WUSC-FM - History

History

WUSC began as an AM station broadcasting at 640 kHz in 1947. In 1958, it was allocated the frequency of 89.9 MHz but moved to 730 kHz in the mid 1960s. However, its first broadcast as WUSC-FM was not until January 17, 1977, at 91.9 MHz.

During the period 1977–1982, one legal station ID featured a booming voice authoritatively announcing the station's "10,000 microwatts of power!", and another employed trumpet fanfare while majestically proclaiming, "...all the way to Cayce!", light-hearted jabs at the limited listening range of the ten watt signal. After "WUSC, Columbia," in the background of the "...all the way to Cayce!" ID, one could hear a very laid-back male voice ask "...what about Elgin?" Due to the geological lay of the land in relation to the station's antenna, the ten watt signal was known to reach listeners in Elgin, SC to the northeast, as well as South Congaree, SC to the southwest, especially on cloudy or overcast days, even though WUSC's effective radiated range was approximately 2 miles. Elgin and South Congaree are townships situated on hills at approximately the same elevation as that original ten watt antenna, so there was no interference from tall buildings or other hills, and the frequency modulation wave could travel uninterrupted to these listeners' receivers, defying the distance limits.

Despite its weak signal, the high quality station management and music programming WUSC enjoyed from the onset of its licensing on the FM band established it as a powerful, cutting edge musical force in the Greater Columbia area. WUSC subscribed to CMJ from the journal's inception in 1978: in so doing, WUSC's ten watt signal became one of a few brilliant beacons scattered across the national map, leading the country in the revolutionary underground music scene that would explode across America. By the time cable TV added MTV to its line-up in 1981, a significant portion of those cable TV subscribers in Columbia, SC immediately recognized MTV's "new" national artists as those which WUSC had been giving regular airplay since 1977.

Due to a restructuring of FCC law regarding low power stations across the country in 1982, WUSC had to boost its signal to at least 100 watts or lose its license to broadcast. Ending broadcast was never considered an option from the moment the FCC announced the new requirements, as WUSC had made its indelible mark on the air waves in Columbia, recognized as a unique and invaluable contributor to the surrounding community. At the time, there was little cost difference between a boost to 100 watts vs. one of 3000 watts—for example, the station would have to vacate the 91.9 frequency once its signal exceeded ten watts, regardless how powerful the new signal would be—administrators, therefore, made the decision to increase the signal to 3000 watts. It was then that WUSC-FM moved to its current frequency of 90.5 MHz.

In the early years of this new, wider-reaching phase of the station's existence, WUSC was led by Station Manager, Marc Fink; Program Director, Art Boerke; and Music Director, Rick "The Muffin Man" Wiener: this team instituted the fifty percent new music policy, insuring WUSC would continue its established role as one of Americas best, most respected college radio stations. The 3000 watt signal meant that specialty programming, such as Massive Metal, hosted by "Dredge Slug," aka Carl Singmaster (who later founded Manifest Discs and Tapes), could now easily waft to the metalheads all throughout Lexington County, for example. Increased listener accessibility from this significantly more powerful signal led to greater regional recognition of WUSC, rapidly becoming more broadly popular across the Midlands. Soon WUSC was involved with bringing numerous live music shows to Columbia.

WUSC-FM eventually had to reduce its power to its current 2,500 W because of fringe interference with another FM station.

Although WUSC had a 14K webstream at the turn of the 21st century, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) introduced confusion to all Non-commercial educational (NCE) radio stations shortly afterwards. Due to the legal issues and exorbitant fees the DMCA threatened to impose, hundreds of NCE stations suspended all webstreaming beginning in 2002; WUSC was among these stations silenced on the web. In 2003, national legislators finally modified the DMCA such that NCE stations would be able to stream music and other copyrighted material at a reasonable cost, and WUSC-FM has been streaming its signal over the Internet regularly ever since.

In June 2006, WUSC-FM upgraded to a new high-definition digital transmitter which cost $70,000. The new signal provides CD-quality digital audio and also improves reception in fringe areas. The new transmitter includes a data channel for station name, names of songs and artists, plus other information. It also makes it possible for WUSC to broadcast several channels of audio simultaneously.

On March 26, 2007, WUSC sponsored an event where the world record for simultaneous yo-yoing was broken. The total number of people participating in the event was 932.

In 1986, WUSC was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, referring to WUSC as one of the "The Taste Makers", in the College Issue of that year.