Macalester staff moving the antenna during the construction of WMCN
The History of WMCN
WBOM [1948?-1955] / KMAC [1961-1979] / WMCN [1979-Present]
The station history starts long before the FM years. Formerly WBOM and housed in the Macalester library before 1955-no one at the station presently knows what existed before this-the station was off the air from 1955-1961 because of a "campus space shortage." When space and interest opened up in 1961 the station grabbed a new frequency and a new call sign. KMAC went on the air in 1961 at 550-kilocycles (550 AM) broadcasting from a vacated class room in the student union, playing mainly folk and jazz music from noon to midnight seven days a week. KMAC was carried into Macalester dormitories through wiring in the walls (a.k.a. close-circuit or carrier-current). If you wanted to listen off-campus, you were out of luck.
This state of affairs continued through the sixties and into the seventies, the station building up a collection of records, equipment and notoriety-at least on campus. In the year of 1976-77 the radio station had 62 people working on it, a significant proportion for a school of only about 1600 students. In 1978 a $1000 survey was under taken to investigate the possibilities of going FM. A great deal had to be done including the obtainment of a license and the purchasing of new equipment. WMCN got FCC approval to build an FM studio in 1978 with money obtained through Macalester's then "community council" and other on campus organizations that were sympathetic to the cause. The Macalester administration provided no founds.
WMCN, 91.7 FM, went on the air on October 6, 1979 at 10 PM with a "Switch Hitter's Ball" with three bands (Hypstrz, Mutuals, Jinx) broadcast from the union in celebration. Initially broadcasting 24 hours a day with around 60 DJs, the WMCN focussed on what was then called "progressive rock, new wave, jazz and country-rock music."
The start-up of the station went off well from all reports but then something happened that would unfortunately become a regular product of WMCN's DIY approach to broadcasting and equipment: a power failure occurred the first week after the station went on the air. This prompted the purchase of a new control board in the spring of 1980, which cost $5000. This board, in grand WMCN fashion, existed until the end of the fall 1997 semester.
A new transmitter was purchased in 1983, allowing WMCN to broadcast in stereo. Other purchases included a new studio mixing board for a growing production facility and four new turntables, which the station still uses daily.
In the spring of 1984 there was an attempt to move WMCN, at 10 watts, to 104.9 FM. WMCN paid FM Associates, a Massachusetts firm, $1000 to prepare the 28 page application (filled with terrain studies of St. Paul and other technical information). But nothing came of this push.
A Twin Cities Reader letter to the editor in 1984 said: It is too bad most the Cities cannot pick up Macalester College's 10-watt station. There isn't another station around where one can hear old and new rock, punk, wave, blues, funk, classical, and international music. So what if the DJs aren't slick professionals? There are none of the inane advertisements, and the music formats change every 2 to 3 hours with new DJs. I'm just glad to live in an area where I can pick up this gem of a station. I haven't heard as diverse a format on the radio since the middle Sixties in New York. The WMCN'ers over at Macalester deserve a pat on the back, and a little publicity. (-Michael Bernstein, St. Paul resident 3.14.84)
New improvements were not made to the station until the spring of 1990 when things that had been damaged from years of cigarette smoke and overuse were replaced, including new furniture, a group of compact disc players, some tape decks, a new antenna and modifications to the program schedule. The station also moved from the union to the basement underneath the Bigelow and Wallace dorms.
In the spring of 1997 the station got a brand new studio console, replacing the almost 20-year-old original.