Live from Bloomberg: A day in the life of WPRB

It is 7:00 p.m. on a Monday, and students are beginning to lug textbook-laden backpacks to Firestone Library for a night of quiet studying. Others are languidly lingering at the tables of their eating clubs or dining halls, filling a few more minutes with casual chit chat. Yet a bit further down campus, the basement of Bloomberg Hall is alive, roaring with the scintillating sounds of WPRB's expansive and eclectic CD, LP and 7-inch record collection.

"You are listening to 103.3, WPRB FM, Princeton. My name is Tesla Monson, and you are listening to the World Show."

Between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., Tesla Monson's '07 World Music show, "Gde mui bwuli e gde mui budem" (Russian for "where we were and where we will be") takes over the airwaves. The three hour show gives listeners a taste of foreign music from every corner of the globe.

"Once again, some amazing Tibetan music," says Monson, as she cues a new song. A moment later, a flashing light indicates that she is receiving a phone call. After agreeing to a request for Argentinean music and accepting compliments on her work, she hangs up and excitedly exclaims, "A fan!" She quickly adds that she is grateful that the caller was a new voice and not a regular male caller who often calls several times a night, and has an unsettling quirk of keeping track of her work and making bizarre comments. One recent comment from her 'fan': "On October 10th you played something. Something about the pink...I had Indian food for dinner..."

Yes, Monson is, in some circles, a bit of a local celebrity. As the night progresses, she receives many more appreciative calls from listeners in the area, many asking for songs from a region of their choosing and each telling her how much they enjoy the show.

A man from Cuba calls and requests a song from his native country. He tells her that he's just discovered the station a couple of days go and has kept tuned in since.

Unfortunaely, many students on campus are aware of the radio station's existence but few have ever fixed their dials to it. Yet when they do "stumble" upon it, many like what they do hear.

"Not very many people know about us," Monson said. "But when they do hear us, they're pretty devout."

Monson has been a WPRB DJ for four semesters but this is Monson's first semester with a specialty show. The station bestows the official DJ title only after a mandatory DJ training semester and multiple turns as a substitute for active DJs.

Diverse tastes

Every song a DJ plays is up to his or her choosing. WPRB DJ Jake Harter '06 said this "open programming" is one of the greatest aspects of station. "Because the programming is open, everyone gets to play what they want," he said. "It works out because people's tastes are so diverse. People get attached to one DJ because they like the same kind of music [as the DJ]."

While some prefer "Slitgong Signaling" from the Mabuti pygmies of the Ituri rainforest, as was broadcast on Monson's Monday show, others might want to tune into "Oh My Lover" by PJ Harvey or "Rock and Roll" by Handsome Boy Modeling School, which Jake and his broadcasting partner Jacob Savage played last week on their show "Technical Difficulties."

The independence flair is what gives WPRB its distinctive flavor — a style often lacking in mainstream radio stations. WPRB is one of the last entirely student-run FM radio stations, and the oldest University FM station in the country.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

WPRB has stayed true to form since 1940, when its first broadcasts were cast by a single student (Grant Theis), in Pyne, through the building's electrical wiring (which he employed as a radio transmitter).

These days, listeners between New York and Delaware can tune in to 103.3 FM for a broad range of shows: "Sunday Morning Opera," "Jazz," "The Ghetto Blaster," "Goats Don't Have Feathers," "Transitional Soundscapes," "Idiot Control,""Thieving Electric," "The All-Ages Show," "Ambulance for the Ambiance," and more original shows.

Of her show, entitled "White Noise, White Beat," Christine Miranda '08 said, "It's just a lot of good music: Indie rock, some slow, some fast, some loud." Miranda sums the experience: "It's just about awesome music."

On his show "Technical Difficulty," Harter hopes to "play a little bit of everything." "Jacob and I have different musical interest," he said. "I like to play a Hip Hop Set. He likes to play a world music and folksy set. We both like classic rock and roll. We definitely get to Electronica and the like too."

At times, Jake and Jacob get a kick out of mixing things up with what are essentially theme nights. For example, two weeks ago they decided to DJ a show with only bands whose names start with the letter M. Another time, they broadcasted a show of only LPs.

Monson, like many, just likes good, interesting music. "Right now you're hearing a track from 1970s Soviet Army Chorus," she said. "I play modern Japanese pop. I play Indian, German. I'm going to play stuff from Tuva, which I didn't even know was a country. They do this special kind of throat singing there. It's really interesting."

Her show is also, surprisingly educational. Though every show on WPRB is to some degree (in that they give listeners a chance to hear music that they would have to dig up themselves to hear otherwise) Monson is digging across oceans for her show's offerings. She hopes to prove that musical quality is universally abundant.

"Sometimes I'll play traditional [World] music and other times I'll play modern, just to prove that you don't have to be playing American music in order to play Electronica or stuff that people are really interested in," said.

At a break between songs, Monson went on air to announce the "Concert Calendar." The shows ranged from Blues Traveller to Lil' Mo to The New Pornographers. She also offered ticket giveaways.

A professional Station

The station's music collection is kept in shelving, similar to Firestone's system — moveable by turning large circular cranks. The collection is also expansive. "Ghetto Music" by Outkast shares the shelves with albums by The Cherries, The Vladimir Chekasin Quartet and Neil Young, as well as The Songs of Insects, which is fittingly, a record of the music made by insect noises.

Who doesn't like falling asleep to the sound of chirping Crickets?

"We get about 100 CDs a week and we listen to them on Wednesdays to decide which to keep and which to toss," says Monson. "After we decide, someone has to listen to them track by track and give each a rating." This process also makes for the timely broadcast of new songs, allowing them to reach listeners as soon as possible.

There are also DJs on the station who have gone on to make a professional career out of it. Perhaps the most notable of these is radio legend John Weingart, who has often been described as having "the best radio show in the universe." Weingart is the recipient of many awards for his show, "Music You Can't Hear on the Radio," which has been airing since the 1970s.

Perhaps one of the more unappreciated aspects of WPRB is its sports coverage. It not only offers broadcasts of all the major sports games, but "Time Out," a sports talk show that can be heard on Mondays and Fridays.

"I don't think people realize how unique WPRB is," said Harter. "People get to hear things they wouldn't hear otherwise."

Before I left the studio that Monday night, Monson told me, "I feel like it's the best experience of my life, working here." Considering the scores of music albums at one's fingertips, the eclectic range of shows and the tight DJ community— it's not difficult to see why.