WRPI

WRPI

City	Troy, New York
Broadcast area	Capital District Eastern New York Western Massachusetts Southwestern Vermont
Branding	The Upstate Underground
Frequency	91.5 MHz
First air date	1947 on 640 AM; 1957 on FM
Format	College Radio
ERP	10,000 watts, Stereo
HAAT	113 meters (371 feet)
Class	B1
Transmitter coordinates	42°41′13″N 73°42′22″W / 42.687°N 73.706°W / 42.687; -73.706
Callsign meaning	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Owner	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees
Website	http://www.wrpi.org

WRPI (91.5 FM) is a non-commercial free-format college radio station run entirely by students attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and staffed by community members and students. WRPI broadcasts 365 days a year with an effective radiated power of 10,000 watts, serving listeners in Albany, eastern New York, western Massachusetts, Vermont, and via webstream. The studios are located in the basement of the Darrin Communications Center and the FM signal is broadcast from North Greenbush. Programming includes a wide range of music, cultural and public affairs programs, live bands, special events, and sports simulcasts, particularly of RPI hockey, football, and baseball. WRPI has a large record library dating to the origins of the station, estimated at 43,800 albums, and a large CD library, dating to the start of the medium.

History

The origin of WRPI begins in 1934, when a sub-staff of WHAZ formed Campus Review, a program devoted to college-oriented entertainment and news for the Troy area. The show was run by a senior and junior board, as well as a group of apprentices, and programmed a half-hour of WHAZ's then-six-hour-long schedule on Monday nights. A new organization, the Rensselaer Broadcasting Association, began programming WHAZ's schedule in the spring of 1947, deploying a staff entirely from RPI's student body and working with the still-existent Campus Review.

An on-campus radio station was formed as an experimental carrier-current AM station in the fall of 1947 operating on 640 kHz, and affiliated with the RPI Radio Club (still existent with call sign W2SZ) located in the attic of the Russell Sage Laboratory on campus. WRPI's studio and 50 watt transmitter were located in the old barber shop in the basement of one of the Quadrangle dorms, thus at first limiting the listening area to those dorms. Later, another transmitter was added in the freshman dorms located east of the campus. The station soon gained the WRPI moniker locally, and gradually added more equipment from donations and war surplus. Around 1948, W2SZ, the RBA and the Campus Review merged into a single Radio Council to cut down on the proliferation of student broadcasting clubs. In March 1951, the Radio Council was divided into amateur and broadcasting clubs; by 1954, WRPI's listenership included 85% of all students listening to radio sets.

On November 1, 1957, WRPI obtained an FM license and began broadcasting on its current frequency of 91.5 MHz with 750 watts, an early adopter of stereo FM transmission. In April 1969, WRPI boosted its power to 10,000 watts, while simultaneously moving to a new transmitter site. The format was also changed to "free-form progressive rock" during this period. Now with a powerful signal, WRPI functioned as the Progressive Rock/Album Rock station of the Albany area throughout the first half of the 1970s until WQBK-FM entered the format in 1975, followed by WPYX in 1980.

Throughout the 1980s, there were rigid requirements on what styles of music had to be played at times of the day, but in 1988, the "format" was abandoned. Today, WRPI's "free-format" programming which is reminiscent of its 1970s style of programming includes an eclectic mix of rock, folk, jazz, metal, blues, classical, electronic, hip-hop, and experimental music, as well as talk shows, news shows, and syndicated Public Radio International and NPR shows. In 2008, the station adopted the on-air slogan "The Upstate Underground". Many listeners cite the variety of programming as a leading reason for their support, and it is one of the most popular stations in the Albany area.^[1]

WRPI currently uses an analog FM transmitter dating from 1982 and runs on vacuum tubes. It is also one of the few stations that does not use broadcast automation, which means that the station only broadcasts if a human operator/DJ is present...

Programming

Notable shows

A number of shows on WRPI have continued for a long time by community radio standards. Notably, Mostly Folk has been on Sunday nights since 1971, Kevin Roberts has broadcast Tribute, honoring a particular artist, which can come from any genre, for over 30 years, HomoRadio, the voice of Albany's LGBT community, has been on the air since 1992, and Stormy Monday Blues, a Monday night blues broadcast often featuring live musicians, has been on the air for over 35 years. The current host of Stormy Monday Blues, Steven Daub, was inducted into the New York State Blues Hall of Fame for running the show for over 10 years. Finally, Dew Grass, a bluegrass show every Saturday morning, has been running for over 30 years and Dew DOO Country, which succeeded "Sunday Morning Coming Down" has been on for almost 15 years. The current host, Harmando, also holds a morning show every weekday at 7 AM until noon, and has gained a cult following among listeners in the region for his eclectic presenting style. Also, The Sounds of Now has played electronic dance music Friday evenings on WRPI for over 17 years.

