WCRB
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| City | Lowell, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Branding | Classical Radio Boston 99.5 WCRB |
| Frequency | 99.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| Translator(s) | 96.3 W242AA (Beacon Hill) 106.9 W295BL (Manchester, NH) |
| Repeater(s) |
WCAI-HD2 (Woods Hole) WGBH-HD2 (Boston) WJMF (Smithfield, RI) |
| First air date | 1954 (on FM, operated on AM since 1948) |
| Format | Classical |
| ERP | 27,000 watts |
| HAAT | 199 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 23441 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°39′14″N 71°13′00″W / 42.65389°N 71.21667°W |
| Callsign meaning | Charles River Broadcasting (previous owner) |
| Owner | WGBH Educational Foundation |
| Sister stations | WGBH, WGBH-TV, WGBX-TV |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www |
WCRB (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts and based in the Brighton area of Boston, which serves the Greater Boston area. It broadcasts a classical music format; it existed as a commercial station from the early 1950s until December 2009, and as a listener-supported station since then, having then been acquired by the WGBH Educational Foundation. Programming is also simulcast on the second HD Radio channel of WGBH (89.7 FM), allowing WCRB to reach some portions of the Boston area that cannot receive 99.5, as well as WJMF (88.7 FM) in Smithfield, Rhode Island (serving nearby Providence), the second HD Radio channel of WCAI (90.1 FM) in Woods Hole, W242AA (96.3 FM) in Kendall Square, Cambridge (designed to serve Beacon Hill, Boston), and W295BL (106.9 FM) in Manchester, New Hampshire.
WCRB began broadcasting on 1330 kHz out of Waltham on January 30, 1948. In 1950, the station was sold entirely to Theodore Jones, who would own the station under the name of Charles River Broadcasting until his death in 1991. Prior to that time, “Ted” Jones set up the Charles River Broadcast Trust to guarantee that his establishment would continue in perpetuity.
Around the time Jones first acquired the station, WBMS, a daytime AM radio station that had programmed classical music, changed format. Jones decided to change WCRB's format from that of a typical suburban AM station of the era to full-time classical music. FM service at 102.5 Megacycles (as MegaHertz was then known) was added by 1954 upon the purchase of the WHAV FM transmitter. FM brought WCRB's classical music format to parts of the Boston area that did not get good reception of WCRB's directional AM signal, and made improved audio quality available.
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