WBOR has gone through many changes since its inception in 1951. Original call letters WBOA, standing for Bowdoin On Air, were changed to those representing Bowdoin On Radio five years later when the station made the switch from AM to the FM dial.
Photos of students involved with the 1951 launch of WBOA, as it was known at the time, as chronicled in the 1952 edition of the "Bowdoin Bugle."
WBOR was in charge of recording Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech during his visit to campus in 1964, prevailed in its battle with local TV and radio stations in the 1980s to increase its signal strength (that same decade, surviving the broadcast of a “Breakdance Showdown”) and, since 2000, has broadcast worldwide through an online stream.
Notable alumni who took a turn behind a WBOR microphone include President of HBO Miniseries Kary Antholis ’84 and Paul D. Miller ’92, aka multimedia artist DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid. Read more about National College Radio Day.
