Early Years: 1941-1951
While WGRE has served DePauw and the Greencastle community since 1949, radio has been a part of DePauw’s campus since 1928 when occasional remote broadcasts were conducted for Indianapolis radio stations. In 1941, thanks to the support of DePauw Alumnus Eugene C. Pulliam (1910), radio station WIRE in Indianapolis began broadcasting programs from a fully equipped studio in Harrison Hall. Pulliam, President of WIRE, provided nearly $15,000 worth of services to DePauw during the first year of the radio program on campus. Dr. Paul J. Fay, Professor of Psychology, was named the first director of radio for the campus because the studio was located on the Psychology floor of Harrison Hall. The agreement between WIRE and DePauw was not unique, as WIRE and Indiana University in Bloomington had a similar arrangement to put student broadcasts on WIRE’s airwaves. (more)
