View source for WKCR-FM

{{short description|Radio station at Columbia University in New York City}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name = WKCR-FM
| city = [[New York, New York]]
| country = US
| logo = WKCR_radio_logo.webp
| logo_alt = A black rectangle with white block lettering "WKCR" and beneath it, in an italicized serif, "89.9 FM • New York".
| logo_upright = .9 
| area = [[New York metropolitan area]]
| frequency = {{frequency|89.9|[[MHz]]}} {{HD Radio}}
| branding = WKCR 89.9FM NY
| format = [[College radio]]
| subchannels = {{ubl|HD2: [[WWFM]] simulcast (Classical)|HD3: [[NPR]]}}
| owner = [[Columbia University]]
| founded = {{start date|1941|2|24}}
| airdate = {{start date and age|1956|5|14|p=y|br=yes}}<ref name="NYT560513">{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/05/13/91137405.html?pageNumber=35|url-access=subscription|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Columbia To Test FM: Students Open Week's Trial Of Campus Station Today|page=35|date=May 13, 1956}}</ref>
| callsign_meaning = "King's Crown Radio"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oldradio.com/archives/nelson/origins.call-list.html |title=Call Letter Origins |work=Radio History on the Web |access-date=March 11, 2022 |archive-date=April 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427020323/https://www.oldradio.com/archives/nelson/origins.call-list.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| facility_id = 68270
| class = B1
| erp = 1,350 watts
| haat = {{convert|284|m|sp=us}}
| coordinates = {{coord|40|45|21.4|N|73|59|08.5|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark}}
| webcast = {{Listen live|https://wkcr.streamguys1.com/live}}
| website = {{URL|https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/}}
}}
'''WKCR-FM''' (89.9 [[FM broadcasting|FM]]) is a radio station licensed to [[New York, New York]]. The station is owned by [[Columbia University]] and serves the [[New York metropolitan area]]. Founded in 1941, the station traces its history back to 1908 with the first operations of the Columbia University Radio Club (CURC). In 1956, it became one of the first [[Campus radio|college radio stations]] to adopt [[FM broadcasting]], which had been invented two decades earlier by Professor [[Edwin Howard Armstrong]]. The station was preceded by student involvement in [[W2XMN]], an experimental FM station founded by Armstrong, for which the CURC provided programming. Originally an education-focused station, since the [[Columbia University protests of 1968]], WKCR-FM has shifted its focus towards alternative musical programming, with an emphasis on [[jazz]], classical, and [[hip-hop]].

WKCR has been described as one of the premier stations for jazz in the United States, having been involved in the New York jazz scene from its founding; one of its first broadcasts was the earliest performance by [[Thelonious Monk]] on radio. Through ''[[The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show]]'', it has played an instrumental role in the development of hip hop since the 1990s. It was also one of the first stations in the United States to broadcast [[salsa music]].

The station made its first [[AM broadcast]] out of [[John Jay Hall]] and its first FM broadcast from [[Philosophy Hall]], where Armstrong had invented FM. In 1958, it moved its transmitter to the [[DuMont Building]] on [[Madison Avenue]]. Following a decade of bureaucratic struggle against the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]] and the [[Federal Communications Commission]], it began transmitting from an antenna atop the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in 1985. After the towers' destruction in 2001, the station broadcast for a brief period of time from a backup transmitter on the roof of [[Carman Hall]], before moving to [[4 Times Square]] in 2003, where it remains today. Its studios are currently located in [[Alfred Lerner Hall]].

==History==
=== Wireless Telegraphy Club ===
[[File:ColumbiaWirelessClub.png|thumb|The Columbia Wireless Club receiving station, 1909|alt=A grainy, sepia-toned image showing a man at a receiving station, a desk with various pieces of equipment]]
The first recorded instance of radio experimentation at Columbia took place in 1906, in the same year as the first [[AM radio]] transmission made by [[Reginald Fessenden]]. Records indicate that a Columbia University Experimental Wireless Station had set up a cage{{Nbh}}type radio antenna between the chimneys of [[Havemeyer Hall]] and [[Schermerhorn Hall]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Earls |first=Alan R. |year=2009 |title=Radio Active |url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/radio-active |access-date=August 1, 2022 |website=Columbia Magazine |language=en |archive-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413222546/https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/radio-active |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":18">{{Cite book |last1=Mathur |first1=Ashish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PBKDwAAQBAJ&dq=Columbia+University+Experimental+Wireless+Station&pg=PA4 |title=Antenna and Wave Propagation |last2=Trivedi |first2=Ranjana |last3=Mathur |first3=G. B. |date=January 1, 2011 |publisher=Scientific Publishers |isbn=978-93-87307-30-8 |pages=4 |language=en}}</ref>

