History

A couple of cool cats back In the day

WRPR began operation in the early 1970’s by “broadcasting” only to the Ramapo community from an 8×10 room in the Student Center. A lot of hard work was put in by a dedicated staff in order to not only gain better facilities, but also to complete the monumental task of putting together a working radio station in the hopes of obtaining an FCC license.

These special pioneers who went through the daunting application process and built this station deserve to be remembered. They include Tom Pini, Bob Plummer, Tab Noble, Larry Feld, Mario Donofrio, Fred & Rosemary Benson, Adele Hirschman, and many others whose names have been lost in the static of time.

In 1977, the Board of Trustees at Ramapo College was granted a non-commercial broadcasting license by the Federal Communications Commission and Ramapo People’s Radio went officially on the air. At the beginning, however, the station only transmitted at 10 watts of power, only enough to reach the Ramapo campus.

The call letters WRPR were assigned on October 9, 1979 and the station increased its power to 100 watts, enough to reach an audience for 10 miles around the school.

WRPR 90.3 FM Real Power

WRPR won Ramapo College’s Organization of the Year award in both 1994 and 1998.

The station has evolved over the years with the changing student body. In addition to broadcasting over the air, WRPR also streams online, and allows members of the campus community to watch their favorite dj’s live over closed-circuit TV on channel 10.

WRPR has been identified by several different slogans in its time on the air, such as Real Power Radio, Extreme Hit Radio, and now simply Ramapo Radio. Ramapo Radio now features approximately 100 student dj’s who are able to express themselves creatively by following whatever format they choose while on the air.

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