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1970s, Page 3

Friday WPRB DJ Pinup: Evie Ward!

Years on air: 1978-1984 (took time off to pursue radio career before graduation.)

Favorite bands: Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Wire, Flipper, Pere Ubu, Joy Division, P.I.L., Throbbing Gristle.

Memorable on-air moment: When the AP wire sounded OMG alert to announce John Lennon’s death …and walking home and hearing “Imagine’ from every dorm window…

Advice for current WPRB DJs: Have fun, use the experience to learn how to speak without ever saying “um” or “er” , and don’t be like me and turn the ‘PRB hobby into a career as a DJ.



The Sound of WPRB in 1972 (Part One)

Here is a selection of station IDs and announcements from 1972. These were all sourced from a single 1/4″ reel (pictured above), and provide a good snapshot of WPRB’s airsound from that era. Stay tuned for more in part two! (All selections digitized by Rob Schuman on 11.17.14)

1. Morning sign-on message.

 

2. The Alice Coltrane ID. (At least I think the background music is Alice Coltrane. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.)

 

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“WPRB and Me”

[By Chris Fine]

LISTEN: Mic breaks and news reports from Chris Fine’s rock show on WPRB, February 25th, 1980.

 

Introduction
I write these words about WPRB because I love the station. The people of WPRB were some of my best friends during my years at Princeton. WPRB was the single best activity (including courses – as my transcript reflects) in which I participated during my undergraduate years. My interest in radio, and technology in general, dates back well before my journey to Princeton University in September, 1976. Encouraged by my father, who was an audio engineer and inventor, I started tinkering with electronics and chemistry at a young age. Predictably, a number of shocks and small fires resulted – but fortunately no major injuries, and my family was always patient with me.

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Curtis Mayfield at McCarter Theater, April 1972

In 1972, Curtis Mayfield performed live at Princeton’s McCarter Theater in what appears to have been a benefit for Sickle Cell Anemia research. The event does not seem to have been sponsored by WPRB (quick web research suggests it was a collaboration between McCarter and Princeton’s Association of Black Collegians), but the station aired this commercial in the run up to the April 15th performance.

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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…)

“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…)