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WPRB: “Eclectic and Schizophrenic”, by Scott Gurvey

pet_soundsI’ve come to accept the fact that WPRB, and all of Princeton, has been doing very well since I left. Part of me was hoping it would all fall apart the moment I graduated. I realize my years with WPRB came about halfway through its life to date. It was already a long way from the beginning as an AM radio signal impressed on the power lines and occasionally picked up by the Pennsylvania Railroad and transmitted a distance long enough to summon the wrath of the FCC. I’m sure the current WPRB has evolved well beyond where we were then. (more…)

WPRB Births the Greatest Expletive of the 20th Century, by Stephen Pribula

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You know how sometimes you doubt your own recollection, when something is just too good to be true? I have a memory like that of WPRB. About twenty-five odd years ago I witnessed one of the watershed events of this century in the studios in the basement of Holder Hall.  Your requests for historical material on the station has led me to reconsider that recollection. Only after careful reflection have I decided that it did indeed happen as I remember it and that I’m not just imagining things. I was, however, convinced when I realized that something in such utter bad taste could have only happened at WPRB. You see, I was present for the very first utterance of the greatest expletive of the twentieth century: “Fucking A.”  (more…)

“I majored in radio station”, by Moe Rubenzahl

What would Freud say about the meaning of this 14,000 watt protrusion? And how did such a thing come to be a roommate of the Holder gargoyles? I am told some subterfuge was involved. It is said that when the students showed the University what the proposed antenna would look like atop Holder Hall, they neglected to mention that the two drawings used a different scale. Final erection was scheduled for a holiday weekend and the real appearance was unknown to the Trustees until the last guy wire had been tightened. Perhaps you can cajole some of my predecessors into telling you the whole story.  (more…)

“Hey You Kids Get Off My Lawn” promo, circa 1994

555_Hey_You_Kids_box1-page-001In WPRB’s 1000+ piece collection of moldy old 1/4 inch reels (which I spent last summer sorting and fending off a case of Legionnaires’ Disease for), I discovered this hot take for “Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn” the punk rock show I hosted with Jen Moyse ’94 during the mid-90s.

The sound quality is pretty bad, but keep in mind, the source reel had been decomposing in a filthy USPS mail tub in a damp basement for twenty years before I rescued it. This show was a ridiculous consequence of a Rhino Records-sponsored contest we entered following the release of the “Faster & Louder: Hardcore Punk” comps, and in which the label challenged college radio stations around the country to host 80s punk tributes. If I recall correctly, we finally got around to doing the special at 2 or 3 AM, taped it on overdubbed promo cassettes from major labels, and subsequently missed the entry deadline due to some postal holiday the following day which we’d forgotten all about. Oh well. We never made it into the contest, but we had so much fun doing the show, it became our musical focus for the next few years. Background music and soundbytes courtesy of Die Kreuzen, Schlong, and F.O.D.

 

“Thanx IV Sharin'”—Like Punk Never Happened

Here’s an on-air promo for WPRB’s infamous call-in show, “Thanks IV Sharin'”.

Program host Ken Katkin ’87 recalls:

“Thanx IV Sharin’, in addition to commanding an intensely loyal following, attempted to reach out in a far more personal way than was customary for radio.  Customized WPRB: Thanx IV Sharin’ T-shirts were individually handmade by the hosts and their friends, and made available to listeners for a nominal fee.  (more…)

Princeton University mini-documentary on WPRB

Here’s a short video feature on WPRB produced by Princeton University back in 2013. It’s a rare opportunity to peek behind the curtain and match faces to the voices of Adoley, Lance Loud, Captain Ahab, Teri Noel Towe, Alejandro (Minutes of Funk), and more.