WGTB is a student-run internet radio station at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The station was founded as an AM station in 1946 by the Reverend Francis J. Heyden, S.J., and moved to FM in 1960. In the late 1960s and through the 1970s, the station attracted attention in the Washington, D.C. area for its blend of alternative rock. Its tag line was "WGTB, one nation underground". Strong left-wing sentiments, especially ads for the Washington Free Clinic, caused significant friction between the station's staff and the school's administration. Fr. Timothy Healy, SJ, Georgetown's president, donated the 6,700-watt signal, broadcasting at 90.1 MHz, to the University of the District of Columbia in 1979 for the sum of one dollar. UDC sold the signal to C-SPAN in 1997 for $25 million. That incarnation of the station is now WCSP-FM. A new student staff resurrected the college radio station in 1982 as WROX-AM, an album-oriented rock format broadcasting to individual campus buildings over carrier current at 690 AM. The station reverted to its WGTB call sign in 1985, and moved to an alternative format. After the move from studios in the Copley dormitory basement to the Leavey Center in 1996, the station broadcast via a "leaky cable" FM system at 92.3 MHz, also intended to ensure that the station could only broadcast around the campus and its immediate environs. Since 2001, WGTB's content has been available exclusively over the web. Broadcasts can be heard every day from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Recorded programming from WGTB, mostly in the 1970s can be heard Wednesdays on internet-radio station, WGAY. Hundreds of hours of WGTB were recorded by various listeners, several of whom have allowed WGAY to borrow and digitally dub these historical tapes, so that the sound of WGTB will continue to be heard.
Staff
Teddy Carey is the General Manager. Eloise Owen and Mary-Grace Yaeger are the Promotional Directors. Catherine Tresslar is the Director of Marketing. Maxwell Keeney is the Director of Music. Dylan Burke is the Director of Events. Katie Hawkinson is the Web Director. Jamie Hood and Aleida Olvera are the Director of Technology. Peter Lorio is the Director of Programming.