What is now WKCR{{Nbh}}FM originated as the Wireless Telegraph Club of Columbia University, now under the name Columbia University Amateur Radio Club. Founded in 1908, one year before the Harvard Wireless Club (W1AF) and the MIT Radio Society (W1MX), it is the oldest amateur radio society.<ref>{{cite news |date=November 25, 1908 |title=Wireless Club at Columbia |page=2 |work=[[The Sun (New York)|The Sun]] |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1908-11-25/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=March 17, 2017 |issn=1940-7831}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 1958 |title=Columbia University ARC, W2AEE, older than MIT (1906 to 1908) |work=[[QST]]}}</ref> It set up its first experimental station on the roof of University Hall, where Uris Hall now stands, in November of that year with the blessings of Professor [[Mihajlo Pupin]], who donated a corner of his laboratory in Havemeyer Hall to the club, as well a large [[electromagnetic coil]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 24, 1908 |title=New Wireless Station Erected on Top of University Hall |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19081124-01.2.2&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Wireless+Club------ |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203717/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19081124-01.2.2&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Wireless%20Club------ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Originally intended only for catching stray signals from passing ships, the station was soon used to communicate with stations from other universities and other stations in New York City. It engaged in its first test with the Wireless Association at [[Princeton University]] in 1909,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 5, 1909 |title=Plans of Wireless Club: Apparatus Now Nearly Ready for Testing—Communications to be Carried on With Princeton |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19090105-01.2.10&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-Wireless+Club------ |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203717/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19090105-01.2.10&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-Wireless+Club------ |url-status=live }}</ref> and in March of that year, it was used to receive the results of a basketball game against the [[University of Pennsylvania]] from [[The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel]] in [[Philadelphia]], the first such use of radio by college students.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 3, 1909 |title=Report by Wireless |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19090303-01.2.2&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-Wireless+Club------ |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203717/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19090303-01.2.2&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-Wireless+Club------ |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1915, the Wireless Club was known as the Columbia University Radio Club (CURC).<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 6, 1915 |title=Lecture on Wireless Before Radio Club |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19151106-01.2.20&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22radio+club%22------ |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203716/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19151106-01.2.20&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22radio+club%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref> The CURC made its first broadcasts with its [[Amateur radio|ham radio station]], W2AEE. The call sign was assigned to the CURC as early as 1931 and still operates under the Columbia University Amateur Radio Club.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Croswell |first=Alan |title=History of the CU Amateur Radio Club |url=https://www.w2aee.columbia.edu/W2AEE%20History.html#! |access-date=July 31, 2022 |website=w2aee.columbia.edu |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203713/https://www.w2aee.columbia.edu/W2AEE%20History.html#! |url-status=live }}</ref> Its first recorded broadcast was in 1933,<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 28, 1933 |title=Club Will Make A Dates Via Air; To Send Messages For Swains |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19330928-01.2.15&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-w2aee------ |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203720/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19330928-01.2.15&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-w2aee------ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the station received its license in 1938.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 21, 1938 |title=Correction |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19380221-01.2.27&srpos=7&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-w2aee------ |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203716/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19380221-01.2.27&srpos=7&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-w2aee------ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Carrier current AM station ===
[[File:Columbia Radio Club 1942.jpg|right|thumb|CURC broadcasting in 1942|alt=Four people are seated around a table in a radio studio. Two others watch them rom a window. There is a banner with the letters "CURC" above the window.]]
In 1933, [[FM broadcasting]] was invented by Professor of Electrical Engineering [[Edwin Howard Armstrong]] in the basement of [[Philosophy Hall]]. As an undergraduate at Columbia, he had studied under Pupin and invented the [[regenerative circuit]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Phyllis |last2=Orgel |first2=Jeremy |year=1986 |title=Edwin H. Armstrong: A legacy of genius |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_12981092_028/page/184/mode/2up |journal=Columbia College Today |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=12–14}}</ref> Immediately after his graduation in 1913, he was offered a position at the university, and continued his experimentation with radios. In 1914, he strung up another antenna between Havemeyer and Schermerhorn Halls for a new radio. At the time, it was considered "one of the best on the eastern coast", and could reportedly receive signals from as far away as [[Honolulu]], Hawaii.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 6, 1914 |title=Wireless Station Superbly Equipped |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19140306-01.2.32&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wireless+armstrong------ |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-date=June 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622225907/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19140306-01.2.32&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wireless+armstrong------ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l1os3mwQkxYC |title=Living Legacies at Columbia |first2= |year= 2006|publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-13884-0 |editor-last=de Bary |editor-first=Wm. Theodore |pages=301 |language=en}}</ref> Following his invention of FM, Armstrong created [[W2XMN]], the first regularly operated FM radio station, which made its first broadcast on July 18, 1939.<ref name=":1" /> Soon after its completion, the CURC began using W2XMN to test the potential of FM for college radio.<ref name=":0" /> The CURC made its first public and FM broadcasts on W2XMN, for which it provided programming.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Fraser |first=C. Gerald |date=July 30, 1977 |title=WKCR Will Be the First Station To Transmit From Trade Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/30/archives/wkcr-will-be-the-first-station-to-transmit-from-trade-center.html |access-date=August 1, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203714/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/30/archives/wkcr-will-be-the-first-station-to-transmit-from-trade-center.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

WKCR proper was founded in 1940. The original station was built almost single{{Nbh}}handedly by electrical engineering student William Hutchins in his room in [[John Jay Hall]]. Armstrong donated a microphone and turntables to the fledgling station.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Alperson |first=Myra |year=1986 |title=The 1940s |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_12981092_028/page/182/mode/2up?q=wkcr |journal=Columbia College Today |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=13–14}}</ref> While setting the station up, the Radio Club engaged in illegal experimentation, exceeding FCC minimum power regulations for [[Carrier current|carrier current transmission]].<ref name=":0" /> Under the name CURC, the station made its unofficial debut on December 31, 1940, with a broadcast of audio from a New Year's Eve party in John Jay Dining Hall. Its official maiden broadcast was made on February 24, 1941, and opened with a recording of "[[Roar, Lion, Roar]]", followed by light classical music, a 15{{Nbh}}minute sports show, 40 minutes of jazz, a campus news summary, and symphonic music.<ref name=":3" /> The station soon moved its headquarters to the space between [[Hartley Hall]] and [[Hamilton Hall (Columbia University)|Hamilton Hall]].<ref name=":18" />

Within its first year, CURC was broadcasting 18 hours a day, including {{frac|10|1|2}}{{Nbsp}}hours of rebroadcasts from [[WOR (AM)|W71NY]] and W2XMN. After the FCC officially recognized college radio stations in 1946, the station received the official call sign of WKCR (standing for "King's Crown Radio"); the designation was originally used by a [[United States Merchant Marine|Merchant Marine]] ship, the ''SS Miramar''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 27, 1946 |title=CURC Changes Call Letters to WKCR; Radio Studio Renovated During Summer |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19460927-01.2.24&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22wkcr%22------ |access-date=August 1, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=April 8, 2016 |title=WKCR Marks 75 Years |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/issue/spring16/article/wkcr-marks-75-years |access-date=July 31, 2022 |website=Columbia College Today |language=en |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731203712/https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/issue/spring16/article/wkcr-marks-75-years |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== WKCR-FM ===
In February 1956, Columbia University applied for a construction permit for a new 10-watt station on 89.9&nbsp;MHz.<ref name="hc">{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=70450 |title= History Cards for WKCR-FM|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards|Guide to reading History Cards]])<!--Converted from {{FCC letter}}--></ref> The FCC approved on April 5, and the first tests of the new station were carried out on May 14;{{r|NYT560513}} full-time programming did not begin until October 8<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 20, 1956 |title=Students to Run New FM Station; Undergraduate Operation, to Start Oct. 8 at Columbia, is Educational Project |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/09/20/archives/students-to-run-new-fm-station-undergraduate-operation-to-start-oct.html |access-date=August 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805010209/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/09/20/archives/students-to-run-new-fm-station-undergraduate-operation-to-start-oct.html |url-status=live }}</ref> for New York's third noncommercial radio outlet.<ref name="Dail560622">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106968970/news-around-the-dials-columbia-u-gets/|date=June 22, 1956|page=70|first=Rudy|last=Bergman|title=News Around the Dials: Columbia U. Gets Station|newspaper=Daily News|location=New York City|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 5, 2022|archive-date=August 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805010209/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106968970/news-around-the-dials-columbia-u-gets/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> It used a ten{{Nbh}}watt transmitter that once belonged to Armstrong, which it installed on the roof of Philosophy Hall, as well as $25,000 worth of master control equipment donated by [[WMCA (AM)|WMCA]].<ref name=":1" /> A third of the student volunteers for WKCR-FM were women from the affiliated [[Barnard College]].<ref name="Barn571017">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106969077/university-station-revamps-shows-for-fm/|date=October 17, 1957|page=2|title=University Station Revamps Shows For F.M. Audience|newspaper=Barnard Bulletin|location=New York City|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 5, 2022}}</ref><!-- Thu -->

Until the 1970s, the carrier current WKCR, focused largely on music broadcasting and restricted to campus, coexisted with WKCR{{nbh}}FM, which covered the entire [[New York metropolitan area]] with a greater emphasis on education. Programming was largely university sports, lecture series, classical music, and broadcasts from the United Nations, including many interviews with representatives of foreign nations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mathewson |first=Tom |year=1986 |title=The 1950s |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_12981092_028/page/186/mode/2up |journal=Columbia College Today |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=17–18}}</ref>

