WHRB does not pay for ratings information and therefore does not know its market share, the average number of listeners who tune in at a given time.

According to an official from the Arbitron Company, an international media and marketing research firm which measures local radio audiences, WHRB does not have enough listeners to appear in its Boston-metro report.

But as long as they balance their books--with the help of their business and sales departments--WHRB retains some room to explore the unfamiliar, taking their open-minded listeners on a musical journey.

"We have this luxury--all we have to consult is our own tastes and quirks," Appel says.

Quality Programming

While students like Paul L. Greer '01 may be frustrated by a station that "sounds like it's trying to target Boston intellectuals," for WHRB listeners, the quirks work.

In her Boston Globe column during Thanksgiving 1994, Diane White wrote she was grateful for the station's longstanding program, Hillbilly at Harvard.

The Globe and The New York Times have praised the station as a beacon of originality and innovation.

DJs and station leaders tack up fan letters onto a board mounted in their Pennypacker Basement headquarters.

One listener wrote from Sunnyside, N.Y., urging the station to broadcast theirprograms on the Internet: "WHRB would provide animmensely valuable service to classical musiclovers all over the country--and beyond." Vasantold The Crimson that "the possibility [ofbroadcasting via the Internet] is very real,hopefully in the near future," but would notelaborate further.

The same listener also criticized "the mindlessand superficial `Top 40' type of programming whichhas become more and more the norm and erodedprogramming standards to the point where FMclassical music has become a wasteland ofrepetition, predictability, excerpts, warhorses bya handful of overly familiar composers, andsystematic neglect of the vast treasures ofrecorded music."

Another faithful listener is Robinson Professorof Music Robert D. Levin '68, who worked as WHRBprogram director and chief producer as anundergraduate.

"The orgies show WHRB at its nonpareil best;they set a standard probably unsurpassed anywherein the world," Levin says.

Knowing Your Roots

While its cohort of dedicated fans is thestation's priority, WHRB does make efforts toserve the campus in which it resides.

In addition to broadcasting special events atHarvard--such as South African President Nelson R.Mandela's recent visit to the University--WHRBprovides comprehensive sports coverage, as well asairtime for Memorial Church's Sunday services,this Thursday's Ig Nobel ceremonies and severalother campus events.