[BC] WPRB

[Robert Orban]

At 10:00 PM 1/22/2006, you wrote:
>From: "Steve" <shnewman at alaweb.com>
>Subject: Re: [BC] WPRB
>To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
>Message-ID: <000e01c61fd7$6549c180$7402a8c0 at wildblue.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Robert Orban
>   To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>   Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 10:08 PM
>   Subject: Re: [BC] WPRB
>
>
>   Hi Bob:
>
>   They cannot be received over most of the New York metro because they 
> have a
>   first adjacent that, I presume, is slammed constantly into a composite
>   clipper at 105% modulation.
>
>   Oh...that bit!!! Ok...now I understand why they can't even show up. I'm 
> sure that's the reason.
>
>   Give them coverage and a KTU-sized promotion budget and it would be
>   interesting to see what happens.
>
>   >Maybe in a market that size you could make a few bucks with that format.
>   >Talk to KQED-FM
>
>   KQED is not about to rock the boat, considering their monster ratings.
>
>   Oh...are they doing well in the pull-outs? Great. Glad to hear it. Any 
> classical music blocks?

Not any more. They are 100% talk (if you count entertainments like "The 
Prairie Home Companion" as talk). As for audience share, their Summer '05 
AQH 12+ Arbitron was 5.7. This would make them #2 in the market, breathing 
down KGO's neck.


>   Reading between the lines, WPRB's classical programming is probably not 
> all
>   that different from KXPR's (in Sacramento). Another thing on my
>   "unobtainable wish list" is a KXPR translator in the Bay Area. But I
>   understand that politics prevent it from happening.
>
>   Is that old lady McClatchy's old FM Frequency?

It's 90.9 MHz.

>   Ahh...but money isn't everything. And, unlike most college stations, WPRB
>   has always paid its own way by selling local advertising, thanks to a
>   commercial license.
>
>   Yes, I noticed on their web site they had an advertising section. So 
> they're a commercial college station. That's the way to go. I would 
> imagine they have a good broadcasting department. Real world education 
> unlike some college broadcasting departments I know.

They're an interesting case. Princeton doesn't have a broadcasting 
department and the station itself is owned by a board of trustees, not by 
the University. It started in 1940 as a carrier current station and got its 
FM license in 1955, increasing power to 17 KW in 1960 . At the time I was 
there, all on-air talent was students, although some of the talent are now 
not undergrads.

Some of the people who worked at the station when I was there went on to 
bigger (although not necessarily better :-) things. Paul Friedman was for 
10 years the executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight With Peter 
Jennings." He now produces "The Journal Editorial Report" on PBS. Boyd 
Britton is "Doc on the ROQ" at KROQ, Los Angeles. John Catlett has had a 
fascinating career in international broadcasting, including a gig as 
Program Manager of the infamous Radio Caroline.

Regarding WPRB's classical music, Marvin Rosen, one of their classical 
jocks (not a student), received the 2005 ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast 
Award for his program "Classical Discoveries." Not bad for a station run by 
pencil-necks! :-)

Bob Orban