WPRB, the University’s non-profit commercial local radio station, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year with activities including a membership drive with a committed goal of raising $75,000 and a new exhibition at Mudd Library.
The station covers music, sports and news and serves populations in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wilmington, Del. Alex Wood ’02, former DJ and current president of the Board of Trustees at WPRB, explained that WPRB sets itself apart from other college radio stations because it has a commercial FM license, which allows the station to sell advertisements. He noted that advertisement slots are hard to get in the New York/New Jersey area, but WPRB started 75 years ago at a time when licenses were much easier to get.
Station manager Mitch McCloy ’16 said that University students make up roughly 60 percent of the DJs at WPRB, and the remaining are community members.
Educational advisor Mike Lupica noted that the radio station is not affiliated with the University and does not receive financial assistance from the University.
“I’m not the manager, I’m not the boss,” he said. “Students have a final authority on decision making.”
WPRB was created in 1940 by H. Grant Theis '42 as WPRU, Wood said. He said that since then, the station has recorded bands such as Angelo and Norwood, reported on decades’ worth of news, sports and music and has managed to maintain being a prevalent source of discovering new music and off-stream tastes.
Wood recounted one of his shows, on which he broadcasted to WPRB listeners of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“I remember during the show, I was just trying to play some music and keep everything going as best as I could,” he said.
Student-centric management and community member involvement have been a constant throughout the 75 years of radio WPRB has offered to the public, Lupica said. He added that even the positions that aren’t directly related to radio, such as finances, have been student-run.
Developmental director Zena Kesselman ’17 said that although the average Princetonian might never have tuned into one of WPRB’s shows, the radio station has had a powerful effect on those beyond the University community.
“People come up to me and say ‘WPRB, you’re my favorite radio station!’ and it makes me so happy,” she said.
This interest in radio and passion for good music is a strong link that bonds WPRB, Wood said.
“Because you can’t see the listeners, and the listeners can’t see you, but you have a personal connection between the two sides, as a DJ it’s cool to think that people are listening to what you’re playing and what you’re saying,” Wood said.
Events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the station include a membership drive. Publicity and Promotions director Chantelle Ekanem '16 said that the drive was originally intended to end Sunday but will continue this week.
Ekanem declined to disclose how much the station had raised by Sunday, but said that it was below $75,000.
The exhibition commemorating the history of WPRB is also currently on display at Mudd Library and is open for the whole year, Lupica said. He explained that the exhibition contains memorabilia from across WPRB’s history, including old records with a record of what past DJs thought about them.
The passage of time is not only a time for celebration of the past, Wood said, but also a segue into future initiatives to better the radio station. Wood added that WPRB has launched a web stream and news podcast in the last few years that allows radio to be accessible to a greater audience. By utilizing the Internet, which has become quite a feared opponent of the old school music industry, he said WPRB has extended its wings to accommodate a different radio-listening experience.
“Corporate radio is in trouble because they play the same songs over and over. There is no true connection to the listeners,” Wood said. “The nice thing about us is that we are able to play different music and we do care about what our listeners think.”
Annual membership drives have only began to be a part of WPRB in 2007, because traditional commercials were harder to come by and because membership drives seemed appropriate for a group that maintains a close relationship with the community, Wood said.
McCloy said that WPRB’s goal with the $75,000 is to become a more modern radio station. Kesselman and McCloy both said that the equipment WPRB currently uses are nearly two decades old and could be replaced.
When WPRB members visited other college radio stations, Kesselman said they realized that a newer and better system would enhance the growth of the station.
McCloy noted that since the station operates independently of the University, operational costs such as electricity, phone lines and maintaining transmitters do occupy a large portion of their finances. They are hoping that the more fundraising WPRB is able to do, the more WPRB is able to host more musical events on campus and stay true to its creative musical sound, he said.
Interest in radio by people on campus is also on the minds of the people at WPRB, for new DJs have been hard to get involved for some time, program director Harrison Waldon '17 said. Waldon added that there are as many as a hundred people interested in becoming part of the station this year, and that this interest is increasing.
“We are also trying to think of ways to let the University know that we exist,” music director Olivia Bradley-Skill ’16 said.
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