WKCR{{Nbh}}FM began broadcasting from the [[DuMont Building]] on [[Madison Avenue]] in 1958, and in 1964 it became the first noncommercial radio station to broadcast in stereo.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/03/02/106942410.html|work=The New York Times|title=WKCR to Broadcast in Stereo|page=53|date=March 2, 1964|url-access=subscription}}</ref> During the 1960s, the station would continue to develop its educational content. Members of the news department would travel to Washington, D.C. annually to interview political figures, while WKCR became the only station in the New York area to carry [[United Nations General Assembly]] meetings in full.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/history |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=cc-seas.columbia.edu |archive-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808093652/https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/history |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ferretti |first=Fred |date=February 25, 1971 |title=Radio Station Run by Students Marks 30th Year at Columbia |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/02/25/81934002.html?pageNumber=75 |access-date=August 3, 2022}}</ref> While the station's musical programming mainly focused on classical, it also played jazz, folk, bluegrass, and [[show tune]]s. Guests who were interviewed on the station during this time period included [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[William F. Buckley Jr.]], and [[Jimmy Hoffa]].<ref name=":10" />

=== The protests of 1968 ===
[[File:WKCR_1968_protests.png|right|thumb|WKCR reporters broadcast from the steps of [[Earl Hall]], facing the west side of [[Low Memorial Library]], April 1968]]
During the [[Columbia University protests of 1968]], WKCR was the only source of live news from the university. With 50 or 60 students working in shifts, it was able to provide near-nonstop coverage for the week of protests.<ref name=":4" /> During the protests, the station had several "special operations" groups—student experts on telephone systems, key collectors who were able to open every lock on campus, and experts in acquiring telephone equipment that, according to station engineer Jon Perelstein, "a college radio station probably shouldn't have had"—which, by breaking into telephone distribution panel rooms through [[Columbia University tunnels|the university tunnel system]], were able to appropriate campus phone lines so that reporters could instantly communicate with station headquarters from any of the occupied buildings. According to one story, when the police stormed [[Low Memorial Library]], a staff member picked up one of the phones and began reporting on the events. When a policeman came over and destroyed the phone he was using, the student simply picked up the phone on the next desk over and continued his report. Station staff also tapped a [[New York City Police Department]] phone line that ran from a university telephone distribution panel to a command vehicle outside, and, on radios loaned from W2AEE, stalked frequencies known to be used by the NYPD when planning large operations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cronin |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIFtzQEACAAJ&q=a+time+to+stir |title=A Time to Stir: Columbia '68 |date=December 29, 2020 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-18275-1 |pages=249–251 |language=en}}</ref>
{{Quote box
| quote = I'm in a room on the seventh floor [of [[Hartley Hall]]] overlooking the scene... Candles are being lit in various windows of [[Hamilton Hall (Columbia University)|Hamilton Hall]]... There has been a lot of egg-throwing... The crowd is milling about... Someone is playing "[[The Marseillaise]]"...
| author = Roger Berkley on WKCR
| source = reported in ''[[The New York Times]]''<ref name=":11" />
| align = left
| width = 25%
}}

WKCR coverage only stopped for a period of time on April 26, when the university ordered the station to suspend operations. Students demanded the station be allowed to return to the air, and within half an hour the administration relented. ''[[The New York Times]]'' described WKCR's reporting as "clear and concise with a sound of informality and immediacy".<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Gould |first=Jack |date=April 27, 1968 |title=Radio: Keeping Abreast of the Turmoil at Columbia |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/04/27/77099020.html?pageNumber=67 |access-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426141529/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/04/27/77099020.html?pageNumber=67 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite news |last=Lubasch |first=Arnold H. |date=May 22, 1968 |title=WKCR, Student-Run Station, Offers Lively News Coverage |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/05/22/77101817.html?pageNumber=32 |access-date=August 3, 2022}}</ref> The station contradicted the narratives offered by commercial news outlets, which only broadcast statements made by politicians and university administrators, by offering student perspectives to its audience. When civil rights activists [[H. Rap Brown]] and [[Stokely Carmichael]] joined the protests, they were interviewed on WKCR.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Carey |first1=Elaine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGv9DAAAQBAJ&dq=wkcr+1968&pg=PR26 |title=Protests in the Streets: 1968 Across the Globe |last2=Andrea |first2=Alfred J. |date=September 1, 2016 |publisher=Hackett Publishing |isbn=978-1-62466-528-8 |pages=xxvi |language=en}}</ref> Following the station's involvement in the protests, the university administration has treated the station with animosity.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Omojola |first=Victor |date=September 23, 2021 |title=Returning to Radio |work=[[The Blue and White]] |url=https://www.theblueandwhite.org/post/returning-to-radio |access-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-date=September 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924154133/https://www.theblueandwhite.org/post/returning-to-radio |url-status=live }}</ref>

After 1968, WKCR sought to rid itself of its reputation as a "classroom of the air".<ref name=":9" /> The AM carrier current service was discontinued, while the FM station shifted its emphasis from education to music, particularly jazz. The station sought to provide a platform for music that was neglected by commercial radio, adopting the slogan "The Alternative". In a time when most Latin programming focused on older music and romantic ballads, it became one of the first stations in the United States to broadcast [[salsa music|salsa]]. It also welcomed [[Experimental music|experimental]] and [[contemporary classical music]], featuring musicians including [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[John Zorn]], [[Zeena Parkins]], and [[John Cage]], who, in 1987, used the WKCR studios once to remix [[opera music]].<ref name=":10" /> During a May 29, 1978, minimalist music marathon hosted by staff member [[Tim Page (music critic)|Tim Page]], the station presented the radio premiers of several leading minimalist compositions, including ''[[Einstein on the Beach]]'' by [[Philip Glass]] and ''[[Music for 18 Musicians]]'' by [[Steve Reich]].<ref>{{Cite web |orig-date=December 9, 1981 |title=Interview with Philip Glass |url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/interview-with-philip-glass/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |publisher=WNYC |language=en |archive-date=December 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207074836/https://www.wnyc.org/story/interview-with-philip-glass/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Page also organized a WKCR charity concert which was held on April 1, 1979, in [[Carnegie Hall]], and featured Glass and Reich, in addition to [[John Cale]], [[Leroy Jenkins (musician)|Leroy Jenkins]], and [[Ursula Oppens]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=March 30, 1979 |title=The Pop Life |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/30/archives/the-pop-life-fusion-wkcr-and-the-tomato-label.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720214113/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/30/archives/the-pop-life-fusion-wkcr-and-the-tomato-label.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[David Bowie]] also made a brief appearance to play a duet with Cale on the viola.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 20, 1985 |title=TAYLOR STORER |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/20/arts/taylor-storer.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803130358/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/20/arts/taylor-storer.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hopper |first=Alex |date=August 2, 2022 |title=John Cale and David Bowie Go Bar Hopping in Video For 'Night Crawling' |url=https://americansongwriter.com/watch-john-cale-and-david-bowie-go-bar-hopping-in-animated-video-for-night-crawling/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=American Songwriter |language=en-US |archive-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802191205/https://americansongwriter.com/watch-john-cale-and-david-bowie-go-bar-hopping-in-animated-video-for-night-crawling/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The blues and jazz record label [[Oblivion Records]] was based at the WKCR studio from 1972 until 1976, when it ceased initial operations. The label was founded by staff member [[Fred Seibert]], who would later go on to found [[MTV]], along with Dick Pennington and folk musician [[Tom Pomposello]]. During his time at WKCR, Seibert recorded and published live performances made at the station; notable albums that were recorded or edited at WKCR include [[Live in New York (Fred McDowell album)|''Live in New York'']], featuring [[Mississippi Fred McDowell]] and ''[[Blues from the Apple]]'', featuring Charles Walker and the New York City Blues Band.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |last=Seibert |first=Fred |date=December 31, 2007 |title=WKCR and Oblivion |url=https://oblivionrecords.co/post/798580913/wkcr-and-oblivion |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=obliionrecords.co |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306114938/https://oblivionrecords.co/post/798580913/wkcr-and-oblivion |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Move to the World Trade Center ===
[[File:World Trade Center12459v.jpg|thumb|From 1985 to 2001, WKCR broadcast from the antenna atop the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]|alt=Refer to caption]]
WKCR began making plans in 1975 to move its transmitter to [[1 World Trade Center (1971–2001)|1 World Trade Center]], citing deteriorating signal quality due to the construction of the nearby [[Citigroup Center]]. Fundraising was completed in September, and the station was given until March 31, 1976, to build its new transmitter.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Owens |first=Chris |date=September 26, 1975 |title=WKCR Gets Funding to Move Transmitter to Trade Center |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19750926-01.2.6&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623012052/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19750926-01.2.6&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref> Due to a bureaucratic stalemate, the deadline was missed, and the station had to apply for a new lease. The ''[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]'' reported on September 14, 1976, that negotiations with the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]] were in their final stages, and that the move was projected to take place before January 1, 1977.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tamarin |first=Jeffrey |date=September 14, 1976 |title=WKCR Tower Move Funded |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19760914-01.2.22&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622232907/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19760914-01.2.22&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 1977, ''The New York Times'' announced that WKCR would move by September 15 of that year, and would the first station to transmit from the World Trade Center. A nine-day, 200-hour long [[Louis Armstrong]] festival was planned to inaugurate the station's new transmitter.<ref name=":2"/>