Live music

WRPI has a large live music presence in the Capital Region and has for many years. In the past, Troy Savings Bank events were simulcast, and part of John Zorn's album, Cobra was recorded by the station. Recently, it has simulcast events at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, including Oneohtrix Point Never. WRPI also features weekly live broadcasts, notably including:

References

↑ http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2011/12/19/aoa-crowd-car-radio-presets

External links

Query the FCC's FM station database for WRPI

Radio-Locator information on WRPI

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WRPI

Radio stations in the Albany / Schenectady / Troy market

by FM frequency	88.3 89.1 89.7 89.9 90.3 90.7 90.7 90.7 90.9 91.1 91.5 92.3 92.9 93.1 93.5 93.7 94.5 94.7 94.9 95.5 95.9 96.3 96.7 97.3 97.5 97.7 97.9 98.3 98.5 98.5 99.1 99.5 99.9 100.3 100.9 101.3 101.7 101.9 102.3 102.7 103.1 103.5 103.9 104.5 104.7 104.9 105.7 106.1 106.5 107.1 107.7

by AM frequency	590 810¹ 900 930 980 1160 1190 1230 1240 1300 1330 1340 1400 1440 1460 1490 1540 1570

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.550

Digital radio	810 980 89.1-1 89.1-2 90.3-1 90.3-2 98.3-1 98.3-2 99.5-1 99.5-2 102.3-1 102.3-2 103.1-1 103.1-2 105.7-1 105.7-2 106.5-1 106.5-2 107.7-1 107.7-2

by callsign	W226AC W235AY W256BU W260CH W284BZ W291BY WABY WAIX WAJZ WAMC WAMC-FM WBAR-FM WBPM WCDB WCKM-FM WCQL WCSS WCTW WDCD WDCD-FM WENT WEQX WEXT WFFG-FM WFLY WFNY WGDJ WGNA-FM WGXC WGY¹ WGY-FM WHAZ WHAZ-FM WHUC WHVP WINU WIZR WJIV WJKE WKBE WKKF WKLI-FM WLJH WMHT-FM WMYY WNYQ WOFX WOPG WOPG-FM WPGL WPTR WPYX WQBJ WQBK-FM WQSH WRIP WROW WRPI WRUC WRVE WSDE WTMM-FM WTRY-FM WVCR-FM WVTL WXL34 WYAI WYJB WYKV WZCR

Defunct stations	WCKL WGFM WHRL WRSA WROW-FM WTRI WXKW

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga See also List of radio stations in New York Albany television Saratoga radio ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage.

New York college radio stations

WAIH (State University of New York College at Potsdam) WALF (Alfred University) WARY (Westchester Community College) WBNY (Buffalo State College) WBSU (College at Brockport) WCDB (State University of New York at Albany) WCEB (Corning Community College) WCVF (Fredonia State University) WCWP (Long Island University, CW Post Campus) WDWN (Cayuga County Community College) WECW (Elmira College) WERW (Syracuse University) WETD (Alfred State College) WFNP (SUNY New Paltz) WFTU (Five Towns College) WFUV (Fordham University) WGCC (Genesee Community College) WGFR (SUNY Adirondack) WGSU (SUNY Geneseo) WHCL (Hamilton College) WHCR (City College of New York) WHPC (Nassau Community College) WHRW (Binghamton University) WICB (Ithaca College) WITC (Cazenovia College) WITR (Rochester Institute of Technology) WJPZ (Syracuse University) WKCR (Columbia University) WKRB (Kingsborough Community College) WNYK (Nyack College) WNYO (State University of New York – Oswego) WNYU (New York University) WONY (SUNY College at Oneonta) WPNR (Utica College of Syracuse University) WQKE (Plattsburgh State University) WRCU (Colgate University) WRHO (Hartwick College) WRHU (Hofstra University) WRPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) WRUC (Union College) WRUR (University of Rochester) WSBU (St. Bonaventure University) WSIA (College of Staten Island) WSPN (Skidmore College) WSUC (State University of New York – Cortland) WTSC (Clarkson University) WUSB (State University of New York – Stony Brook) WVCR (Siena College) WVHC (Herkiner County Community College) WVKR (Vassar College) WVWA (Colleges of The Seneca) WXBC (Bard College)

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in New York

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Academics	Rensselaer at Hartford Lally School of Management & Technology Center for Computational Innovations Rensselaer Technology Park

Culture	People History Fraternities and Sororities Genericon Grand Marshal Week The Polytechnic RPI Songs RPI TV WRPI IOP

Buildings	List of buildings Amos Eaton Hall Carnegie Building Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Chapel + Cultural Center EMPAC Folsom Library Greene Building Gurley Building Hirsch Observatory Houston Field House Jonsson Engineering Center Low Center West Hall Winslow Building

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