The Purdue Amateur Radio Club has a rather length history, going back almost to the beginning of wireless communications. It is not known exactly when the club became officially organized, but amateur radio activity at Purdue can be traced back to 1910. It was only four years earlier, on 24 December 1904 that Reginald A. Fessenden, head of our electrical engineering department between 1892 and 1893, became the first to broadcast speech and music by radio - remember, Marconi only broadcasted Morse code. Sometime around 1910, the first attempt to assemble a station here at Purdue was made in connection with the senior thesis of R. A. Garrett and O. W. Meindoo. No contacts were made from this first station. A. F. Hague, G. R. Pigman, and R. E. Cleveland assembled a second station between 1912 and 1913. It was during this time that, according to H. B. Knoll’s “The Story of Purdue Engineering,” we made contact with a station at the University of Illinois. In 1918, the university became active in instructing radio operators in conjunction with the U. S. Army Signal Corps. As a result, in 1919 a temporary permit was issued for the operators of a station, after which work immediately began on installing a permanent station. In 1920 much of the work was completed on the permanent station, and the call sign 9YB was assigned, along with transmitting privileges on the 200m and 375m band. Sometime around 1922, Professor A. V. Achatz introduced his personal equipment as part of the station, and was probably active in Purdue’s efforts to start a Western Conference radio service. This service between Big Ten schools ran on Monday nights. Also, two students manned the station every night, Monday through Friday. In addition to the amateur activity, around 1920, Professor Achatz and D. L. Curtner began constructing Indiana’s first broadcast station with the aid of several student volunteers. On 4 April 1922 the Federal Radio Commission licensed the station as WBAA. The first program was aired on 21 April 1922. This first incarnation of WBAA, along with 9YB were located in the basement of the original Electrical Engineering Building (erected in 1889) which stood in the location of the present day Chemistry Building. In 1926 the present day Electrical Engineering Building was completed and WBAA, along with 9YB were moved to the third floor (in what is now room 330 and 332), and two Marconi towers were erected on the roof. In 1932, the call sign W9YB was assigned to the club by the Federal Radio Commission. During the stay of WBAA in the Electrical Engineering Building, the amateur radio club used its antennas at night. In 1941 WBAA was moved to its current location in the Elliot Hall of Music, and the amateur radio club equipment was moved to the basement, where the transmitter was operated by remote control. W9YB remained in this location until 1963, when space problems in the Electrical Engineering Building necessitated moving the club station to its present location in the West Tower of the Purdue Memorial Union. As central as our club was in the early days of radio, we weren’t the only wireless pioneers in the area. In “The History of Electrical Engineering at Purdue,” by L. A. Geddes, a couple other influential amateurs are mentioned. The first is John Fetzer, who built a spark gap transmitter between 1914 and 1917. Later he built a 500W radiotelephone station that was licensed as W9FD, all while he was a part time student who attended classes taught by Professor Achatz. During the late 1920’s, another wireless pioneer, Roscoe George began experimenting with amateur television. On 27 October 1930 he received the license W9XG and set up Purdue’s first television station. The station first came on the air on 31 December 1931 from a location that is now the north side of the east section of seats in Ross-Ade Stadium. In 1950, the W9XG building and tower were removed for the expansion of Ross-Ade stadium. Purdue radio history began in the early days of radio. Our history includes the first experimenters, early television transmissions, amateur radio 9YB and W9YB, and broadcast WBAA. The amateur radio club, original founded in 1920 as 9YB, continues to remain active as a Purdue Student Organization; call sign, “whisky niner yankee bravo” - W9YB.