The move was delayed again when the Port Authority declared two of the application forms to be incomplete. The applications were resubmitted, and in November, the Port Authority announced that the station would be able to make the move within a month.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 29, 1977 |title=WKCR, at last, may move its antenna to twin towers |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19771129-01.2.4&srpos=7&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623000330/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19771129-01.2.4&srpos=7&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, a day before the station was to install its new antenna, the Port Authority intervened, stating that the antenna was not built to withstand strong enough winds. Despite an earlier agreement that the Port Authority would cover the costs for any transmitter and antenna modification or replacement, when confronted by station officials, the Port Authority refused to pay, denying that the agreement was ever made in the first place.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Mary |date=February 9, 1978 |title=Erection of WKCR antenna on Twin Towers stalls again |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19780209-01.2.8&srpos=8&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022}}</ref> A new antenna, built to the Port Authority's specifications, was constructed in September 1978, and the Port Authority announced that it would grant the station its approval again in a few weeks.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Geen |first=Jonathan |date=September 11, 1978 |title=WKCR antenna shift awaits Port Authority clearance |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19780911-01.2.8&srpos=9&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622223331/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19780911-01.2.8&srpos=9&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref> In January 1979, WKCR received a $43,912 grant from the [[Office of Education]] of the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services#Department of Health, Education, and Welfare|United States Department of Health and Human Services]] to aid in its move to the Twin Towers.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 26, 1979 |title=WKCR gets $40g grant |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19790126-01.2.10&srpos=10&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622232034/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19790126-01.2.10&srpos=10&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref> The move was delayed once more until 1981, due to a legal dispute with an unnamed New York{{Nbh}}based station over transmitter interference.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ly |first=Danny |date=April 7, 1981 |title=WKCR hopes for transmitter move to Trade Center |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19810407-01.2.5&srpos=11&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623042843/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19810407-01.2.5&srpos=11&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref>

WKCR's Madison Avenue transmitter continued to deteriorate until it finally broke down on July 17, 1981. By then, the World Trade Center antenna had already been installed, though the station's FCC permit to finally move had recently expired while it was dealing with a hum which had interfered with broadcasts for the past three weeks.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=July 20, 1981 |title=Columbia Radio Loses Signal |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1981/07/20/200606.html?pageNumber=21 |access-date=August 2, 2022}}</ref> The station began transmitting from the Twin Towers for the first time at 9:30{{Nbsp}}a.m. on July 20, though the broadcast was shut down after 45 minutes by the FCC, forcing WKCR to repair and continue to use its old antenna.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 21, 1981 |title=The City |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1981/07/21/201163.html?pageNumber=19 |access-date=August 2, 2022}}</ref> In July 1982, the FCC fined the station $8,000 for violations of federal equipment and licensing regulation, which were discovered during an allegedly routine and random inspection. The station was accused of failing to replace broken equipment, which had caused the station's frequency to creep up from 89.9 to 89.95&nbsp;MHz. WKCR Manager Andy Caploe responded that the station could not have known whether there were any problems with the transmitter in the first place, because its testing equipment was also broken.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Knobel |first=Beth |date=July 14, 1982 |title=WKCR startled by surprise visit |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19820714-01.2.5&srpos=14&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622225438/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19820714-01.2.5&srpos=14&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The station finally made the move in April 1985, where it would continue broadcast from for the next sixteen years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bouma |first=Katherine |date=January 27, 1986 |title=WKCR hits fundraising record |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19860127-01.2.3&srpos=17&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623031429/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19860127-01.2.3&srpos=17&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Recent history ===
From 1990 to 1998, WKCR broadcast ''[[The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show]]'', hosted by [[DJ Stretch Armstrong]] and [[Bobbito Garcia]]. The show served as an alternative to commercial [[hip hop]] radio, airing mostly obscure, unsigned artists, a number of whom would later dominate the hip hop scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The show has been credited with introducing the world to [[Biggie Smalls]], [[Eminem]], [[Jay-Z]], [[Big L]], [[Big Pun]], [[Fat Joe]], [[Wu Tang Clan]], [[Mobb Deep]], and the [[Fugees]], among others.<ref name="documentary">{{cite AV media |title=[[Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives]] |medium=Documentary |publisher=Saboteur Media |people=[[Bobbito Garcia]] (director)}}</ref><ref name="Bromwich">{{Cite news |last=Bromwich |first=Jonah Engel |date=October 8, 2015 |title=Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito, Hip-Hop Heralds, Are Saluted in a Film |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/movies/stretch-armstrong-and-bobbito-hip-hop-heralds-are-saluted-in-a-film.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616133812/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/movies/stretch-armstrong-and-bobbito-hip-hop-heralds-are-saluted-in-a-film.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":17">{{Cite news |last=Telman |first=Nigel |date=February 24, 2021 |title=The Hip-Hop Project: A historical exploration into the relationship between Columbia University and the rap revolution |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/arts-and-entertainment/2021/02/24/the-hip-hop-project-a-historical-exploration-into-the-relationship-between-columbia-university-and-the-rap-revolution/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814012907/https://www.columbiaspectator.com/arts-and-entertainment/2021/02/24/the-hip-hop-project-a-historical-exploration-into-the-relationship-between-columbia-university-and-the-rap-revolution/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show'' was voted the "best hip-hop show of all time" by ''[[The Source (magazine)|The Source]]'' in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Offbeat |url=https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/program/offbeat |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=cc-seas.columbia.edu |archive-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006204503/https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/program/offbeat |url-status=live }}</ref>

