Branding FM Swarthmore Format College Radio | Frequency 91.5 (MHz) | |
City Swarthmore, Pennsylvania Broadcast area Philadelphia, PA/Swarthmore, PA Slogan "fiercely independent radio" | ||
WSRN-FM (91.5 FM), The "Worldwide Swarthmore Radio Network") is Swarthmore College's official campus radio station. It broadcasts out of the suburban Philadelphia borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
Prior to the 1970s, WSRN operated as a carrier signal broadcast to the campus of Swarthmore College only. Following efforts by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take over such low power frequencies, a campaign was raised by the students of the college, and in the late 1970s, the FCC granted a license for a 110-watt, directional, transmission. According to the regulations in force at the time, any station with a signal wattage of 100 watts or less was considered to be a low-power station and subject to limitation in favor of larger stations. Programming has been eclectic from the 1970s on. Station programming is diverse; music spans "world," hip hop, blues, folk, rock, pop, R & B, and classical. Talk and comedy programs comprise much of the weekend line-up. Notably "Funk" which ran from fall 2012 to spring 2014 Friday mornings from midnight to 2AM.
In 1986, the main on-air studio was completely refurbished, with a new control panel, turntables, microphones, and wiring installed. 1998 saw the rewiring and modernization of the production studio and the construction of an acoustically isolated sound studio connected to the production studio.
Students have always manned the soundboard and so during most summers the station is dark.