WLFR

WLFR (91.7 FM) is a college radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to the Pomona section of Galloway Township, New Jersey, United States, the station serves the Atlantic City area. The station is owned by Stockton University.[1]

WLFR
CityPomona, New Jersey
Broadcast areaAtlantic City
Frequency91.7 MHz
BrandingLake Fred Radio
Programming
FormatVariety
Ownership
OwnerStockton University
History
First air date
October 16, 1984
Call sign meaning
Lake Fred Radio
Technical information
Facility ID63469
ClassA
ERP820 watts
HAAT45.0 meters
Transmitter coordinates
39°28′45.00″N 74°32′23.00″W
Links
Website

The call letters stand for "Lake Fred Radio," named after a lake located on campus.[2] The station began broadcasting on October 16, 1984, a few weeks after having been granted its license by the FCC on October 3, 1984.

It offers a wide range of formats from rock to country to alternative to jazz and various other genres.

Call Sign

WLFR's callsign, Lake Fred Radio, comes from one of the lakes on Stockton University's campus.[3] Although there has been some speculation about the origin of Lake Fred's name, the likeliest source was Frederic "Eric" Sommer, who named the lake after himself in 1973.[4] Before this, students would refer to this body of water as "Lake Stockton" and "College Lake."[5] Because it is a prominent topographic landmark, campus organizations like WFLR have named themselves after it.

History

WLFR started in a small cabin located in the woods east of the dorm C and D in 1974-1975. The Radio Club got permission to renovate the cabin and added two small studios and a control room. An A/C system was donated and the entrance room housed the record collection. Records arrived on a daily basis directly from the record companies free of charge. The station was called WSSR - Stockton State Radio.

The broadcast medium was via dedicated phone lines to each of the dorm buildings where AM "carrier-current" transmitters beamed the signal out via the building wires. The hand build tube transmitters were purchased from another state college that didn't need them anymore.

The tech team got a budget to purchase two broadcast grade turntables, a mixing console and a Revox 77 tape recorder. Things really took off when an endless loop tape deck was added for jingles and ads. Endless tapes had 30 and 60 second runtime.

The turntables were "queued up" for each song to be played. That means that the needle was placed in the groove of the record and spun by hand to find the start of the song, then 1/2 turn added for the start up time of the turntable.

The faders in the mixing console controlled the turntable motor allowing the disk jockey to on cue to just raise the volume on the mixer witch in turn started the turntable. This allowed the perfect crossover from song to song or speech to song.

Advisor to the club was Charlie Hirsch, husband of one of the professors. He also helped with the solar heated cabin.

FCC Application

The original FCC application was submitted 1975-1976 by the Radio Club. At the time, Pomona and the surrounding area did not support the FCC population requirement. The only way to get the fulfill the requirement was to somehow include Atlantic City in the coverage. This was achieved by using a directional antenna that would beam the signal in direction of Atlantic City. Hard to believe that Pomona was so sparsely populated at the time. Today WLFR uses a non-directional antenna to beam out sound waves. Transmitter output power: 1.00 kW.

WLFR

At some point in time the group of cabins was demolished and the AM transmitters retired. Today the radio station is housed in the main building of the campus. WLFR is located in Suite 205 of the campus center

As of 2015, the old equipment from the cabin was still in use at WLFR in a secondary studio downstairs from the main studio.

References
  1. "WLFR Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. "Naming Lake Fred - Stockton Stories | Stockton University". stockton.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  3. "Naming Lake Fred - Stockton Stories | Stockton University". stockton.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  4. "Naming Lake Fred - Stockton Stories | Stockton University". stockton.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  5. "Naming Lake Fred - Stockton Stories | Stockton University". stockton.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
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