WKCR's transmitter was destroyed on September 11, 2001, when [[September 11 attacks|a hijacked plane destroyed the North Tower of the World Trade Center]]. For the next two years, the station broadcast from its backup transmitter atop [[Carman Hall]]. Its range was severely reduced, its signal barely reaching past a 20-mile radius until 2003, when the station was able to set up a new antenna at [[4 Times Square]], where it remains today.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=July 20, 2011 |title=Sounds Familiar: WKCR Is Looking at World Trade Center, Again |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/sounds-familiar-wkcr-is-looking-at-world-trade-center-again/ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |website=City Room |language=en |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716190959/https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/sounds-familiar-wkcr-is-looking-at-world-trade-center-again/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

WKCR was one of four FM radio stations that transmitted from the World Trade Center at the time of its destruction, the others being [[WNYC-FM]], [[WKTU]], and [[WPAT-FM]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Snyder |first=Stephanie P. |date=September 11, 2019 |title=From the Archives: Rebuilding Radio Stations Despite the Rubble—Post 9/11 |work=Radioworld |url=https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/from-the-archives-rebuilding-radio-stations-despite-the-rubble-post-9-11 |access-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165632/https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/from-the-archives-rebuilding-radio-stations-despite-the-rubble-post-9-11 |url-status=live }}</ref> For three weeks beginning on September 17, WKCR loaned its new studio in [[Lerner Hall]] to WNYC, which continued broadcasting over [[WNYC (AM)|its AM adjunct]] but could not access its headquarters in the [[Manhattan Municipal Building]] due to the attacks. WKCR had been planning on moving to Lerner Hall from its temporary studio in [[Riverside Church]] before the attacks.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Freedman |first=Samuel G. |date=October 17, 2001 |title=Tribulations And Triumphs For WNYC |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/17/arts/tribulations-and-triumphs-for-wnyc.html |access-date=August 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505095112/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/17/arts/tribulations-and-triumphs-for-wnyc.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Casselman |first=Ben |date=September 17, 2001 |title=Columbia's New Radio Space Used By NPR |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs20010917-01.2.7&srpos=31&e=-------en-20--21--txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=October 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011030803/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs20010917-01.2.7&srpos=31&e=-------en-20--21--txt-txIN-wkcr+%22world+trade+center%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2011, ''The New York Times'' reported that it was considering a move back to the [[World Trade Center (2001–present)|World Trade Center]].<ref name=":5" />

The station was fined $10,000 in 2012 due to a lapse in its record-keeping from 2001 to 2006, which WKCR directors attributed to the turmoil at the station after the 9/11 attacks.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cheng |first=Emma |date=September 14, 2012 |title=WKCR rebounds from $10,000 fine with few program changes |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/09/14/wkcr-rebounds-10000-fine-few-program-changes/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |archive-date=June 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608030634/https://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/09/14/wkcr-rebounds-10000-fine-few-program-changes/ |url-status=live }}</ref> WKCR was one of several college radio stations which had been fined by the FCC in recent years, a practice that was criticized as punitive for its lack of distinction between commercial stations and those run by students, which are generally characterized by high turnover and lower budgets.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 27, 2012 |title=Student-Run College Radio: A Species Endangered by FCC Fines? |url=https://www.commlawblog.com/2012/07/articles/broadcast/student-run-college-radio-a-species-endangered-by-fcc-fines/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=commlawblog.com |archive-date=October 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001165706/https://www.commlawblog.com/2012/07/articles/broadcast/student-run-college-radio-a-species-endangered-by-fcc-fines/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The FCC's policy towards college stations was relaxed in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oxenford |first=David |date=May 15, 2013 |title=FCC Adopts More Lenient Standards on Certain Fines to Student Run Noncommercial Broadcast Stations |url=https://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2013/05/articles/fcc-adopts-more-lenient-standards-on-certain-fines-to-student-run-noncommercial-broadcast-stations/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=broadcastlawblog.com |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716154001/https://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2013/05/articles/fcc-adopts-more-lenient-standards-on-certain-fines-to-student-run-noncommercial-broadcast-stations/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In April 2024, the station suspended its regular programming to cover the [[2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupation|pro-Palestinian campus occupation]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aminy |first=Najib |last2=Rosenberg |first2=Jacob |title=Amid protests, Columbia's student radio station has become essential listening |url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2024/04/wkcr-columbia-gaza-encampment-protests-interview/ |access-date=April 24, 2024 |website=Mother Jones |language=en-US |archive-date=April 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424210308/https://www.motherjones.com/media/2024/04/wkcr-columbia-gaza-encampment-protests-interview/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Jazz programming ==
=== Early jazz ===
Jazz has been a staple of WKCR's programming since its very founding, in part due to its proximity to [[Harlem]], where [[bebop]] was developing during the 1940s. Its first broadcast as an official station with FCC approval began with "Swing is Here", a record with [[Gene Krupa]] and [[Roy Eldridge]].<ref name=":8" /> After the 1968 protests at Columbia, the station started to heavily emphasize the genre, and has since hosted numerous prominent jazz musicians at its studio. By the 1990s, it had become one of the premier stations for jazz in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Perry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xdOPDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22wkcr%22+jazz&pg=PA321 |title=Perry Robinson: The Traveler |date=March 5, 2002 |publisher=Writers Club Press |isbn=978-0-595-72550-2 |pages=321 |language=en}}</ref> {{As of|2022}}, about 40% of WKCR's airtime is dedicated to jazz.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Jazz |url=https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/departments/jazz |access-date=August 2, 2022 |website=cc-seas.columbia.edu |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707161436/https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/departments/jazz |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June or July 1941, within five months of its official debut, CURC aired the first radio performance by pianist [[Thelonious Monk]]. Jerry Newman, a 23{{Nbh}}year{{Nbh}}old student, had begun frequenting and recording performances at [[Minton's Playhouse]], where Monk was the house pianist, in 1940 after being introduced by bassist and vocalist [[Duke Groner]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bliek |first=Rob van der |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59q5NRQLcjgC&dq=jerry+newman+thelonious&pg=PA16 |title=The Thelonious Monk Reader |date=February 22, 2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-976147-0 |pages=16 |language=en}}</ref> The 23 [[acetate disc]] recordings he made over 1941 constitute the earliest recordings ever made of Monk's playing.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Petersen |first1=Leif Bo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dA2kJkGIWlMC |title=The Music and Life of Theodore "Fats" Navarro: Infatuation |last2=Rehak |first2=Theo |date=August 24, 2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6722-2 |pages=310 |language=en}}</ref> The broadcast recording was made by Newman and several CURC members on one afternoon, with Newman and another student alternating as [[master of ceremonies]]. Four sets were recorded featuring Monk, [[Don Byas]], [[Joe Guy (musician)|Joe Guy]], [[Kenny Clarke]], and [[Helen Humes]], and were rushed back to Columbia and played on CURC in the evening. The recordings were later released as ''[[Midnight at Minton's]]'' in 1973.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kelley |first=Robin D. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tz9xDQAAQBAJ |title=Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original |date=November 2, 2010 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-9046-3 |pages=71–74 |language=en}}</ref> In a review, [[WEMU]] broadcaster Michael G. Nastos described the recordings as "priceless, the document of a transitional period from swing to bop".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nastos |first=Michael G. |title=Midnight at Minton's |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/midnight-at-mintons-mw0000241219 |access-date=August 1, 2022 |website=AllMusic |archive-date=November 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115203036/https://www.allmusic.com/album/midnight-at-mintons-mw0000241219 |url-status=live }}</ref>

