You have probably heard that the annual Red Alert Party serves as a birthday celebration for Radio Bilkent, but have you ever wondered how the station was founded? Here, for those who are interested, is the true story of the establishment of Radio Bilkent.
It all started with a few EEE students deciding to build their own transmitter. With it, they started broadcasting from their rooms in the Bilkent dormitories. To receive phoned-in song requests, they used the campus extension lines. The students’ makeshift radio program became so popular that one day the phone calls they received in their dorm rooms locked up the university switchboard! While searching for the people responsible for the situation, the school administration found the dorm room with the amateur transmitter in it and put an end to the broadcasts.