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WPRB History - The 1950s
The following anecdotes, newspaper clippings and other WPRU memorabilia from 1950-1959 are taken
from the book WPRB's 50th Anniversary: A History of Princeton University Radio 1940-1990,
edited by Adam M. Rosen '91.
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I was Production Manager of WPRU in 1952 and Program Director in 1953, and my
fondest memories of Princeton relate to the radio station. At the time, we had
a very lively station and every night (in the early fifties nobody had a TV set
on campus) we did several hours of live broadcast. The Tigertones, the Nassoons
and almost every other musical group or band on campus had a weekly show on WPRU.
We originated these programs in the studio, from a tavern, or from some other
locations on campus. In major sports, we covered all varsity home and away games.
We covered world, local and campus news. We also did live 24-hour-long Campus Fund
Drive Marathons. - Juan Jorge Jaeckel '54
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Being a smoker in those days, as were many of the staff in the early '50s, and
spending much time as an engineer at the console, I was being continually asked
whether I had a spare cigarette. To get rid of this annoyance, it was with satisfaction
that I succeeded in having the station install a cigarette vending machine when I was
elevated to a position on the station's board of directors. After the machine was
installed it was to my chagrin to find that requests just shifted to asking to borrow
a quarter...I believe the machine cost for a package in those days! - John K. "Pete" Maxwell '54
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The year 1955 was a very pivotal year for the then WPRU: 1) A massive capital acquisition/refurbishment
program took place within the bowels of Holder Hall which, when completed, gave us new and larger
broadcasting facilities and an excuse for the many engineers to spend hours away from studies,
wiring, installing, hammering, etc.; 2) WPRU changed its call letters to WPRB; and 3) Most important
of all, WPRU/WPRB became the first college commercial radio station to be granted a limited
broadcasting license by the FCC.
By this, I mean WPRB was licensed to cease broadcasting over the summer months when classes were
out and return to the air in the fall. This was quite a concession by the FCC and certainly
indicated the trouble they were experiencing at the time in filling the FM radio band.
This coup was engineered by Bob Yegge and other men of the
Class of '56. John Shanley is dragged out of my
faded memory bank as another key person. Of course, Jim Robinson '43, our Board Chairman was
also a vital participant in this licensing coup.
My year as Station Manager (1956) had Princeton as the 'belle of the ball' at the annual Ivy
League Network Convention which was held at Brown University. All of the other Ivy Network
stations wanted in on the action. We had their full attention as we went through the 'hows'
of filing an FCC application for a limited FM broadcasting license. Need I say that we basked
in the limelight?
I remember a morning in the winter of '53/'54 when I arrived at my usual time of 5:30 a.m. to
gather up the UPI news, turn on the transmitter and start broadcasting the 'Strictly for the Birds'
show at 6:00 a.m. The WPRU studio (we had not moved to the new quarters at that time) was on the
Nassau Street side of Holder Hall and was blessed with a small basement window. For whatever
reason, this window had been left open overnight and the snow had cascaded into the broadcast
studio to the extent that the broadcasting console was totally covered. I managed to clear
enough away to get at the console and the two turntables. Quickly turning on the transmitter,
I discovered to my consternation that I was unable to transmit as the console switches
were frozen in the off positions. Thank goodness we had an electric heater (it seemed to be
the only source of heat in the studio). Thirty minutes of directed heat and WPRU was on
the air. I don't think anyone called in to inquire why we were late coming on, which
certainly was an indication of the tremendous audience I was pulling at 6:30 a.m., but
I did not think of it at the time, nor did I really care. I just loved doing that morning
show, and on that given day, I managed not to electrocute myself when using the
electric heater to thaw the cathode ray tube innards of the soon-to-be-junked WPRU console.
We faced one monumental challenge during my regime at WPRB, that of assisting the University
in educating/preparing the student body and our local neighbors to the 'why and wherefores' of
the Alger Hiss invitation to speak to the Whig/Clio society. Hiss was a key aide to President
Roosevelt having attended the Yalta and Casablanca meetings where Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin
met to plan strategy during WWII. Hiss was later caught and convicted of espionage in the famous
'microfilm in the pumpkin' caper. In the process, a young Congressman, Richard M. Nixon, gained
national recognition as a 'commie catcher.'
During 1956, Alger Hiss was to be freed from prison. One of the undergraduate debaters thought
it would be interesting to invite Alger Hiss to Princeton to shed light on the Yalta and Casablanca
meetings. He accepted with pleasure. Well, one would have thought the world had come to an end.
The press came down hard on Princeton and its 'liberal and soon to be commie' students. The
University backed its students' rights of freedom of speech, and as a consequence, virtually
came to a standstill during the month prior to Hiss' arrival to speak.
