The following story is at best a sketch. Much of what I write I got second, third, or even fourth hand. I would appreciate any details that could be sent to me to correct or fill in gaps.

The college radio station, which originally had the call letters WOBC, was first constructed in a room on the top floor of Towers Hall (then called the Administration Building.) The project was, as nearly as I could find out, student initiated, student constructed, and student run. The time was shortly after World War II, and some of the students, I'm sure, were veterans. The one name I know is that of Jim Yost, '51; there were surely others.

WOBC was what was called a carrier current station. That meant that its signal was not broadcast into the air but rather was injected into the campus power lines. It was an AM band station of course; FM had not yet come. It was also restricted to a very low power. The basic idea was that it would broadcast to campus buildings and grounds but not much more.

When Cowan Hall was built a space in the basement was designed for WOBC. It moved in and was outfitted with two studios, a control room, and a record storage room. It had become an integral part of campus activities. A line was run to what was then the First EUB Church (now Church of the Master United Methodist) and Sunday morning service was regularly broadcast. It was at this point that my connection began. During summer and vacations local high school students were recruited to engineer for church services and I took occasional turns at this.

Then came the big mistake! Sometime in the middle 50's an incident occurred where some women from King Hall called up the station and complained that they could just barely get the station. The engineer on duty at the time solved the problem by turning the power up. Way up. That solved the King Hall problem and in general pleased most listeners. Nearby residents, mostly college connected, could get the station if they wished. Apparently, the extra power was kept on for some time.

It couldn't last forever. As I heard it, one day an official from the FCC drove through Westerville listening on his car radio to a columbus station with a nearby frequency. As he drove through the town the Columbus station was drowned out by WOBC! The result was that the FCC revoked Otterbein's station license.

The college went without a radio station for several years. But, in the meantime, the possibility of an educational FM station had come to be. With the help of Dr. Jim Grissinger, and with promises to stick to the rules, the college was granted such a license. Unfortunately, by that time Oberlin College had laid claim to the WOBC call letters, and Otterbein became WOBN. At least, "Woebun" is easier to say than whatever would have developed for WOBC.

I remember it as my freshman year, 1957-58, when the new station was installed. An antenna had been purchased and was mounted on the top of Cowan Hall. I helped pull coaxial cable through conduit for most of a day. Finally, one task remained; the installation of the red light bulb at the top of the antenna. As no one else was eager to do the job, it fell to fearless foolish me. I'm sure that bulb has been replaced by now; but for many years the red light I installed glowed over Cowan Hall, announcing the presence of WOBN.