WBRU/WBRU360 history

On November 3, 1939, David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America (whose son attended Brown) made a broadcast over The Brown Network.

The first IBS intercollegiate broadcasts began on May 9, 1940, with a five-part series that was carried by stations located throughout New England at Brown, Harvard, Williams, and Wesleyan universities, in addition to the Universities of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

In 1945, student journalists began to use the WBRU call letters on air, which had been coined by undergraduate Stephen Plimpton.

Brown Broadcasting Service began broadcasting over WBRU at the 95.5 frequency on February 21, 1966; The first program to be transmitted from the new station was a panel show which discussed the Peace Corps.

In 1988, WBRU switched its format to modern rock and has remained in that format ever since, although leaning towards playing newer artists and artists of the indie rock genre.

Between April 17 and April 21, 2006, WBRU played their entire music catalog by title from A-Z, starting at 5:30 p.m. with "About a Girl" by Nirvana on the 17th and ending around 11:15 on the 21st with "Zombie" by The Cranberries.

WBRU aired its first voicetracked break at 5:17 PM on November 15, 2010, during the Afternoon BRU with Corey and Cato.

In April 2017, Paxson e-mailed the station's board asking them to reconsider their plan and offered financial assistance to the station.