WTBU Boston University's Student-Run Radio Station


 

From approximately 2013-2015 this was the web site for Boston University's student-run radio station, WTBU.

The current website for WTBU News is www.bu.edu/com/wtbu-radio/ where there is this message on the home page:
Hello listeners! We will be up and running this fall (2016) in our groovy new temp studio in b-30.
Or check out the WTBU News Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/WTBUNews/.

 

NEWS from the Boston Daily Newspaper

Station Destroyed By Fire, WTBU Beats On

To many, ‘the Beat of Boston University’ was more than just a campus radio station.
By Kyle Scott Clauss | Boston Daily | April 26, 2016

Around 8:45 a.m., three student DJs noticed the lights flickering inside Studio A.

One of the students smelled something odd upon tinkering with the light-switch beside the hulking, butcher-block door separating the soundproofed studio from the rest of the radio station. They opened it, and immediately found themselves engulfed in thick, black smoke—unable to find the exit.

The three-alarm fire, believed to have been caused by an equipment malfunction in the older Studio C, destroyed nearly every trace of WTBU, Boston University’s trailblazing campus radio station. The three DJs, after feeling their way down the narrow hallway to safety, were taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and treated for smoke inhalation, as were two BU police officers who responded to the scene.

“Nothing is left in the station. Everything’s down to the studs. The walls are gone,” says longtime faculty adviser Anne Donohue, who had to wear a gas mask to tour the wreckage. “The entire station is gone, so it’s basically a big, empty space right now. I thought they were going to try to salvage some of the walls, but they decided between the smell and the toxicity of the insulation and everything else that burned to just get rid of it.”

The total loss of the station was devastating news for the extended WTBU family. For Deanna Archetto, who served as WTBU’s general manager in 2013 before joining WBUR, the station was her “home away from dorm” throughout her entire time at BU.

“I was initially a little shocked, but more sad,” she says. “It was a pretty glum weekend, actually, thinking about what had happened. It was just sad that so many tangible memories that were still there—photos, awards, other memorabilia—were now covered in soot and damaged by the extinguishing efforts.”

WTBU, the self-styled “beat of Boston University,” occupies a unique place in the history of college radio. It was the first station to hire (and fire) Howard Stern. On Halloween in 1999, it became the first to broadcast online. Following the death of the Boston Phoenix, WTBU launched its own culture ‘zine, The Beat, in the alt-weekly’s old distribution boxes. And in recent years, it’s made a habit of being named “Station of the Year” by CMJ, college radio’s equivalent of Billboard.

Now, the signal’s gone silent. The Boston Fire Department places the damage at around half a million dollars.

Hardly a stranger to acts of god, WTBU only took up residence on the third floor of the school’s College of Communication (COM) after two floods—one caused by a broken sprinkler main, and the other, the death knell, a torrential downpour—drove the station out of Myles Standish Hall in Kenmore Square and down the street to WBUR’s old digs on the third floor of COM in 1997. “Locusts are next,” Donohue deadpans.

A Facebook group for WTBU alumni has formed in the aftermath of this most recent plague, offering a place for bygone DJs to reconnect with one another and share memories. “Hearing from so many alums from the past five decades of WTBU’s existence is amazing, and shows what an impact WTBU had on them, and the impact they had on WTBU,” Archetto says.

......

Donohue says the school has committed to rebuilding the station, but specifics remain scarce. “We would love to hear from Howard Stern,” she says with a laugh. Sedor, who brokered a detente between Howard Stern and WTBU by sending him a CMJ Station of the Year sweatshirt after years of frosty relations between the shock-jock and his alma mater, sent another note to the “King of All Media” to let him know what became of the station.

 

 

Listener comment: Lydia Lee: One of the most impactful interviews ever broadcast by the station was with student activist Jason Dunn, who was advocating for more oversight of the medical research done on campus after a scare in one of the biology labs. After a lab technician dropped a bottle of a highly inflammable, noxious, and volatile solvent, the building had to be evacuated until the fumes were cleared. Discovered in the trash that evening were a number of dead lab rats that had been killed by the fumes, and this discovery set off another alarm concerning medical waste created by the lab. Normal protocol requires all medical waste disposal to be handled according to regulation - any bio-hazardous waste could only be disposed of by one of the contracted service providers approved by the school, so the appearance of dead animals in the garbage was a huge problem. The contracted service provider normally disposes of any medical waste including sharps (syringes), blood, bandages, etc. But because of the emergency situation they were never brought in to handle the rats. The entire episode, first reported by Jason and our radio news reporters, became national news which embarrassed the school, and Dunn's reporting also focused a spotlight on the need to observe the medical waste protocols, which we think was a good thing.

