Ivy Network Will Feature Program Swaps Next Year

Plans for the exchange of tape-recorded radio shows between college radio stations in the Ivy Network are well under-way, and the first actual program swap is slated for sometime after the Christmas recess, WHRB officials said yesterday. Harvard's station, although in favor of the plan, will not participate for the time being because of its already overcrowded programming schedule.

This attempt to bring Ivy League college students different drama shows, 'live' jazz concerts, and classical music recitals represents the latest attempt by the Ivy Network to coordinate the activities of its member stations--one of the basic aims of the three-year-old organization.

The history of student broadcasting in Ivy League schools is a relatively brief one. Brown's WBRU was the first college radio station in America, and began broadcasting activities in the spring of 1940. Within a year, Harvard followed suit with WHCN (The Harvard CRIMSON Network). These two stations were among the original members of the first college network--IBS (Intercollegiate Broadcasting System), founded by two young Brown alumni. David Frost and George Abraham, who had set up WBRU while undergraduates.

War Boom

After V-J Day, advertisers had to budget their funds more tightly, and IBS's power to attract customers went into a sharp decline. In 1947, five member stations from the Ivy League--Dartmouth (WDBS), Harvard (then called WHRV), Pennsylvania (WXPN), Princeton (WPRU) and Yale (WYBC) seceded and formed a splinter group called the Ivy Network. Cornell joined later to bring the Network's roster up to its present number of six.

The Ivy Network's offices are housed in the studios of WYBC in New Haves, but its activities are separate from those of the Yale station. Except for their business activities, the member stations function independently from each other, although they can be linked together for broadcasting via telephone wires within a matter of hours.

One of the Network's innovations over the past year has been the broadcasting of out-of-town sports events over the facilities of the station at the school where the game is being played. Here again, policy varies from station to station: WHRB's audience research polls showed that University students prefer the present programming setup, with its emphasis on classical music, and the broadcasting of sports events has therefore been left out of the local schedule.