The Tech affiliation with Radio Radcliffe came about in a rather hap-hazard manner. A 'Cliffe staffer took her date, an M.I.T. student, on a tour of the plant one day and pointed out some equipment that was in poor shape. Always attentive to his girl friend's problems, the Tech man showed up a few days later with a host of electrically-oriented companions who proceeded to work out the difficulties in no time. Thus began a beautiful friendship with no fear of dominance--M.I.T. is too far away.

WHRB, after it recovered from a case of hurt pride, bravely declared it would be an uninterested observer from here on. Nevertheless, the sister of WHRB's president has circulated a petition at Radcliffe endorsing the installation of a WHRB transmitter at Radcliffe.

R-squared is now conducting an unofficial "lets-keep-'em-out" campaign. Members of WHRB are quietly being given the cold shoulder, and girls have been instructed to keep them from entering the broadcasting area. "But they still keep coming back," observed one Cliffedweller.

Group Numbers 15

Without Harvard, Radio, Radcliffe's staff at present consists of 15 active members, and several more inactive ones. Membership is divided into announcers--who write shows and announce--and tech girls, who run controls. Actually, most members of Radio Radcliffe can do either more or less competently, and, indeed, often have to in the one-man shows of the reading-period orgies.

The president of Radio Radcliffe, Judith Kapstein '54, coordinates the activities of the station and is in charge of public relations. The production director, Martha K. Rowland, is in charge of the production managers (or announcers) and helps with candidate training. Joanne Gilbert, '54, holds both the post of program director, choosing shows, and classical music director, selecting music to be played on the programs. Elizabeth Raeder '53, business manager, solicits advertising, and is in charge of the financial affairs of the station.

Radio Radcliffe puts on shows all year, from 7:30 p.m. to 12 midnight, Monday through Friday. Such programs range from light opera to Gilbert and Sullivan, to choral works, to poetry readings, to symphonies and ballads. The aim is to give any girl who listens to the station the kind of music she wants to hear, no matter what her taste may be. In addition, the Music I assignment is played when weekly, as a college service, and this year material from Music 121 was played. Poetry readings were given for one of the English courses.

In reading period, Radio Radcliffe presents "orgies"; a week of music from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m., with a minimum of announcing. Orgies are done as one-man shows, except for the 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift, which is two man.

Candidates are trained by the production director, and the technical director. They are trained either for production or tech; a few have trained for both at once, with moderately good results. Tech candidates simply learn to handle controls; production candidates learn announcing and script-writing. Both types of candidates come up for "nights", when they watch the working of the station and the activities of experienced members. One high spot of the period is an appearance on a specially show, such as "Tommy Valentine's Day", for an interview; another, for the announcers, is announcing training consisting of reading an Oxydol ad, an introduction to a MaPerkins show, and several soap-opera and mystery skits. Candidates are written up in their own comment book, which they are required to read. At the end of their training period, they are given an examination for their respective specialties, and, if they pass, admitted to membership in Radio Radcliffe.

A Day Goes This Way

The typical night of a Radio Radcliffe announcer actually begins at four p.m. in the afternoon, when she picks up the records for the evening's program (this is why an RR announcer is called a program manager.) She goes to Briggs and Briggs and asks to see the week's schedule, on which, selected by the program director, are the records for her night She withdraws these records, filling in any which happen to be out of stock with similar ones, and carries them home.

The scene now shifts to a little before 7 p.m. Records in low, the P.M. opens the locked field house and the Radcliffe studio upstairs. She switches on lights, and the control board, and waits for the tech girl to arrive.

When she does, the two girls set the clock (which is generally about two minutes off), arrange the records in order, and ready scripts on the microphone table. By this time, it is pretty nearly 7:28:40, the official time for the station to go on the air. The door to the studio and the door to the control room are carefully closed (one cardinal rule for every announcer it soon becomes as natural as breathing), and both girls settle down to watch the clock. 7:28:20--28:30--35--the announcer signals sharply, the tech girl fiddles with controls, and the opening bars of the triumphal march from Aida, Radio Radcliffe's theme, go over the air. Another quick signal, the music cuts down. The announcer takes a deep breath. "This is WRRB, Radio Radcliffe, now signing on the air."

The evening is usually fairly uneventful after that. The P. M. announces each show, announces the title, performers, and conductor of each record, closes the show by giving record credits. Between shows she may read short plugs from advertisers, or announce the time. While a record is playing she doesn't need to talk, so she generally uses the opportunity to catch up on knitting or studying.

The tech girl, on the other hand, is usually busier. She has to "ride the gain", seeing that the meter on the control board doesn't coast up into the red area which means that listeners are hearing an unpleasant shrill shriek instead of music. And between shows, when very often one theme has to be faded down, another theme faded up and down, and the first record for a show started all within about two minutes, the tech girl often wishes she bad three arms. The tech girl also has to "cue" a record, seeing that it starts at the beginning of the music, neither with a long pause before-hand, nor in the middle of the first movement.