As a teenager in East Aurora, I had a friend whose engineer father calculated the optimal length and attitude an antenna needed to be to pick up WBNY, so that his two sons could hear the music that they craved and that only Buffalo State’s student-run radio station played. This was no mean feat; a car radio could hardly pick up WBNY’s signal below North Street at the time (and it still struggles, most unfortunately for Allentown denizens). In that groundbreaking era, WBNY was helmed by Tom Calderone, now general manager for VH1; locally renowned alumni include Rich Wall, Tina Peel, Gabe DiMaio and Byron Brown. This weekend the station celebrates its 25th anniversary with a weekend of programs, including a panel discussion called “The Multi-Platform World: Information 24/7” to be presented on Friday, October 26, at 3:30pm in the Bulger Communication Center. The discussion features Judith Regan (pictured above), best known for publishing celebrity biographies such as Howard Stern’s Private Parts. She made headlines in the last year for her attempt to publish O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It. For a complete list of seminars and speakers, visit wbnyalumni.com. If you’re still mostly interested in the music, tune in to 91.3FM: Alumni DJs will be filling slots all weekend. Or check out the return of the English Beat on Saturday, October 27 at 8pm; they were the first band WBNY ever brought to Buff State, back in April 1983.

Thursday-Sunday, October 25-27. Various times and venues. Visit wbnyalumni.com for more information. For English Beat tickets,

call 878-3005 or visit ticketguys.com/buffalostate.