WFCR (Radio station : Amherst, Mass.)

WFCR studio, ca.1968

The first public radio station in western New England, WFCR radio first went on the air on May 6, 1961, transmitting from a 10-watt station located at Springfield Trade High School. Then known as Four College Radio (Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst), WFCR initially operated on a very limited schedule, broadcasting only from noon to midnight, six days per week, and it offered little in the way of locally-produced content. After joining the Eastern Educational Radio Network in 1962, however, WFCR began gradually to expand its scope, increasing its on-air presence to seventeen hours per day within two years and pursuing a more ambitious agenda of covering cultural events in the region. By the late 1960s, WFCR became a major public venue for the myriad musical productions originating in the Pioneer Valley region, as well as for local writers, artists, and the steady stream of visiting lecturers at the Four Colleges.

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