Mic check: An inside look into the process of a WPRB DJ

While most students spend their Saturday mornings sleeping in, by 7 a.m. Ryan Moores ’28 has already crawled out of bed and made his way to the WPRB Studio in the Bloomberg basement. Adorned with film and music posters on every wall and twinkling fairy lights, the studio has an effortlessly calm ambience. Home to several arts groups on campus, the Bloomberg basement houses one of two WPRB studios, with the other located off-campus in the Princeton municipality. On April 18, The Daily Princetonian had the opportunity to sit down with Moores on air during his scheduled set from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m, titled “The Fourth Simulacrum” under the stage name “DJ Moiré,”  for a conversation about his approach to curation, the life of a WPRB DJ, and more.  

With countless Princeton students as DJs, WPRB (103.3 FM) is a community-supported and commercially licensed broadcasting station that is financially and editorially independent from the University, meaning all DJs have the freedom to play whatever they want on air. 

On independence, Moores explained that “we are not part of the University despite one of our stations being housed in the University.” He goes on to add that this has “always been the relationship between WPRB and the University, one of just ‘you let us exist here’”. WPRB may be independent, however the station’s DJs are typical students working daily to contribute their artistic talents and time to the station. 

The station recently held its 2026 Spring Membership Drive, meaning the DJs’ sets were more themed than usual. As a result, Moores aimed for a chill, ambient, and environmental vibe that he “believes a deep-sea creature would listen to.” Moores described the sequence of his set as transitioning from oceanic music to music for fungi and robots, with most songs featuring ambient, fluid background noise and sparse lyrics. Moores co-hosted this particular set with Annabelle Luo ’28, known as DJ Annalogue at WPRB.

Joined at the mic with Luo, Moores began his set with a calming introduction to his listeners. After the track titled “Heavy Underwater Bubbles” by Sound Ideas started, Moores explained how becoming a student DJ is an extensive, time-consuming commitment.“The training includes learning how to use the turntables, which can be a learning curve, how to use the CD players, cassette players, the controls, and also DJ obligations during a show.” 

Despite this apparent “learning curve,” it was clear Moores had figured things out, effortlessly cueing up the next few songs, such as “Indigo” by Monolake and “365” by Anthony Naples, before explaining that during the training process of becoming a DJ, “you have to do what we call a graveyard shift, which is typically between midnight and 3 a.m.” As Moores shared, this decision is intentional because it provides room to make mistakes and get into the flow of being on air, easing the pressure of executing a perfect first set.

After getting back on the mic to greet new listeners and thank those who had donated to their spring drive, Moores and Luo outlined the reality of a DJ’s first season on WPRB.  Cleverly titled “the stacks season,” Moores shared that throughout a DJ’s first season, one is only allowed the use of physical media for the entire semester, which is referred to as pulling from “the stacks”. Moores then explained that “with the stacks, we have a system that every piece of physical media has been reviewed by a past DJ, and this goes back to around the ’70s, so everything you pick out has at the very least a label with what genre it is and track rankings based on how much we love a track” before noting that “picking things out from the stacks is a really long listening process.” 

In terms of his own DJ evolution, Moores first began his time at WPRB as a sub-DJ before establishing his own show last fall. As Moores explained, when he started at the station, his musical taste as a DJ was very different from his personal taste. “Personally, I am more into electronic, experimental music, but I’m honestly into everything, which is what we promote,” Moores shared, saying that now, “I feel like exploring things in the stacks and trying to become more tapped into music; they have sort of blended where now I have a lot of ambient playlists.”

When designing the setlist, Moores commented, “Since I’ve moved away from just the physical media, I’ve sort of had a different process. I follow a lot of different artists I stumble upon randomly, [as well as] art and music magazines and publications.” In every set he plays, Moores tries “to build a world through the music,” saying, “it’s similar to what I imagine making a soundtrack to a film would be.” During the set, he also featured “Swarm” by Max Cooper, “Wind Leaf Shimmer” by Constant Shapes, and “Data Breach” by Chris Otchy. 

When asked his favorite thing about being a student DJ, Moores highlighted different elements of his experience at WPRB. “The community, which is a cliche answer, but especially being on the board recently has meant meeting people who are so passionate about the radio scene. I’ve loved getting to know people and getting to see people perform live and meet people who are so passionate about playing and also making music,” said Moores.

While the process of being a WPRB DJ can often take the form of sitting alone at strange hours in the dead of night, Moores shared how meaningful it is “to run into people and meet them in person for the first time, even when you’ve known them for months by their DJ name.” “The WPRB community is somewhat disjointed in a way that’s so cool that you can escape into this identity of your music and you can know someone for who they are on air and then meet them in person.”

From my time with Moores, it is clear that WPRB’s success is rooted in the creative passion of its DJs. Moores beautifully showcased an intentionality when creating a story through his music choices, effortlessly embodying control and a warm personality through the seamless flow of his DJ set. 

WPRB’s talented community and student DJs are live on 103.3 FM every day of the week. 

Monica Zepeda is a contributing writer for The Prospect and a member of the Class of 2028. She can be reached at mz9063[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.