WRPS
City | Rockland, Massachusetts |
---|---|
Slogan | Rockland's Own |
Frequency | 88.3 MHz |
First air date | February 1974 |
Format | High School |
ERP | 105 watts, Stereo |
HAAT | 42 meters (138 ft) |
Class | A |
Facility ID | 57299 |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°07′43″N 70°55′01″W / 42.12861°N 70.91694°W |
Callsign meaning | Rockland Public Schools |
Owner | Rockland Public Schools |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | WRPS Radio 88.3FM |
WRPS (88.3 FM) is a high school radio station licensed to serve Rockland, Massachusetts. The station is owned by Rockland Public Schools and operated by the staff and students of Rockland High School. It airs a combination high school/Hot AC music format in Stereo.[1]
The station was assigned the WRPS call letters by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),[2] and began operations in February 1974.
Alumni
In 1980, Boston broadcaster Fred B. Cole hosted a show every weekday afternoon playing big band records from his personal collection.[3] Also in 1980, Dave Stewart of WCBS-FM (101.1), New York City began his career at WRPS while attending Junior High School in Rockland. He had been the late-night host at WPLJ (95.5) since 1989 until 2011. He is now the overnight host on 'CBS-FM (101.1) in New York.
In 1981 7th grader Kevin Keleher, mentored by Cole, began his tenure at WRPS. Kevin worked closely with Dave Stewart, Cole, and station manager Steve Budd to form a broadcast team. While Stewart went on to Emerson and the "bright lights of Broadway", Kevin left WRPS is 1984 and went on to perform in Boston rock bands in the 1990s. He hosted a Sunday morning Blues radio program "Blues Hangover", in 2003, on WBOR 91.1 FM in Brunswick, ME.
In 2003, James "Couzy" Anderson, a future TV broadcaster currently serving in the United States Air Force began announcing Play-by-play for the Rockland High School football team, which began a tenure of over 1,000 hours of announcing, 200 plus games and hosted a sports talk show weekly until graduation in 2007 .There was a famous show called Jamin with Bill & Shawn that aired in the early 1990's. Eventually Shawn graduated in 1991 and it became Jamin with Bill without Shawn.
References
- ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Archived from the original on March 1, 2010.
- ↑ "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
- ↑ Marquard, Bryan (2007-12-11). "Fred B. Cole, 92; mouthpiece of big-band era". The Boston Globe.
External links
- Official website
- Rockland Public Schools
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WRPS
- Radio-Locator information on WRPS
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WRPS
- December 1987 WRPS aircheck and notes