WKCR made the first stereo live broadcast of jazz music in 1960. The performance was by [[Red Allen]]'s band, in which [[J. C. Higginbotham]] was the trombonist at the time, and was broadcast from [[Columbia University sundial|the university sundial]].<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Spring |first=Evan |orig-date=October 5, 1992 |title=Phil Schaap Interview |url=https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/content/phil-schaap-interview |access-date=August 2, 2022 |website=cc-seas.columbia.edu |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707041747/https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/content/phil-schaap-interview |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== After 1968 ===
[[File:PhilSchaap.webp|right|thumb|[[Phil Schaap]] surrounded by jazz albums at the WKCR studio|alt=Refer to caption]]
Spearheading WKCR's post-1968 transition into a jazz-oriented radio station was [[Phil Schaap]], one of the foremost jazz experts of the late 20th century. He became a disc jockey at the station as a freshman in 1970, and continued to work there ''pro bono'' after his graduation until his death in 2021. He was most well known on the station for ''Bird Flight'', a show focusing on [[Charlie Parker]] that he started in 1981 and hosted every weekday for about forty years. ''[[The New Yorker]]'' described ''Bird Flight'' as "plac[ing] a degree of attention on the music of the bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker that is so obsessive, so ardent and detailed, that Schaap frequently sounds like a mad Talmudic scholar who has decided that the laws of humankind reside not in the ancient Babylonian tractates but in alternate takes of '[[Moose the Mooche]]' and '[[Swedish Schnapps]].' " The red [[Naugahyde]] armchair for visitors in the WKCR studio is named the "[[Dizzy Gillespie]] chair", after the trumpeter sat there during an hours-long conversation with Schaap.<ref name=":9">{{Cite magazine |last=Remnick |first=David |date=May 12, 2008 |title=Bird-Watcher |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/05/19/bird-watcher |access-date=August 2, 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802172758/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/05/19/bird-watcher |url-status=live }}</ref>

Beginning in 1970, WKCR has held several jazz festivals a year, each one focusing on the presentation of the entirety of a single artist's recorded work, in addition to interviews and educational programming. Festival broadcasts generally last 150 hours or longer, and the longest festivals have included the 2000 Louis Armstrong Centennial Festival Part I, which lasted for 184 hours non-stop from June 30 to July 7, and the 1999 Duke Ellington Centennial Festival, which lasted for 240 hours from April 23 to May 1.<ref name=":7" /> Musicians that have participated live in their own festivals include [[Ornette Coleman]] (February 1975), [[Roy Eldridge]] (January 1978), [[Sonny Rollins]] (March 1978), [[Cecil Taylor]] (March 1979), [[Max Roach]] (March 1981), [[Steve Lacy (saxophonist)|Steve Lacy]] (November 1981), [[Benny Carter]] (August 1982), [[Eddie Durham]] (Summer 1986), [[Sun Ra]] (April 1987), Dizzy Gillespie (May 1987), [[Art Blakey]] (November 1989), [[Lionel Hampton]] (May 1990), and [[Don Cherry (trumpeter)|Don Cherry]] (May 1992).<ref name=":8" /> In one notable incident, during the March 1976 festival dedicated to Thelonious Monk, a guest expert was explaining how Monk was able to create extraordinary music by playing "wrong notes" on the piano. Monk, who by this point had become a recluse, called the station and instructed them to "tell the guy on the air, 'The piano ain't got no wrong notes' ", before hanging up.{{Sfn|Kelley|2010|p=444}}

WKCR annually celebrates the birthdays of prominent jazz musicians, including Monk, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker, by playing the entire catalogue of the artist's work in one broadcast.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=McQuade |first=Molly |date=November 21, 2016 |title=As Columbia's WKCR Radio Station Celebrates 75 Years, a Confession |url=https://observer.com/2016/11/as-columbias-wkcr-radio-station-celebrates-75-years-a-confession/ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |website=Observer |language=en-US |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707094606/https://observer.com/2016/11/as-columbias-wkcr-radio-station-celebrates-75-years-a-confession/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Fraser |first=C. Gerald |date=August 24, 1985 |title=Going Out Guide |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1985/08/24/211821.html?pageNumber=13 |access-date=August 2, 2022}}</ref> The station also holds jazz marathons on prominent death anniversaries and other special occasions, such as the beginning of a concert series featuring the [[Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians]] held at Columbia, which the station celebrated with a 90{{Nbh}}hour broadcast starting on May 14, 1977, of the completed recorded works of every member of the organization.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Palmer |first=Robert |date=May 14, 1977 |title=WKCR Will Start 90 Straight Hours of Jazz Tonight |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/14/archives/wkcr-will-start-90-straight-hours-of-jazz-tonight.html |access-date=August 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Poet and critic [[Molly McQuade]] has praised WKCR's jazz programming, stating that "WKCR's inspired programming feels more like dream logic than traditional radio" and that she is "willingly indebted and harmlessly addicted" to several of the station's programs.<ref name=":6" />

== Incidents ==
When [[Sputnik 1]] was launched on October 4, 1957, WKCR staff recorded its signal during the satellite's first pass over the United States and became the first North American radio station to rebroadcast this signal. The next morning, two [[FBI]] agents walked into the station and confiscated the tape.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamilton |first=Thomas Wm. |year=2004 |title=The Launch of Sputnik |url=http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_perspectives/write_history/161.html |access-date=August 1, 2022 |website=c250.columbia.edu |archive-date=July 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705175448/http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_perspectives/write_history/161.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] request was filed on June 28, 2018, requesting the declassification of all documents related to the confiscation of the tapes and their whereabouts. The request was rejected on account of the records having been destroyed in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Muller |first=Colin |date=July 11, 2018 |title=Columbia University WKCR-FM's Confiscated Audio Recording of Sputnik 1 from 1957 |url=https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/columbia-university-wkcr-fms-confiscated-audio-recording-of-sputnik-1-from-1957-56977/#comms |access-date=August 1, 2022 |website=muckrock.com |archive-date=October 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003210232/https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/columbia-university-wkcr-fms-confiscated-audio-recording-of-sputnik-1-from-1957-56977/#comms |url-status=live }}</ref>

