WVCS WCAL History

WCAL 91.9 FM is owned and operated by SAI. WCAL was founded in 1971, and is a 24-hour a day, 3.3 kilowatt, non-commercial radio station that services a five county region including Washington, Fayette, Greene, Westmoreland, and Allegheny counties. In addition WCAL has listeners in parts of West Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio. WCAL’ typical audience member is a male between the ages of 16 to 35 years old. 91.9 FM employs an “Active Rock” format during its regular business hours. The “Active Rock” format utilizes a large rock library spanning three decades of rock music from the 1970’s through the current rock hits of today. The regular format hours are defined as being Monday through Thursday 10 AM to 10 PM and Fridays 10 AM to 6 PM. The remaining hours are designated as specialty shifts allowing the disc jockey to create their own format from a variety of music genres.

The station’s primary function is to provide programming to the student population of California University Of Pennsylvania with additional obligations to serve the University community as well as the regional area, while providing student broadcasters with educational experiences necessary for professional development. WCAL provides opportunities in radio operations including: broadcast management, programming, sports, weather, production, promotion, news, in addition to, writing, sales, and underwriting.
During the mid to late 1960’s, a group of students created the Vulcan Amateur Radio Club under the government/club structure of what was then called the Student Activities Association or S.A.A. Faculty under the Industrial Arts department was sponsoring this club. The purpose of this club was to join together students who had a common interest in radio. The club continued for a few years in this fashion, but with one inherent problem. Some of the members were interested in popular AM/FM formatted radio, while the others were interest in Ham radio operation. By 1970, a decision was made to have the Vulcan Radio Club continue as a Ham radio organization. A new path was started for the other students interested in radio.

The college and S.A.A. Director, Joe Dochinez reached a decision to start the research and engineering studies needed to acquire a FM license for California. It was decided that the station and license should be housed under the S.A.A. for use by the club. The initial application request and engineering report were completed for review by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the fall of 1971. The request was for a 10 watt, FM license/channel in the educational band (under 92 on the FM dial). The request identified several open frequencies available and also submitted several suggested call signs (letters) including WCAL among others. Finally, by the start of 1972, the FCC had awarded an educational FM license to the S.A.A. and California State College. The station’s 10 watt frequency was 91.9, it’s official call sign...WVCS (the Voice of Cal State). The small station was housed in the student union basement, near the old poolroom. Its 10-watt antenna was located on a cement pad, between the union and McCloskey Hall. At that time, the station was all LP vinyl covering the rock music of the day and school announcements. WVCS could be heard across the entire campus and partially in town.