Change is in the air at WPRB. As I sit here at my desk in the Barge (WPRB’s off-campus satellite studio, where many of us have been siloed for the last few years), I marvel at the challenges we’ve had to endure in recent memory: a major tech meltdown at our transmitter site, the planet shatteringly-loud construction of a giant apartment building right next door, a crushing heat wave that’s forever threatening our fragile broadcast equipment. And did you really think I was going to skip over that whole global pandemic thing? Any of those events might be enough to make another organization pack up and quit, but our thickheaded determination is the stuff of legend.
These problems are not eternal. History teaches us that things often stay the same for a long time, and then change radically all of a sudden. Right now is one of those times at WPRB. The station is at a crossroads of identity and purpose, and we’re setting our sights on a much more ambitious future that will free us from the shackles of circumstance. WPRB can no longer be a place where the outside world happens to us—we need to write our own ticket for the future we want, together.
And to see that future realized, we’re facing the biggest hill we’ve ever had to climb: WPRB is looking to buy a new space to call its forever home. The once-quirky notion of operating a radio station split across a campus and community space has hit the end of its life cycle, and with new University policies preventing us from restoring the kind of shared accessibility we enjoyed for decades, WPRB is going fully independent by actively seeking a 3500+ sq foot commercial space near downtown Princeton. This isn’t a goal for which we expect a solution to fall out of the sky without any effort, so to that end, I hope we’ll be seeing you at some of the public events we’re lining up in the coming months. I’m talking record store DJ nights, Sun Ra Arkestra gigs, local arts events... Heck, we might show up at your stoop sale to play the new Alien Nosejob record and spread the word of these lofty ambitions. (Please consider that a threat.)
We’re also interested in hearing from you, the dedicated members of WPRB’s donor base. Do you have connections with a commercial real estate broker who’s worked with non-profits? Do you have a relative who’s selling property in or near Princeton that they swore a blood oath to never see converted into ugly condos? Time and time again, I have been astonished by what’s possible when WPRB rallies its troops and simply ASKS. Please send any hot tips to mike@wprb.com, and thank you for keeping us in your hearts. Stay hydrated.
-Mike Lupica
WPRB Executive Director
