In Review

Rock on, WRUR.
The radio station that began on a small corner of the River 人妻少妇专区, in the basement of Burton Hall, is now 70 years old.
What might be said about radio in general could also be said about WRUR: it has shown remarkable persistence. It survived the rise of television, thrived in the age of the VCR, and found new life in the 21st century, as first the internet, and then social media, threatened its eclipse.
Ray Ettington 鈥51, station manager in his senior year, says WRUR helped him get over stage fright. Having begun as a newsreader and voice actor, he says that to this day, 鈥淚 attribute my successful 36-year career in IBM sales and marketing to the selling and public speaking skills I learned at WRUR.鈥
The station began as a primitive enterprise, transmitting programming through a series of electrical wires strung through the underbellies of campus buildings. Jim Carrier 鈥66 helped bring the station into the FM era.
鈥淚鈥檝e had a wonderfully productive and adventurous life,鈥 he told Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist, in 2016. 鈥淎nd it all began in the basement of Todd Union.鈥
The station has evolved with each generation. Carrie Taschman 鈥18, the co-general manager during her senior year, says, 鈥淭he nice thing about radio is that it can be what you want.鈥 Perhaps that鈥檚 one reason for the station鈥檚 longevity. Students have been able to devise programs featuring every variety of music, local and national news and information, live theater, sports, and coverage of campus events and personalities distinctive to each era.
There鈥檚 one more song that has remained the same. That鈥檚 the commitment of the student DJs, engineers, managers, and others who make the station run.
鈥淎 lot is ending,鈥 said co-general manager Toby Kashket 鈥18, upon her graduation last year. But, speaking for both herself and Taschman, 鈥渨e know that if we鈥檙e coming back to visit school, WRUR will be the first place.鈥
Find a multimedia history of WRUR at Rochester.edu/news/wrur/. Through recollections, sound clips from the Archives, video and audio interviews, and written sources, the site brings the station鈥檚 past and present to life.