Sunday's New York Times did a good profile of free-form radio station WFMU, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The article makes a bit too much of the fact that WFMU has been around as long as Fidel Castro has been in power, but otherwise it does a decent job of looking at this unique New Jersey institution: a college radio station that has outlived the college.
Upsala College, a Lutheran college founded more than 100 years ago, was a respected North Jersey institution for many decades in East Orange, but ran into financial problems in the '80s and '90s. It laid off staff and cut back on programs, and finally ceased to exist in 1995. Fortunately funds were raised to keep WFMU in existence, and "the free-form station of the nation" (as it calls itself) continues to thrive in Jersey City.
Of course WFMU is celebrating its 50th birthday and is having a fundraiser for the occasion so it can continue on; you can learn more at its Web site above.
As for Upsala College, although it hasn't been around for more than a decade it of course has a Web site, www.upsala.org (an unofficial one, maintained by one of its alums).
No comments :
Post a Comment