Radyo Bilkent Celebrates Its 10th Year
A couple of Bilkent Electrical and Electronics Engineering students got together in a dorm room and started to broadcast their own "radio program" with a small transmitting device. In the beginning, they had no idea whether their voices and music were reaching even as far as the other dormitories on campus. They had to ask friends living in other dorms if they could hear the broadcasts, just to make sure that their informal radio station was working. It was the year 1992....
As time went on, more and more students began listening to this unknown radio frequency. They offered to share their own music albums as additions to the playlist. The station became very popular around campus, and stayed on the air through the efforts of 15 dedicated students.
However, there were also a number of difficulties. For one thing, the radio signal was too weak to reach beyond the campus. Also, the guys running the station couldn't decide what kind of music to play. Unable to resolve an argument about whether or not they should play rock music, they eventually stopped broadcasting, after a few years of being on the air.
In 1998, radio broadcasting at Bilkent started up again. With support from the university, students once more got together to run their station, now on the air at the 106.7 frequency. It became even more popular than before, with more and more volunteer students joining the radio team. In the 2001-2002 academic year, Radyo Bilkent moved its frequency to 96.6, where it's been ever since.
So, Radyo Bilkent is now celebrating its 10th year at 96.6, thanks to the work of the many volunteers over this period who have been inspired by the story of the station's beginnings, and the motivation and determination of its founders. The Radyo Bilkent team has many surprises and great events coming up: keep your radio tuned to 96.6 to learn more about the birthday celebrations!