Intercollegiate Radio Chain Maps FM Transmission Plans

In company with 28 other infant radio stations which have mushroomed into existence at all the major colleges during the past two years, the Crimson Network has joined an Intercollegiate Broadcasting System which at present links college stations together by collecting and dispensing recorded programs and national advertising, and for the future envisions Frequency Modulation transmission of its programs to network members.

The Crimson Radio will begin contributions to the IBS this fall by recording Dramatic Club presentations, musical shows by the Harvard Association of Songwriters, and other "live" programs, and in return contributions from sister and brother stations, including Wellesley, Vassar Yale, Brown, and Columbia, will be put on the air at Harvard.

Although the University has not as yet allowed the Network to carry advertising, ten IBS stations will broadcast a series of swing sessions sponsored by a tobacco company during the next 15 weeks. If and when the ban is lifted at Harvard, the station will carry national advertisers who have signed IBS contracts.

The plan for FM transmission for the intercollegiate chain is maturing rapidly. The Federal Communications Commission, main stumbling block in the road of aspiring networks, has given its approval and the chief obstacle remaining is the difficulty of obtaining radio equipment whose production has been drastically curtailed by Defense.

For the Crimson Network reception of FM broadcasts in the near future will remain a rosy dream. On the other hand connections with nearby college stations by telephone may soon enable the Network to tap wider sources.

IBS was started by George Abraham, Brown '40, who put the struggling Brown University station on its feet two years ago and thereby started a movement which spread like prairie fire from one university to another. Abraham hopes that his idea for an intercollegiate chain will grow to include stations in the mid-west and far west besides those already recruited in the eastern states.