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The Radio Workshop was formed in 1939. With the advent of carrier current, a broadcasting technique which uses low-power transmissions over a select geographic range, David Borst helped establish the first broadcast on September 22, 1941. This became known as the Union Broadcasting System which sent broadcasts via an electrical power line running from the Electrical Engineering Building to North College.(18) The success of the broadcast helped unify all the radio groups on campus and in March 1942, they were combined to form the Union College Radio Society (UCRS).(19)
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On October 14, 1920, a radio broadcast came from Union College via “wireless telephone,” as reported in the Schenectady Gazette. This was the first broadcast for public entertainment in the United States.(1) The development of radio at Union College can be attributed to many individuals, many of whom worked for General Electric and cooperated with students and faculty on campus. As it developed, it encountered frequent interruptions and changes.
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By the 1960s, the station sorely needed a technical overhaul. WRUC hoped to become an FM station, however, such a system required the approval of both the FCC and Union’s Board of Trustees. In 1963, the Board of Trustees denied the station’s proposal to become an FM station.(24)
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The first broadcasts of the Radio Club consisted of sending transmissions in Morse code and streaming phonograph records, and soon after it began broadcasting campus events such as athletic games and dances. Call letters were changed to W2XBN for a few years and changed to W2GSB in 1932.(11) The Radio Club engaged in famous historic events, such as, on May 6, 1921, a live broadcast from an antenna rigged up to a baby carriage and wheeled through downtown Schenectady. This was quite possibly the world’s first portable broadcast receiver.(12)
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To celebrate the 101st anniversary of WRUC, we offer this exhibit highlighting the importance of Union College’s radio history. This was the first radio station in New York State and one of the earliest in the nation. We hope you are inspired to tune in at 89.7 FM.
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exhibit banner for Night of the Living Radio
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Historians estimate that almost a fifth of colonial New York’s population was enslaved. Albany and Schenectady were no different. When Union College was founded in 1795, Schenectady had about 450 enslaved residents. These enslaved people toiled on small farms, worked in shops, and carried out work requested by their masters. New York merchants made fortunes trading crops such as tobacco, sugar, and indigo—all produced from enslaved labor. Early colonial New York Dutch merchants also lined their pockets from the slave trade.
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Major General Philip John Schuyler (1733-1804) was born into a “prominent Dutch lineage…the prestige that can come from long established family roots… an arrogancy not without a touch of vanity, but also the wellspring of ambition”.
The Major General married Catherine “Kitty” Van Rensselaer in 1755. Kitty gave birth to 15 children in the course of their long marriage, eight of whom survived to adulthood: Angelica, Eliza (Hamilton), Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, Margarita “Peggy”, John Bradstreet, Rensselaer, Cornelia and Catherine or “Caty”.
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In the winter of 2017, a lock of George Washington’s hair was discovered in the stacks of the Special Collections Department at Union College, triggering an international media storm. The lock of hair was found in a small envelope that was tucked inside a rare book entitled Gaine’s Universal Register (1793). The book belonged to Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, son of Major General Philip Schuyler, Sr., and the brother of Eliza (Schuyler) Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton.
Although media coverage focused on Washington’s hair, the discovery— the hair, the book, and the handwritten note on the envelope—all helped tell the story of the Schuyler (pronounced: SKY-ler) family and their role in the founding of Union College.
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When Union College was chartered in 1795, the founders never even considered the possibility of female participation, either as students or educators. The world was decades away from the Suffragette movement.
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As part of Union College’s commitment to the celebration of Women’s History Month, we proudly tell the story of Katherine ‘Kay’ Flickinger Dockstader, an outdoors enthusiast, hiker, skier, amateur photographer, and former GE employee. Born in Schenectady in 1910, she was a world-wide traveler who had a lifelong fascination with the Adirondacks. As a member of the Schenectady Chapter of Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) as well as the YMCA/YWCA’s Otyokwa Club, she regularly took weekend hiking trips, often in the High Peaks. After summiting Allen Mountain on September 7, 1946, she became the 41st member of the 46er Club. At the organization’s first meeting, she was appointed Secretary. By 1958 she had climbed all High Peaks twice. Kay was also the first woman to ascend Mt. Iroquois on skis.
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