WREK Records
Collection
Identifier: UA456
This collection shows the activities of the Georgia Institute of Technology student radio station, WREK, primarily in the 80s and 90s. The collection includes administrative documents, brochures and programs, correspondence, guest books, newspaper clippings, and playlists.
ENG
These materials have unrestricted access.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
.4 Linear Feet (1 legal document box, 1 oversize box)
The papers in this collection document the history of the WREK radio station, 1970-2018. Little deterioration has occurred in this collection. This collection includes some administrative and finance documents, brochures and programs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and playlists. These papers show some of the activities of the WREK radio station.
Although plans for a campus radio station began as early as 1914, a fully student owned and operated radio station did not come on the air at Georgia Tech until March 25th, 1968. At this time WREK signed on the air with 10 watts of power and a philosophy of student ownership and operation, non-commercial educational service to the Georgia Tech community, and improving communication on campus.
In 1971, WREK started regular live broadcasts of local concert performances. Also in 1971, an automation system was set up, allowing the continuous broadcast of a random song sequence. In 1978 the radio studios moved to Eighth Street – the home of WGST, a formerly Georgia Tech affiliated radio station in the 1920’s-1950s.
In 1987, WREK’s transmitting hardware was upgraded to a professional level with a large investment from the Georgia Tech student government. At this time, the listening format was changed from a mix of all genres to blocks of music in each genre. This made for a more enjoyable listening experience, as listeners could decide to tune in at certain times to hear their favorite genre.
In 2004, WREK again moves, this time to the Student Center Commons on the Georgia Tech campus. It continues to be owned and operated solely by the students of Georgia Tech, providing students and the surrounding city of Atlanta with challenging programming.
The collection contained little original order. The materials have been arranged alphabetically by folder title and then by date.
Accession #2019-011 (WREK Collection) was acquired from the WREK Radio Station by donation.
Adoree Hatton processed these papers in 2019.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository