WHRB Updates Equipment

Updating what station members say was a technological "Stone Age," WHRB replaced its oldest and most-used studio equipment this winter.

On Sunday, staffers at the station, which was founded approximately 50 years ago, celebrated the completed installation of a console that replaced a 20-year-old main control panel. Ordinarily, WHRB renovates its equipment every ten years.

"After having this old nasty piece of equipment, we finally installed a new console," said Jason A. Topaz '93, WHRB's station manager. "The old thing kept breaking down at such a rate that we couldn't keep up with it."

The console is the panel from which all programs, except for the news, are broadcast. The new console, located in Studio CC, will be used almost 18 hours of every day.

Sunday night's studio-warming party also commemorated the general renovation of Studio CC, including a new paint job and the removal of all of what Topaz called "kludges."

Topaz defined "kludges" as "what we call it when something breaks down and we just strap a wire to it to keep it working." The renovation removed more than 75 percent of the wires in the studio.

'Many Thousands of Dollars'

Topaz, who estimated that the renovations cost "somewhere in the many thousands of dollars area," said the decision to renovate was made as much to raise station members' spirits as anything else. "At least half of the reason we got [the console] is for morale," he said. "We've been living in the Stone Age as far as equipment goes."

Sacrificing their vacation for WHRB, two student engineers stayed in Cambridge over winter break to install the new equipment. David F. Mazieres '94 and Neil Hendin '92 said they worked approximately 16 hours a day revamping the studio.

"We took Christmas day off, but we were pretty much there from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.," said Mazieres.

"We essentially ripped every-thing out and started from there," he said. "The studio is more flexible and easier to repair now."

WHRB has more to look forward to in the way of renewal and repair, Topaz said. The station may soon acquire a digital-audio system to replace its reel-to-reel set-up, an additional microphone for one of the studios and a computerized system that would enable WHRB to do summertime shows without a disc jockey present.