Featured among the live, call-in interviews will be Tim Wright, a 1984 graduate of Bates and a former WRBC radio announcer, who now co-hosts the Tim and Laurie Show on WMGX-93.1 FM in Portland. Other guests will include area residents who have worked for the college radio station since its humble 10-watt beginnings as WRJR on Oct. 26, 1958.

WRBC, heard from Bora Bora to Walla Walla, is one of the first radio stations in Maine to break into Internet broadcasting, also known as “webcasting” and “cybercasting.” The Internet exposes the world to WRBC’s eclectic mix of music — everything from classical and jazz to alternative and calypso. WRBC, which has been ranked among the top 15 campus radio stations in the country by the Princeton Review, has received e-mails about its webcast from Ireland, England, New Zealand, Singapore and other countries.

WRBC uses a computer program to convert sound into a string of digits and another computer to ship this compressed, digital signal to the Internet. On the receiving end, a listener needs a computer, a moderately fast Internet connection (at least 28.8 kb/s) and a piece of software that can be obtained free on the Internet.

WRBC has the largest active membership of any student organization at Bates. Check the WRBC’s website to listen to a live broadcast, get the storied history of the station and find out the top 30 albums at Bates.