Photo by Jeff Watts

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Celebrating the fortieth

WAMU has come a long way from Cafeteria Quiz to a black-tie evening at the Ritz-Carlton. Except for one thing: both the 1950s radio show and the Oct. 23 WAMU anniversary, above, were hosted by Willard Scott '55. When the Today Show's Scott served as master of ceremonies during the station's 40th anniversary gala and benefit, it was a walk down memory lane for many participants-including Scott, who was involved in WAMU as an AU philosophy and religion major.

It has now been 40 years since the student-run AM station gave birth to WAMU-FM. Shows like Cram with Sam, a rundown of AU professor's lectures featuring Scott as announcer, long ago gave way to shows heard across the nation, such as The Diane Rehm Show and Public Interest with Kojo Nnamdi.

While AU still has a campus radio station (the closed-circuit WVAU), WAMU has grown into one of the country's top five public radio stations and serves half a million listeners in the Washington area alone.

The 40th anniversary of the arrival of WAMU as an FM station at 88.5 on the dial was celebrated by an estimated 700 guests-WAMU and NPR personalities, AU notables, members of Congress, and other leading Washingtonians-who raised money for the station while attending the gala black-tie evening at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It was a time for memories, but a far cry from Cafeteria Quiz.