This year, College Radio Day began for me in the best possible way, with a visit to Middlebury College’s student-run radio station WRMC 91.1 FM in Middlebury, Vermont. From the second that I walked into the station, on the upper floor of the Proctor Dining Hall, I was charmed by the colorful space. Lavender and pink walls lead to a hallway containing a sweet mural painted in the style of “Goodnight Moon.” The artwork depicts a group of headphone-wearing dogs sitting at a poker table, while listening to a WRMC-logo’d radio. The personality-filled walls hinted at the treasures to come throughout my visit.
Touring WRMC on College Radio Day
After settling into a cozy couch in the station’s lobby lounge on a Friday morning in October, I spoke with WRMC’s Co-General Managers Neel Shah and Matthew Held. Both seniors at Middlebury, Shah and Held met soon after arriving on campus as freshmen and quickly bonded over a shared love for music. They went to their first WRMC meeting that year and according to Held, “once we were both there for the first time, we were hooked.” Finding a “welcoming community” at the station, they both got very involved, later joining the board sophomore year as co-social chairs. Last year Shah served as co-Music Director.
Although many people discover their college radio stations after arriving on campus, Shah became enamored with WRMC during his senior year of high school. After he was accepted to Middlebury early decision, he noticed a link to the station on the college website and told me, “I knew this was something that I wanted to do.” He started tuning in to WRMC from his home in Hong Kong and explained that due to the time difference, he ended up listening to early morning and late night shows, which he could listen to in the middle of the day in Hong Kong. “So I got a very strange taste,” for the programming, he noted, because the shows during those hours are often hosted by newer DJs or are simply “weird late night programming.”
Late Night Radio at WRMC
One show, “Freaks and Geeks,” drew him in. The hosts spoke about historical figures, deeming them freaks or geeks before playing songs to coincide with the discussion. Shah thought their show was “the coolest thing in the whole world,” and decided that he “wanted to do something like this.” Since starting at WRMC, Shah has always hosted a late night show so that his parents can tune in live. “They love to listen, and I wouldn’t want them to be shut out,” he explained, adding that he also likes the freedom to play music with swear words, which is another advantage of late night time slots.
Although Held didn’t listen to WRMC prior to arriving on campus, he did know a bit about college radio through friends’ “cool” older brothers who did college radio at University of Texas, Austin. His older brother went to a different college and had friends doing radio, so the concept of student radio was in Held’s mind before his freshman year.
The Allure of College Radio
At Middlebury’s station, both Shah and Held try to foster a welcoming place where everyone who’d like a show, can get on the air. Held said that doing radio is “an outlet for a lot of people” and a “a time that you can be totally alone” and not think about school work and other stressors, adding, “You can go in there…turn the speakers loud, play your music and really let it all out.” Shah also sees the therapeutic value of radio, saying that he loves going to the studio. He describes the studio as sort of a sacred space, telling me, “my one rule for myself is I never do my homework while doing my show.”
Mix of Programming at WRMC
I visited during the first week on the air for all the new WRMC DJs and hosts. Daily training sessions had just wrapped up the day before and were mandatory for everyone at the station because of a new website. Since the on-air staff is made up of around 140 people, that made for a hectic time at WRMC, with folks in and out of the studio for training. The schedule contains about 100 shows, which are generally an hour in length. The vast majority of the programs are hosted by students, but there a few exceptions. Syndicated news program “Democracy Now” airs on weekdays, and a few alumni are still on the air. Additionally, long-time DJ, “The Voodoo Man,” has been on WRMC for decades and currently does a blues/rock show on Saturday mornings.
While touring through WRMC, I spotted a common college radio station sight: the mapping out of the broadcast schedule on an office wall using strips of paper on a cork board. For fall 2025, the array of shows is a fascinating mix. Shah shared a few highlights, including the whimsically-named “Evil boyfriend registry: The pre-raphaelite Brotherhood Show.” He said that he’d been looking forward to tuning in to this new Sunday afternoon show in part because the hosts “make art history sound interesting.” He also mentioned that the schedule expands even further during the summer, when Middlebury College hosts a language immersion program. Students in that program sign a language pledge, promising to communicate only in the language that they are studying. For that reason, WRMC has ended up with summer DJs taking part in that program and that has resulted in shows in a variety of languages, including German, Arabic, and Chinese.