WKCR was allegedly [[Broadcast signal intrusion|hijacked mid-broadcast]] once around 1995. The interruption reportedly began with eerie screeches and was followed by silence, then by a woman reciting obituaries, including those of [[Frank Oppenheimer]] and several victims of the [[Pan Am Flight 103|1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103]]. The woman reading the names during the hijacking would occasionally be interrupted by the sound of a bell. After a couple of minutes, the station took control and came back on air as usual. Saying that the music will be running a little late but not giving a reason for it. A recording of the incident was uploaded to [[4chan]] in 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Archana |first=KC |date=March 19, 2018 |title=9 Of The Eeriest Audio Recordings You Will Not Be Able To Unhear |work=The Times of India |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/culture/9-of-the-eeriest-audio-recordings-you-will-not-be-able-to-unhear-341536.html |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=July 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729183414/https://www.indiatimes.com/culture/9-of-the-eeriest-audio-recordings-you-will-not-be-able-to-unhear-341536.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== List of staff ==
[[File:Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia in 2011.jpg|thumb|[[DJ Stretch Armstrong]] and [[Bobbito Garcia]]|alt=Refer to caption]]
[[File:Robert Siegel (8166884506) (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Robert Siegel]]|alt=Refer to caption]]
[[File:George Stephanopoulos April 2009.jpg|thumb|[[George Stephanopoulos]]|alt=Refer to caption]]
* [[Jon Abbott]], media executive and CEO of the [[WGBH Educational Foundation]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jonathan C. Abbott |url=https://www.wgbh.org/foundation/people/jonathan-c-abbott |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=wgbh.org |archive-date=July 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725201200/https://www.wgbh.org/foundation/people/jonathan-c-abbott |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Adrian Bartos]], co-host of ''[[The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show]]'' on WKCR<ref name=":14">{{Cite news |last=Vuelta |first=Aleli May |date=July 26, 2017 |title=Stretch & Bobbito On Race, Hip-Hop, And Belonging |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/07/26/539368829/stretch-bobbito-on-race-hip-hop-and-belonging |access-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165632/https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/07/26/539368829/stretch-bobbito-on-race-hip-hop-and-belonging |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Timothy Brennan]], cultural theorist and literature professor<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timothy Brennan |url=https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/brenn032 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=cla.umn.edu |archive-date=June 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610074039/https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/brenn032 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Ken Bloom (writer)|Ken Bloom]], [[Grammy]]-winning theater historian, playwright, and director<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cristi |first=A.A. |date=December 7, 2016 |title=Ken Bloom Receives Grammy Nomination for SHOW AND TELL: The New Book of Broadway Anecdotes |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ken-Bloom-Receives-Grammy-Nomination-for-SHOW-AND-TELL-The-New-Book-of-Broadway-Anecdotes-20161207 |access-date=August 7, 2022 |website=broadwayworld.com |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507082357/https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ken-Bloom-Receives-Grammy-Nomination-for-SHOW-AND-TELL-The-New-Book-of-Broadway-Anecdotes-20161207 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Laura Cantrell]], country singer-songwriter and DJ<ref>{{Cite web |last=Franco |first=Michael |date=July 4, 2005 |title=Laura Cantrell: Humming by the Flowered Vine, PopMatters |url=https://www.popmatters.com/cantrelllaura-humming-2495855664.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=PopMatters |language=en-US |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165632/https://www.popmatters.com/cantrelllaura-humming-2495855664.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Gary Cohen]], sportscaster; radio and television play-by-play announcer for the [[New York Mets]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Slater |first=Chuck |date=February 28, 1999 |title=Madcap March Looms For Sports Announcer |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/28/nyregion/madcap-march-looms-for-sports-announcer.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
* [[Stephen Donaldson (activist)|Stephen Donaldson]], bisexual rights and prison reform activist<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eisenbach |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/gaypoweramerican00eise/page/58/mode/2up?q=wkcr |title=Gay Power: An American Revolution |publisher=[[Carroll & Graf Publishers]] |year=2006 |pages=58|isbn=9780786716333 }}</ref>
* [[Bobbito Garcia]], co-host of ''The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show'' on WKCR<ref name=":14" />
* [[Jim Gardner (broadcaster)|Jim Gardner]], news anchor for [[WPVI-TV]]; reported on 1968 protests<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Gardner |url=https://6abc.com/about/newsteam/jim-gardner/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=6abc.com |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715121552/https://6abc.com/about/newsteam/jim-gardner/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[David Garland (musician)|David Garland]], singer-songwriter and radio personality on [[WNYC]] and [[WQXR-FM|WQXR]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Garland |url=https://www.wqxr.org/people/david-garland/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=wqxr.org |archive-date=June 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618005549/http://www.wqxr.org/people/david-garland/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Geologist (musician)|Geologist]], member of [[Animal Collective]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |year=2005 |title=MOTHER NATURE'S SONS: Animal Collective and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti |work=The Wire}}</ref>
* [[Ted Gold]], member of the [[Weather Underground]] who died in the [[Greenwich Village townhouse explosion]]
* [[Mark S. Golub]], rabbi; founder of the [[Jewish Broadcasting Service]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mark S. Golub |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/mark-s-golub/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=The Times of Israel |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165634/https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/mark-s-golub/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Ed Goodgold]], known as the "father of [[trivia]]"; started one of the first trivia shows in the United States on WKCR after coining the term in 1965<ref>{{Cite news |last=Benveniste |first=Alexis |date=March 3, 2022 |title=The History of Trivia and Why Netflix Is Jumping Into the Game |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/crosswords/history-trivia-netflix.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012024206/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/crosswords/history-trivia-netflix.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Alan Goodman]], original producer for [[MTV]]; creator of [[Nick-at-Nite]] and [[VH-1]]<ref name=":15">{{Cite web |last=Seibert |first=Fred |date=October 15, 2010 |title=We're going to Bensonhoist! |url=https://fredalan.org/post/1321299498/were-going-to-bensonhoist |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=fredalan.org}}</ref>
* [[Ashbel Green (editor)|Ashbel Green]], book editor and vice president at [[Alfred A. Knopf]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kisslinger |first=Jerry |title=Ashbel Green '50, '52 GSAS, Legendary Editor and Columbia Anthologist |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/archive/winter12/obituaries3 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=college.columbia.edu |archive-date=September 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916110059/https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/archive/winter12/obituaries3 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Albie Hecht]], president of film and television entertainment for [[Nickelodeon]]; president of [[Spike TV]]<ref name=":15" />
* [[Gary Heidt]], conceptual artist, experimental poet, and musician<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 1, 1992 |title=Campus Journal; Giving City Airwaves a Country Air |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/01/news/campus-journal-giving-city-airwaves-a-country-air.html |access-date=August 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526051942/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/01/news/campus-journal-giving-city-airwaves-a-country-air.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Maria Hinojosa]], Mexican-American journalist, anchor and executive producer at [[National Public Radio]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Altmann |first=Jennifer |title=A Gifted Storyteller |url=https://barnard.edu/magazine/spring-2017/gifted-storyteller |access-date=May 2, 2023 |website=barnard.edu/ |archive-date=May 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502193237/https://barnard.edu/magazine/spring-2017/gifted-storyteller |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Dick Hyman]], jazz pianist and composer<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hond |first=Paul |year=2006 |title=Shoot the Piano Player |url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/shoot-piano-player |access-date=August 5, 2022 |website=magazine.columbia.edu |archive-date=November 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128051718/https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/shoot-piano-player |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Soterios Johnson]], radio journalist and local host for ''[[Morning Edition]]'' on WNYC<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soterios Johnson |url=https://www.wqxr.org/people/soterios-johnson/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=wqxr.org}}</ref>
