Press "Enter" to skip to content

Haverford Radio set to relaunch

WHRC, Haverford’s radio station, is in the process of a new incarnation, as “a web-based collective of audio content and multimedia,” according to the Haverford Radio website. In other words, Internet radio is coming to Haverford.

With its “soft launch,” scheduled for December 10, Haverford Radio will be streaming music from radiofords.com, co-head Dylan Reichman ’16 said at an informational meeting on Thursday.

“The plan is to have live DJs whenever possible, and to have all DJs make two hour-long pre-set playlists so that we can be broadcasting something 24/7,” Reichman told The Clerk.

Co-heads Reichman, Fairleigh Barnes ’13 and Karl Moll ’14 told the 33 attendees of the meeting that they hope to have a full schedule of shows early next semester. According to Reichman, around 40 students have signed up for DJ slots.

“We want it to be diverse,” Reichman said. “We want talk radio, we don’t want just music.”

Prospective DJs have programming ideas as varied as a show tracing the genealogy of music to one on which students will discuss radical politics.

According to the website:

Haverford College radio began in 1923, and was one of the first and most influential college radio stations at the time. WHRC was alive and kicking up through the 1980s, sometimes with a DJ staff of 100 people! Since then, the station has disappeared and returned several times. It was last operating in 2009.

“When I got here, the radio was dying out,” Barnes said. “For the last couple of years Karl and I have been working to get it back,” she said.

Moll, who is the head of promotions, said that his goal is to make it as easy as possible for students to remember to listen to Haverford Radio.

“I want a sign on every carrel saying ‘If you’re not listening to WHRC, you might as well go to Swat,’” he said.

Reichman spoke of the long-term goal of WHRC broadcasting over FM airwaves, but that, for now, WHRC would stick to Internet radio.

“I want there to be a station before we put money in a radio station,” he said.

At the time of publishing, no music is streaming from radiofords.com. However, the website currently has interviews from last year and “samplings of Haverford’s own [current and former] student bands.” [Full disclosure: the author is in one of those bands.]

 

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.