A knife switch was used to turn the transmitter on, as shown in the photograph below in the Wednesday, October 8, 1969 edition of the campus newspaper The Virginia Tech. Mike Williams: "The photo in the newspaper was taken by Stewart Holt, who was on the photo staff as well as the WUVT engineering staff. I was standing behind him when the photo was taken."
Here is the text of the accompanying page one story:
Dr. William McKeefery, executive vice president of Virginia Tech, throws the switch putting WUVT-FM Radio on the air for the first time. Warren Strother, director of Information Services at Tech and advisor to WUVT Radio, and Robert Inskeep, program director for the FM station, look on.
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WUVT-FM
is on
the air
Virginia Tech's educational FM radio station, little more than a fond dream for nearly two years, became a reality at exactly five o'clock Monday afternoon.
At that moment, Tech executive vice president Dr. William McKeefery closed a switch and WUVT-FM was on the air, beaming 10 watts of power on 90.7 megahertz to the Tech campus, Blacksburg and surrounding areas as far away as Radford.
McKeefery, in brief remarks after the sign-on, congratulated the student staff which sought, constructed and operates the new FM station and its closed-circuit adjunct, WUVT-AM, which has been serving campus
residence halls since 1948.
"This station is something you've waited on for a long time," McKeefery said, "I want to wish you many pleasant hours of broadcasting...and of listening for us on the other end."
Station manager Carlos Roberts, an electrical engineering major from Springfield gave a brief history of the FM project, which began in the fall of 1967 when Jim Camicia was manager of the station. The station's construction permit was issued in the summer of 1968, when Wayne Cannon
was in office, but delays in the opening of Squires Student Center and equipment problems forced the lag in getting on the air.
"With this station, we hope to overcome the communications gap between the university and the community," Roberts declared, a statement amplified by program director Bob Inskeep, a senior psychology major from Rockville, Md.
Inskeep outlined the station's format, which includes all types of music, from easy listening to jazz, and classical to psyc[h]edelic. For the time being, the station will broadcast daily from 4 p.m. to midnight, with some special programming after midnight on weekends.
News programming on WUVT-FM will include both campus report and features from the Mutual Broadcasting System, of which the station is an associate through the courtesy of WNRV in Narrows and WRIS in Roanoke.
The FM facility was made possible by donations from the faculty and staff, members of the Blacksburg community, and standard broadcast stations who gave equipment.
The station will be supported by additional donations and proceeds from commercial advertising on WUVT-AM.
"We know those of you who contributed over a year ago didn't know what you were getting, or if you'd ever get anything," Inskeep said. "We hope that you'll feel like you're getting your money's worth. Without you, we wouldn't be here today."
Warren Strother, WUVT's faculty advisor and director of Tech's Division of Information Services, was on hand for the sign-on, along with the various
staff heads of both the AM and FM stations.
Dr. Robert L. King, former station advisor who was the prime mover in the FM project, was unable to attend the ceremony.
Both WUVT-AM and FM are student operated, under the auspices of the Student Publications Board. Studios and offices are located in the Squires Student Center, with the FM transmitter and tower atop Lee Hall on Washington Street on the campus.