Jump to 2023. Have you visited the current website for Boston University's student-run radio station, WTBU. I'm impressed. I graduated from BU the year of the fire. I now build websites for e commerce stores. Recently my go to reference site for what's new in the world of ecommerce platforms is, (drum roll here) eCommercePlatforms.com. Their demographic is probably businesses who want to update their old site for a fresher, better look, or people who are new to ecommerce. I use their site because they are constantly reviewing and comparing the newest ecommerce platforms, software and tools one needs to build a site, plus informative blog posts. I can report that WTBU's current website is looking good! Graphics are clean, pics are terrific, great slide show, easy to navigate, engaging and informative with news that is obviously aimed right at the university's students. Is it possible their web designer had checked out the site I was using?
I admit, since I live close by to BU, I regularly check out their music scene and attend some of their sporting events. BTW: they have some great acts coming to the university this month.

 

All posts by WTBU News

The News Department of Boston University's student-run radio station WTBU.

 

2016 POSTS: ARTS, LOCAL

BUS FAVORITE POEM PROJECT READING

MARCH 1, 2016

writing
Photo Credit: flickr.com

Boston University hosted the Favorite Poem Project Reading, created by 39th US Poet Laureate and BU professor Robert Pinsky, at Hillel on 24 February. Fifteen readers gathered and presented poems of their choosing to a room full of excited listeners.

+++

BU BRAZILIAN ASSOCIATION CARNIVAL

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

unnamed

Photo credit: http://www.facebook.com/BUBrazil/?fref=ts_mref=message

 

The BU Brazilian Association challenged the snow and organized its first carnival at BU on Feb. 5th with Batucada players, Samba dancers and of course amazing Brazilian food coxinha, paō de queijo, brigadeiros The best therapy against cold and sullenness!

 

NEWS

 

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE VERMIN SUPREME

FEBRUARY 25, 2016 

vermin

Vermin Love Supreme has been running for president since the 1990s. Identifiable by his bushy white beard and unusual clothingmultiple ties and a giant boot he wears as a hat Mr. Supreme makes it a point to visit his competitors rallies. On the night of the New Hampshire primary, he attended Bernie Sanders victory rally at Concord High School in Concord, NH. He was once a Texas maritime lawyer, so he does have a legal background in spite of his antics. His lawfirm represented victims of numerous offshore oil rig accidents and he is well regarded by his peers at his former maritime lawfirm. WTBUs Miranda Suarez spoke to him about campaign hospitality and his ideological similarities to Sanders.

+++

LOCAL

COFFEE & CONVERSATION: THE ISSUES FROM A BU PERSPECTIVE

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

htc
Photo Credit: http://www.bu.edu/thurman

Every Friday from 3 to 5 PM in the Howard Thurman Center, BU students and faculty gather to drink free coffee and discuss the worlds most pressing issues. From race on college campuses to global terror, Coffee & Conversation offers students an open forum to express their views in an age when students across the country are struggling to get their voices heard. WTBUs Miranda Suarez listened in on last Fridays conversation about the Paris terror attacks and talked to Pedro Falci, Coffee & Conversations administrator and facilitator, to find out what makes Coffee & Conversation so appealing to students.

+++

ARTS LOCAL

FLAT WAFFLE OFFERS STAGE FOR YOUNG COMEDIANS

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

logo-2
Photo Credit:www.facebook.com/flatwafflecomedy.

Every other Monday, student comics and comedy lovers gather in the basement of the GSU for a night of stand-up. The Flat Waffle Comedy Hour (named because one performer thought “falafel” was short for “flat waffle”) gives young comedians a chance to try out new material—or even to step onstage for the first time. WTBU’s Miranda Suarez attended Flat Waffle on October 5th to talk to the hosts and listen to some sets, trying to ascertain what makes the event so special.

+++

 

2015 POSTS

DEADLINE TO FAME: BU STUDENTS FOUND METAL BAND REAVE

NOVEMBER 17, 2015
WTBU NEWS

IMAGE:metal-band-reave.jpg

Being a band on campus here at Boston University is no easy task. With limited practice rooms, and a deadline of four years or less to get the bands name out in the music world, campuses bands face unique and interesting challenges. WTBU News reporter Kyle Davi sat down and talked with the co-founder of the metal band Reave, Jack Nystrom. Take a listen to what he had to say about his band and being a band on campus in general

+++

 

2014 POSTS

Screen Shot 2014-11-20 at 7.25.48 PM

Taylor Reports: Snow Paralyzes Buffalo, Keeps Rhodes Scholar from Interview

NOVEMBER 21, 2014 SPECIAL REPORT

In this weeks installment of Taylor Reports, WTBUs Taylor Walker speaks with Rhodes Scholar Finalist Bethany Saul via phone interview as she is trapped in her house, unable to make it to her final interview for the prestigious scholarship. Tune in below as Bethany speaks about the road to becoming a finalist and what will happen next in ....

+++

WTBU News
640 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215
(617)-353-6400
Live Broadcast: 
Tue/Thurs 6pm-8pm EST

 


WTBUNews.org