Digging into CD and Vinyl Collection at WRMC
DJs can play music from a large collection of physical music at WRMC, but most of the student DJs use digital music during their shows. Shah noted that the record player is used “very occasionally,” adding that “the needle keeps breaking because people don’t know how to treat it.” This is despite required equipment training. Held explained that DJs planning to use vinyl are given a specific training and said that more people actually use vinyl than CDs. However the CD collection does have some allure, with Shah mentioning that a former station manager did an all-CD show, adding that, “I kind of what to do that this year.” CDs are stored all over the station, but the majority line the hallway and are housed in a huge set of glass-fronted cabinets that resemble built-ins that you might see in a vintage dining room.
On-Air Studio is Full of Life
The on-air studio feels full of life. A set of shelves are provided for WRMC staffers and each of them has a little section where they display little tchotchkes and CDs that express their personalities. It’s adjacent to a window with a view of campus, which makes for a lovely scene. Nearby is a list of the names of previous station executives, as a way for folks to leave their mark. When we arrived in the studio, it was between DJs, yet music from the station’s automation system (“a grab bag of new music” according to Shah) was blasting from the speakers.
A doorway from the studio leads to WRMC’s main recording studio, where musicians record live sessions for broadcast. Although the room had fallen out of use in the wake of COVID, the space has been revamped in the past few years. Additionally, student artists are able to record here. A band from Wesleyan University even requested to record there after seeing videos posted to the WRMC YouTube channel of live recordings. The space is full of instruments and several walls also contain shelves of CDs and vinyl records. A small recording booth is linked to the recording studio.
WRMC History: 1940s Launch of Carrier Current Station WMCRS
Rich in history, WRMC hosted a 75th anniversary of Middlebury radio event last year. The story goes that the first broadcast was out of a chicken coop in 1949. That station, known as WMCRS (Middlebury Campus Radio Service), was an AM carrier current station. In advance of its launch, a story in Middlebury Campus described the set-up as transmitting over “dormitory bell circuits,” with WMCRS expected to reach all of the dorms.
Campus-Only AM Station Changes Call Letters to WRMC in 1952
In 1950, the FCC alerted WMCRS that it was broadcasting beyond the allowed range and the station ceased operations for around six months, returning in April 1951. In 1952, Middlebury Campus reported that the station changed its name to WRMC after receiving a letter from Intercollegiate Broadcasting System stating that “according to international agreements, five-letter call letters cannot be assigned.” The station was still campus-only carrier current broadcasting at 750 AM.
WRMC Awarded FM License and Moves to 91.7 FM in 1968
By December 1967, WRMC had a construction permit to go FM. In the months leading up to this, the station expressed concerns about shifting to a non-commercial license, since as a carrier current station it was free to air advertising. The 10 watt class D station launched over 91.7 FM in early 1968 out of its existing studios in Proctor Hall. It began stereo broadcasts in 1978 and then in the early 1980s, WRMC upgraded its wattage to 100 watts. In 2000 the wattage increased again to 2900 watts and the station was also broadcasting online using RealAudio over a rebuilt website. At some point by the early 1990s, the spot on the dial shifted to 91.1 FM, where WRMC remains today.
With such a storied history, it’s not surprising that there are ghostly rumors surrounding WRMC’s space in Proctor Hall. Shah told me that a long-time DJ has told tales of flickering lights and CDs skipping on specific songs. Apparently these are messages from former DJs that “want to get on the air for one last time.” Held describes them as “benevolent ghosts.”
Thanks to WRMC + Archive of Station Tours
Thanks to Neel Shah, Matthew Held and everyone at WRMC-FM for the wonderful visit. This is my 186th radio station tour report and my 128th college radio station tour. You can view the entire collection of my radio station visits in numerical order or by station type in our archives.