WPRB was commissioned by the University to air a series of shows over a two-week period leading up
to the speech which were designed historically to set the stage for a discussion of the Yalta and
Casablanca meetings and to explain Hiss' role and the reasons for his imprisonment. As a reward,
WPRB was given exclusive broadcast rights to the speech. All other radio and TV stations were
barred from broadcasting the speech. We worked hard on this project and were proud of our role
in this affair, so you can imagine our ire when we caught on of the major networks broadcasting
excerpts of the Hiss speech which only could have been taped from our exclusive broadcast! We
even had a tape of the news broadcast in question complete with call letters, etc. We just could
not understand why the University chose not to sue the network for this deliberate act of piracy.
One consolation, U.S. News and World Report reprinted the Hiss speech and gave us proper recognition.
We liked that.
One other experience was when Jimmy Stewart then a Princeton Trustee, visited our new studios in
1956. The Prince was escorting him around campus, and stopped by WPRB at his request. Well, you
couldn't get him out of the station! The Prince reporter tried, believe me. Boy, was he mad!
We loved it! Jimmy was with us for at least two hours. We showed him everything. He loved
the new electrical gadgets. We even got him on the air live. When he left, he stated that he
wished the station was around when he was an undergrad. - Phil Smith '57.
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If the cameras had been rolling, they would have recorded station members saying, 'What, again?'
upon seeing a sign in the newsroom asking everyone to 'Save All Einstein Death Material.' Their
response reflected the fact that a week earlier, a New York Times stringer had issued an erroneous
report that Albert Einstein had died. The station had received calls from all over the country,
but we had no information to offer. This time, we were going to be ready!
Deep in the bowels of the Firestone Library's archives is a tape of my interview with Robert
Frost. Frost, already in his 80s, was visiting the University and had been scheduled for a
fifteen-minute interview, but since he was quite alert and responsive, and since I, who had
just finished reading Frost's poems for an English course, had an ample list of questions to
ask, the interview stretched to twenty-five minutes. I'm now a Professor of Philosophy and
Religion, so I remember Frost's response when asked whether he considered himself to be a
Christian. 'Oh,' he said, 'Christian is too noble a term. I'm just a Congregationalist. - Ro Zimany '58
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During the spring of '55, the FCC virtually shut WPRU down because the closed circuit
transmitter in Pyne Hall was not only off the 640 frequency, but it was being run at such
power that the signal jumped onto the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks and could be heard miles
off campus. The story of the Atlanta, Georgia, listener inquiring about what happened to
the station is probably a bit exaggerated.
The station's annual spring banquet was always
a major black tie event. The speaker my freshman year was CBS' Charles
Collingwood. Before joining almost the entire staff as well as University deans and other
dignitaries at the Peacock Inn for dinner, Collingwood broadcast his national 6:00 p.m.
evening news from WPRU's studios, and the local story he included was about a recent
hamburger-eating contest WPRU had promoted at Renwick's Restaurant.
In the fall of 1955, WPRU became the country's first commercial undergraduate radio station
with the new call letters WPRB (the PRU call letters were assigned to the aircraft carrier
Princeton).
In 1956, my roommate (and later Station Manager), Dick Morgan and I decided that a major
publicity stunt was needed to begin fall broadcasting. Without, of course, clueing in our
parents who thought they were paying for an education, we decided to go after the world's
record for the longest two-man radio show. We signed on at Noon on an early September
Friday with the announced intention of staying on for 100 hours. Six hours later, my
father called from New York, insisting we stop. He had read about the marathon in the
World Telegram on his subway ride from work. Parental advice carried as much weight
then as it does now, and somehow Dick and I completed the broadcast at 4:00 p.m. the next
Tuesday afternoon." - Paul Dunn '58
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One of the times I most vividly recall is the good times that Rich Smith '62 and I had hosting
the Saturday morning show from 6:30-9:00 a.m. during our freshman year. Some of our more memorable
broadcasts were made from the centerline of Nassau Street, the lower branches of a tree in front
of Holder Hall and the closest men's room to the studio in Holder Hall. Perhaps thankfully,
time has dimmed the memory of other broadcast sites. - Albert S. Barr, III '62
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One disadvantage of the studio being subterranean was no window to the outside. Once, when
I was doing the news, I said, 'And now the weather...' but I didn't have a clue, so I made
it up: ...'Crisp and clear on the campus tonight.' I received about ten calls telling me there
was a snow storm outside!" - Michael Otten '63
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To read a decade-by-decade history of WPRB, click on the links below.
1940s - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s - 1980s - 1990s
