In the past year, Dickinson College’s radio station, WDCV, received a number of technological upgrades which will improve the station’s ability to offer a wide range of programming to the Dickinson and Carlisle communities. These improvements, which began in December 2011, were completed in October 2012, thereby coinciding with the station’s fiftieth anniversary.
In 2011, the station was broadcasting with a transmitter from 1983.
“[It was] nearing the end of its useful life,” said Joy Verner, station manager and assistant to the vice president for student development.
In addition to replacing the transmitter, Verner and the rest of the WDCV staff decided to seek funding from President William G. Durden ’71 to purchase several other technological devices to enhance the station’s technological capabilities. Durden, who hosted his own talk show on WDCV during his first several years as Dickinson’s
President, provided the station with a $25,000 discretionary grant from the President’s Office to purchase a new transmitter and conduct technological improvements.
The new equipment was purchased and installed by Dickinson alumnus and professional radio engineer Tom Vernon ’76 who serves as WDCV’s Engineering and Broadcasting Consultant. The nearly three decade old QEI transmitter was replaced by a state of the art Crown FM300E 300-watt transmitter. The old transmitter has been retained as a full-power backup transmitter, thereby ensuring the station will remain capable of broadcasting should the main transmitter malfunction. The station also purchased a Davicom MAC 216 remote to replace one which was no longer consistent with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) radio broadcast regulations.
WDCV also acquired an ISDN Module which will enable the station to link with other media organizations such as National Public Radio (NPR) to air syndicated content at times when live DJs are not available.
The station also began using a new system to strengthen its ability to globally stream live content on the internet. Although WDCV has been streaming broadcasts for several years, the previous system was exceptionally slow and often contained pop up advertising. The new system streams at a much faster speed and does not include advertisements. According to Verner, this will enable the station to better serve parents of Dickinson students who tune in from around the world to listen to their sons’ and daughters’ radio shows and sporting events. It will also enable Dickinson alumni to closely follow Red Devil athletics.
