WHRB Fund Drive Seeks $100,000 To Build Facilities Near Winthrop

WHRB has launched a $100,000 fund raising campaign to finance construction of new studios at the corner of Mill and Plympton Sts. above the Masters' Garage.

The station's Board of Trustees voted Sunday to go ahead with the $100,000 project. The goal is one of the most ambitions ever set by an undergraduate organization.

The University has ordered WHRB to vacate its present basement headquarters in Dudley House by June 1964, and possibly as early as September 1963, to make way for the second half of the Holyoke Center.

Officials originally considered moving the WHRB facilities to another basement, and both Memorial Hall and Lehmann Hall were considered. But after an extensive study of available sites, the station received permission to construct a second story above the Masters' Garage. Harvard will contribute the space if WHRB can raise construction costs.

The station management intends to contact most WHRB alumni, as well as executives of several radio and television networks. Some executives have reportedly already shown interest in the project.

Solicitation will be in the name of Harvard University, and gifts will be considered bequests to the University and thus tax deductable.

The proposed structure would double the size of WHRB's facilities. Preliminary plans call for improvement of the station's equipment, enlargement of present operating space, and perhaps the construction of a television workshop.

Preliminary work on studio plans has been handled by John Colburn, an architect in the Department of Buildings and Grounds. Final plans will not be completed for several months.