Purdue University – WBAA

Russ Berger Design Group provided design services for an expansion of WBAA AM/FM at Purdue University that nearly doubled the size of the station. WBAA is the longest continually operating radio station in Indiana, licensed in 1922. Located directly beneath Purdue’s famed Elliott Hall of Music, the facility was originally an AM station constructed in the 1940s, with FM operation added in 1993.

To accomplish a renovation in place without interruption of the broadcast signal, RBDG proposed that the construction be accomplished in two phases. All-new technical spaces were built first, including two mirror-image control rooms and studios and a central technical operations center between them, along with a new public entrance and a seating area that displays the station’s collection of radio memorabilia. Once those spaces were complete, including the installation of entirely new broadcast equipment, it was possible to switch over the operations and begin broadcast from the new on-air control room. With the staff relocated to temporary office space, the existing facility was renovated to create new offices, editing rooms, and a variety of support spaces.