Both students and community members can apply for positions, and like many college radio stations, WMBR offers diverse programming that includes a broad range of musical genres as well as talk shows.

The station simultaneously provided audio signals of its broadcasts over "dorm line" wires that ran past exterior windows of the MIT dormitories, for residents to connect to their hi-fi gear.

On April 10, 1961, WTBS signed on from a small antenna atop the Walker Memorial Building, which houses its studios, with 14 watts of effective radiated power at 88.1 megahertz.

WTBS continued to operate the carrier-current system to the dormitories on 640 kHz, with an identical program, except for commercial breaks on the AM side, during which the noncommercial FM station filled time with public-service announcements, and, later, parody "ads" for fictitious products such as "Apple Gunkies" and firms such as "Nocturnal Aviation".

The all-request "Nite Owl" was a popular weekend feature, and a "Waveform of the Week" was broadcast for the enjoyment of MIT students watching the program on oscilloscopes.