WVKR-FM

WVKR-FM (Independent Radio) is a college radio station owned by and primarily staffed by students of Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York. The station broadcasts on 91.3 MHz at 3,700 watts ERP from a tower in Milton, New York with a directional signal to the south.

WVKR-FM

Poughkeepsie, New York United States
Broadcast area	Mid-Hudson
Frequency	91.3 MHz
Branding	Independent Radio
Programming
Format	College radio
Affiliations	Pacifica Radio Network
Ownership
Owner	Vassar College
History
First air date	December 8, 1971; 54 years ago (1971-12-08)
Call sign meaning	Vassar Kollege [sic] Radio
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	69833
Class	B1
ERP	3,700 watts
HAAT	250 meters
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.wvkr.org

History

The WVKR studio in 2013

When Vassar College became a co-educational institution in 1969, the school began plans to launch a campus radio station to serve both the campus and the nearby communities. Originally, the college planned to apply for a low-power license; however, a decision was made to seek a full-power license when the tower site of WEOK-FM was donated to Vassar College after the construction of a new tower in Illinois Mountain in Marlboro. WVKR signed on from this tower on a test basis in December 1971 with full operations commencing after upgrades to the tower were made in March 1972.^[2] The station was granted permission to broadcast on FM in 1975.^[3] During the early Coronavirus pandemic, the station continued broadcasting, with some shows recorded remotely.^[4]

For its entire existence, WVKR has been a primarily student-run station with a core staff of community volunteers running some programs on the station. Key programming on the station includes blues, jazz, hip hop, vintage rock, polka music, world music, classical, Cajun/Zydeco, talk, and indie rock, among others.^[5]

The station plays a range of artists, including local (Larry Campbell,^[6] CIAO MALZ^[7][8]) and out of state/international^[9] artists (Tiberius,^[10] Jorma Kaukonen,^[11] The Noisy,^[12][13]) in addition to their social, political, and activist programming.^[14][15]