- published: 12 May 2016
- views: 1583
WAMU is a public radio station that services the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The station broadcasts on 88.5 FM, online at wamu.org, and on HD Radio at 88.5-HD1, 2 and 3. WAMU is on-air 24 hours a day. It is licensed to American University, and its studios are located near the campus in northwest Washington, D.C. WAMU's HD2 subchannel broadcasts Bluegrass Country, which is also available at bluegrasscountry.org and on-air in northern Virginia at 105.5 FM; WAMU-3 broadcasts content from WTMD, an AAA station in Towson, Maryland, as well as other NPR and BBC World Service programming. This change became effective on September 17, 2007.
WAMU began as a carrier current student radio station on July 28, 1951. Its signal didn't make it too far off the AU campus. The station received a commercial FM license in late 1960, and made its first FM broadcast on October 23, 1961. The student radio station is now WVAU, an Internet-only station.
For many years, WAMU was supported by a loyal base of bluegrass listeners. Each day, the station played the Lee Michael Demsey Show and the Ray Davis Show. Saturday afternoons had another Ray Davis Show as well as the Jerry Gray Show. Mountain Stage from West Virginia Public Radio played Sunday afternoons. Each spring, the station hosted a bluegrass concert at Fairfax High School. It featured performers such as Alison Krauss, Tony Rice, the Gibson Brothers, the Lewis Family, Hot Rize, and Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. Pickin' in the Glen was another musical event hosted by WAMU. Currently, WAMU broadcasts bluegrass on its HD2 channel and on a dedicated Internet audio stream.
Letting loose the lunatics wasn't the greatest of ideas
Giving them plans and money to squander
Should have been the worst of our fears
The dream life luxury living was a pleasant number 10 whim
But somewhere down the line of production
They left out human beings
They were gonna build communities
It was going to be pie in the sky
But the piss stench hallways and broken down lifts
Say the planners dream went wrong
If people were made to live in boxes
God would have given them string
To tie around their selves at bed time
And stop their dreams falling through the ceiling
And the public school boy computers
Keep spewing out our future
The house in the country designs the 14th floor
Old Mrs. Smith don't get out much more
Coitus interrupts 'cause of next doors rows
Your washing gets nicked when the lights go out
Baby's scream in the nightmare throng