, and reviews, features and commentary.

In the mid-1980s the station transitioned to its more powerful location at 91.5.  In 1986 the program “Music from Oberlin,” performed by faculty and staff of the Oberlin College Conservatory, was broadcast from 125 radio stations in 39 states.  The program had been broadcast from WOBC beginning in the 1960s, and between 1981 and 1986 the number of stations carrying the program more than tripled.

While the station’s main purpose was to provide Oberlin College students with opportunities to learn about radio, in 1988 WOBC defined itself as a community station, with roughly 20 local resident staff members who were not students and served different constituencies in Lorain and Elyria.

In 2014 WOBC broadcasts more than 150 programs weekly--talk shows, news reports, music shows spanning all genres, and live performances--each conceived and produced by volunteer DJs. Daily operations in 2014 were handled by a five-member administrative board and a volunteer staff of over thirty.

List of Station Managers and Program Directors by Year

Station Manager

2011: Will Floyd

2010: Maggie Gruner

2009: Jesse Montgomery

2008: Colin Raffel

2007: Megan Snow

2006: William Thurlow

2005: A.C. Hawley

2004: Jenna Weiss-Berman '05

2003: Alex Grogan '05

2002: Neil Freeman '03

2001: Joseph Kremer '02

1999: David Tamarkin '00

1998: Zach Cutler '99

1997: Charles Watson

1996: Lora Nunn

1995: Rebecca Ross

1994: Carmen Mitchell

1993: Todd Hutlock

1992: Lara Utiian

1991: David Sewbert

1990: Michael Lashutka '91

1989: Michael Lashutka '91

1988: Suzannah Tartan '89

1987: Suzannah Tartan '89 

1986: Stephanie Oxley '87

1985: Peter Mayer '86

1984: Lorenzo "Jerry" Parra '85

1983: Peter Riggs '85

1982: Ron Wolf '83

1981: T. Gregory Gray '82

1980: Grant Hicks '81

1979: Gene Carr '82

1978: Lorin Burte '79

1977: Hendrik Sybrandy '79

1976: Isaac Mayo '77

1975: Bill Leonard '77

1974: John Scheinfeld '75

1973: John Cohen '74

1972: Bill Siegel '74

1971: Dale Lewis '73

1970: Glenn Davis '73 and Warren Leon '72

1969: Randy Bongarten

1968: Tom Thomas '69

1967: John Heckenlively '68

1966: Ted Gest '68 and Richard Lasko '67

1965: Ted Tarkow '66

1964: Fred Leutner '65

1963: John Davis '65

1962: Janet Dechert '63

1961: Stan Robinson '62

1960: Roland Hirsch '61

1959: Bill Waite '60

1958: Ken Kupery '59

1957: Clair Fielder '58

1956: Bob Bergstresser '57

1955: Craig Richmond '56

1954: Don Burr '55

1953: Al Beatty '54

1952: Ed Stark '53

1951: Bill Thurber '52

1950: Bob Chamberlain '51

1949: Bob Chamberlain '51

Program Director

2011: Stella Byrne

2010: Elissa Israel

2009: Max Rivlin-Nadler

2008: Matt Friberg

2007: Ian Page

2006: Camilla Padglitt-Coles

2005: Frederica Bepler

2004: Frederica Bepler

2003: Jenna Weiss-Berman, Molly Shea

2002: Steven Villereal

2001: Mike Gallope

1998: Dave Tamarkin

1997: Zach Cutler, James Harris

1996: Shannon Wearing

1995: Lora Nunn

1994: Meg Coward

1993: Meg Coward, Rebecca Parker

1992: Kerry Donahue

1991: Lara Utian

1990: Karina Gaige

1988: Jon Fine

1986: Donna Gallers

1984: Josh Rubin

1983: Jerry Parra

1971: Hans Wagner

Sources Consulted

Ted Gest, “50 WOBC Staffers Return for First Reunion,” Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Summer 1988), 30-31.

Frederick D. Leutner, “The WOBC,” Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Vol. 61, No. 1 (January 1965), 10-12.

John Scheinfeld, “25 Years from KOCN-AM to WOBC-FM,” Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 6 (November/December 1974), 19-20.

Manuscript on radio at Oberlin by President Ernest Hatch Wilkins, undated, from the William Frederick Bohn Papers, RG 3/1, Series I. Administrative Records, Box 14, “Radio” folder.

List of administrators/officers provided by Will Floyd, WOBC Station Manager, July 2010.

WOBC-FM website at www.wobc.org, accessed 1/13/2014.

Note written by Anne Cuyler Salsich, with assistance from Will Floyd.