Isa Cruz

In just a few weeks, WBOR will close an almost 30 year chapter in its history. Since moving from Moulton Union in 1995, countless DJs have called the Dudley Coe basement home, but with the impending demolition of the building scheduled for 2025, the station will relocate to the first floor of Coles Tower.

For station co-managers Mason Daugherty ’25 and Emma Olney ’25, the approaching end to WBOR’s last semester in Dudley Coe is bittersweet.

“I feel very sad, but also excited and kind of grateful that I get to see at least one semester of the new location and that I get to help facilitate that move so that the culture of this station can be sustained,” Olney said.

Daugherty compared the current station location to a sponge that has soaked up the best parts of all of those who have spent time there over the decades.

“The chaos of it all has a charm,” Daugherty said. “It has absorbed what is special about everyone who has inhabited this place. And I think it embodies that today. So to lose it feels like you’re cutting off an arm or something. It’s hard when you have a club in this instance so physically entwined with its location, which is unique.”

To mark its last weeks in Dudley Coe, WBOR hosted a final community open house in the station yesterday. In addition, while typically held during Senior Week, WBOR will hold its “Senior Swan Songs” tradition, where senior members of WBOR management each have 24 hours on-air, during finals this month.

“I think those are the two really big things, just trying to get as many people in the space to celebrate it together during that open house and allowing people to have their final swan songs in Coe before we move over to Tower,” Abhi Peddada ’27, a member of WBOR management, said.

WBOR has also worked to connect with community DJs, some of whom have utilized the space for over 20 years, as well as with alumni who have their own personal ties to the station. Recently, a couple that met in the station about a decade ago reached out, and they now have plans to come in and cut out a love letter they had written on the walls.

“I’m excited to see how [community DJs] contribute to the new space and how they settle in, and hearing their input,… because we take our relationships with community DJs very seriously,” Olney said.

As for the transition itself, management will come back early from winter break in January to carry out the move. While the details are not fully clear yet, Daugherty anticipates it taking approximately two weeks for the station to become fully functional in Coles Tower. During this time, WBOR will broadcast an approximately one-hour playlist on loop 24/7.

“We’ll have some help from facilities to move furniture and such. But a lot of it’s going to be down to us, which is exciting, because the whole spirit of this place is student self-determination,” Daugherty said.

Recognizing that the space in Dudley Coe cannot be identically replicated, members of management expressed excitement for the opportunities the new location brings. These include improved accessibility, air conditioning and a chance to play a role in organically developing a space that students will use for years to come.

“Our space in Tower is such a unique layout with some funky corners and things like that. So it’s been a lot of fun to try and imagine what we’re going to do,” Peddada said. “It’s been awesome to just look at a blank canvas and try and imagine what we want it to look like and have that creative freedom.”

Additionally, while the new location’s smaller size allows for less physical media storage, WBOR is embarking on a comprehensive project to catalogue and digitize the various records stored in the station, many of which do not exist on streaming services, as well as to archive some wall art.

In the meantime, Daugherty says he is making sure to appreciate the remaining time he can spend in the station.

“I’ve tried to be a bit more mindful each time I’ve been in here, and I think we’ve tried to encourage others to do the same. But it’s one of those things that you just have to be thankful you were able to experience it,” he said. “As much as we are going to try and capture some of the magic about it, a lot of it can’t be bottled up.… I feel like having spent so much of my time at Bowdoin in this room, for instance, it speaks to you in a different way.”