WVKR-FM

Infobox Radio station
name = WVKR-FM


city = Poughkeepsie, New York
area = Mid-Hudson Valley
branding = "Independent Radio"
slogan =
airdate = December 8, 1971
frequency = 91.3 MHz
format = College radio
power =
erp = 3,700 watts
haat = 250 meters
class = B1
callsign_meaning = W Vassar Kollege " [sic] " Radio
former_callsigns =
owner = Vassar College
webcast =
website = [http://www.wvkr.org www.wvkr.org]
affiliations =

WVKR-FM "(Independent Radio)" is a college radio station owned by, and primarily staffed by students of, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The station broadcasts on 91.3 MHz at 15 kilowatts ERP from a tower in Milton, New York with a directional signal to the south.

History

When Vassar College became a co-educational institution in 1969, the school began plans to launch a campus radio station to serve both the campus and the nearby communities. Originally, the college planned to apply for a low-power license, however plans soon changed to a full-power licence when the tower site of WEOK-FM was donated to Vassar College after the construction of a new tower in Illinois Mountain in Marlboro. WVKR signed on from this tower on a test basis in December 1971 with full operations commencing after upgrades to the tower were made in March 1972.

For its entire existence, WVKR has been a primarily student-run station with a core staff of community volunteers running some programs on the station. Key programming on the station includes
blues, jazz, RPM, hip hop, vintage rock, polka music, world music, classical, Cajun/Zydeco, talk, and indie rock, among others.

In the late 90's it was home to Noah Lyon's [http://www.retardriot.com/music Retard Riot Radio] hosted by community DJ's Doctor Ninja and the Crooked Eye Killah who played punk rock and underground hip hop records from from 8pm into the hours of the early morning. Their on air antics, surprise guest appearances from well known rappers and dedicated marathon airtime earned the show a cult following similar to that of the Stretch and Bobitto radio program on Columbia University college radio station WKCR. Fact|date=May 2008

WVKR also streams its broadcast on the internet, accessible through its website, thus serving not only the Vassar College and Hudson Valley communities, but also anyone else in the world who chooses to listen to the webcast.

Through its history WVKR has had several notable alumni DJ's who went on to further success in the music field, these include:
* Mark Ronson (DJ, Musician, Producer)
* DJ Ayers (Noted Club DJ)
* John Conway (Member The Bravery)

External links

* [http://www.wvkr.org/ Official site]
*FMQ|WVKR
*FML|WVKR
* [http://www.styluscity.org/WVKR/ WVKR's page on StylusCity]
* [http://www.retardriot.com/music Retard Riot Radio - Official Site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/doctorninja Doctor Ninja on MySpace]
* [http://www.myspace.com/retardriotradio Retard Riot Radio on MySpace]