* [[Erica Jong]], novel, satirist, and poet; author of [[Fear of Flying (novel)|''Fear of Flying'']]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPkZAAAAYAAJ&q=erica+jong+wkcr |title=Current Biography Yearbook: 1975 |date=1976 |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company |pages=206 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Clark Kent (producer)|Clark Kent]], hip hop producer and music executive<ref name=":16">{{Cite web |title=Prime Minister Pete Nice |url=https://uhhm.org/team-member/prime-minister-pete-nice/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=uhhm.org |date=May 16, 2021 |archive-date=June 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620214337/https://uhhm.org/team-member/prime-minister-pete-nice/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Leonard Lopate]], radio show host on [[WBAI]] and WNYC<ref>{{Cite news |last=John |first=Warren St |date=March 20, 2005 |title=Leonard Lopate, Conversational Acrobat |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/fashion/leonard-lopate-conversational-acrobat.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165632/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/fashion/leonard-lopate-conversational-acrobat.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Melissa Mark-Viverito]], speaker of the [[New York City Council]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hond |first=Paul |year=2017 |title=Speaking Up |url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/speaking |access-date=August 5, 2022 |website=magazine.columbia.edu |archive-date=October 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001082246/https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/speaking |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Peter Mauzey]], electrical engineer and developer of electronic music technology<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kent |first1=Allen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=avh_s_SdEO0C&dq=peter+mauzey+wkcr&pg=PA155 |title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology |last2=Williams |first2=James G. |date=February 5, 1996 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8247-2287-6 |volume=34 |pages=155 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Joe Mensah]], Ghanaian singer, founder of ''The African Show'' on WKCR<ref>{{Cite news |last=Domfeh |first=Kofi Adu |date=December 22, 2012 |title=Ghana Musicians Awards to be held by Joe Mensah Foundation |url=https://www.modernghana.com/news/436961/ghana-musicians-awards-to-be-held-by-joe-mensah-foundation.html |access-date=August 4, 2022 |newspaper=Modern Ghana |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165634/https://www.modernghana.com/news/436961/ghana-musicians-awards-to-be-held-by-joe-mensah-foundation.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Pete Nice]], rapper and basketball historian<ref name=":16" />
* [[Tim Page (music critic)|Tim Page]], music critic for ''[[The Washington Post]]''; 1997 [[Pulitzer Prize for Criticism]]<ref name=":12" />
* [[Ted Panken]], jazz journalist<ref>{{Cite web |last=Panken |first=Ted |date=October 11, 2020 |title=For the 79th Birth Anniversary of Lester Bowie, Transcripts of Two Musician Show Shows on WKCR in 1994 and 1998 |url=https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/category/wkcr/ |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=tedpanken.wordpress.com |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165632/https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/category/wkcr/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Ayn Rand]], conservative writer and author of ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' and ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''; hosted lecture series on WKCR from 1962 to 1966<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Podritske |first1=Marlene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pIvobwnNNzsC |title=Objectively Speaking: Ayn Rand Interviewed |last2=Schwartz |first2=Peter |date=2009 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-3194-7 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Phil Schaap]], six-time Grammy-winning radio host, historian, archivist, and producer<ref>{{Cite news |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |date=September 8, 2021 |title=Phil Schaap, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences-Winning Jazz D.J. and Historian, Dies at 70 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/arts/music/phil-schaap-dead.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012060619/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/arts/music/phil-schaap-dead.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Martin Scheiner]], inventor and founder of [[Electronics for Medicine]]<ref>{{cite news |date=February 17, 1943 |title=CURC Rift Revealed |location=Columbia University Spectator |url=http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19430217-01.1.4&e=-------en-20--21283--txt-txIN-Columbia-ARTICLE---- |access-date=June 25, 2017 |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803165640/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19430217-01.1.4&e=-------en-20--21283--txt-txIN-Columbia-ARTICLE---- |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Fred Seibert]], original producer for MTV; creator of Nick-at-Nite and VH-1<ref name=":13" />
* [[Andrew Setos]], engineer; former President of Engineering, [[Fox Group]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hond |first=Paul |title=Radio Made Video Stars |url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/radio-made-video-stars |access-date=May 2, 2023 |website=magazine.columbia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ketchum |first=Karen |date=July 29, 2011 |title=Andrew Setos, Fox's President of Engineering, Leaves Company |url=https://www.sportsvideo.org/2011/07/29/andrew-setos-foxs-president-of-engineering-leaves-company/ |access-date=May 2, 2023 |website=sportsvideo.org |archive-date=May 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502193942/https://www.sportsvideo.org/2011/07/29/andrew-setos-foxs-president-of-engineering-leaves-company/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Robert Siegel]], radio journalist; host of ''[[All Things Considered]]'' on [[NPR]]; reported on 1968 protests<ref name=":11" />
* [[George Stephanopoulos]], [[Senior Advisor to the President of the United States|senior advisor]] to President [[Bill Clinton]]; co-anchor on ''[[Good Morning America]]''<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 1981 |title=Lions on Air |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |url=https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19811120-01.2.18&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22George+Stephanopoulos%22------ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-date=September 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920045716/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19811120-01.2.18&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22George+Stephanopoulos%22------ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Brooke Wentz]], record producer and music director for [[ESPN]]<ref name=":17" />
* [[Pete Wernick]], bluegrass musician<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 11, 2017 |title=Pete Wernick for the Moonshine Show |url=https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/node/20010 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |website=cc-seas.columbia.edu |archive-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819203835/https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/node/20010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Stefan Zucker]], opera connoisseur<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 6, 1995 |title=STEFAN ZUCKER; Far From Awful |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/06/arts/l-stefan-zucker-far-from-awful-300495.html |access-date=August 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110194922/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/06/arts/l-stefan-zucker-far-from-awful-300495.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
* WKCR appears in the 2015 film [[Miles Ahead (film)|Miles Ahead]], in a scene where [[Miles Davis]] rebukes Schaap, who played himself, in an angry phone call.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 21, 2016 |title=jazz at lincoln center's connections to don cheadle's miles ahead |url=https://www.jazz.org/blog/jazz-at-lincoln-centers-connections-to-don-cheadles-miles-ahead/ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |website=jazz.org |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525065754/https://www.jazz.org/blog/jazz-at-lincoln-centers-connections-to-don-cheadles-miles-ahead/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The scene was based on a real incident, which took place during the station's 125{{Nbh}}hour long Miles Davis Festival on July 6, 1979, where Miles, who had already made dozens of "mad, foul, strange calls" to the station during the festival's run, discussed [[Agharta (album)|''Agharta'']] and reviewed his discography with Schaap for nearly three hours before ordering him to play ''[[Sketches of Spain]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 2, 1979 |title=125 Hours of Miles Davis Being Carried on WKCR |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/02/archives/125-hours-of-miles-davis-being-carried-on-wkcr.html |access-date=August 2, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":8" />
* The station also appeared in the 2015 documentary film ''[[Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives]]'', which depicted [[Adrian Bartos]] (DJ Stretch Armstrong) and [[Bobbito Garcia]]'s time as hosts of ''[[The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show]]'' on WKCR.<ref name="Bromwich"/>

==See also==
* [[College radio]]
* [[List of college radio stations in the United States]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/}}
* {{FM station data|68270|WKCR-FM}}
* {{Cite web|url=https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=70450 |title=History Cards for WKCR-FM|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards|Guide to reading History Cards]])<!--Converted from {{FCC letter}}-->

{{Columbia University}}
{{Radio in New York City}}
{{New York college radio}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:WKCR-FM| ]]
[[Category:College radio stations in New York (state)|KCR]]
[[Category:Columbia University student organizations]]
[[Category:Jazz radio stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1941]]
[[Category:Radio stations in New York City|KCR]]