WPEA-FM

I was one of the original group that worked with LeRoy Little in 1964 to start up WPEA-FM. LeRoy appointed me director of special events, of which, to my recollection, there were none. … I was an early-morning disc jockey for a time, and I recall on one morning at 7:55 putting on the turntable the then-hit single “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las, locking the door and then making a fast exit and running over to the chapel to make the 8 o’clock bell. My friends had confidence in me that I could do this as I was on the cross-country and track teams! I made chapel in time.

David Gilman Romano ’65

Every spring Charlie [Singer ’78] broadcast every single song the Beatles ever recorded. He chose a sunny Sunday for the marathon, which lasted the whole day. Students pointed their speakers out of their dorm windows. You could hear the Beatles all over campus.

Jamie Trowbridge ’78

Such good memories — hazy though they are — of getting a show with the inimitable Lucy Simpson ’89, playing the most eclectic array of tunes to whoever was listening, and occasionally having guests drop in to share the cool dungeon vibes of the studio. Definitely made me feel cool.

Adrienne McConnell ’89

I fondly remember trips to Newbury Street to Biscuit Head records for the newest indie hip-hop records to play on my show with Chi Okere ’99. We argued on the air about what to play, he accused me of only liking
“hardcore” hip-hop. I’m pretty sure we debuted “Wu Tang Forever” to all of New Hampshire on our show.

Brandon Gross ’99

I was a DJ at WPEA in ’72-’73. I remember studying for my Class 3 license and then a few of us going on the bus to downtown Boston to take the licensing exam. Ed Ross was PEA station manager then, and my show was Jazz and Blues. Ed was very accommodating because I liked to play long jams and new or old albums whole. Sometimes friends would drop by and visit while I was running the platters. We had a blast!

Tony Robinson ’73

Ending Nick Moore ’03’s set on Monday nights with dance rave annihilation! — raging “Sandstorm” as loud as we could with as many people as we could fit in the studio.

Ryan Dunfee ’04

In the fall semester WPEA launched, I volunteered for the 7 to 8 a.m. slot. It was perfect, save for the fact that each day at Exeter began with assembly, when everyone was required to gather in Assembly Hall at 8 a.m. sharp. One lateness was permitted; after that, with each violation you were grounded for a weekend. So, I made sure to sign off my show by 7:55 — and then sprinted a quarter-mile across campus, sweating through my mandatory blazer and tie.

Hughes Norton ’65

The basement of the student center! I had a little yellow card that was my license. And we had vinyl. Such a fun thing to do!! I remember playing Madonna’s “new” album one term.

Chryssanthe Ganiaris Detroyer ’88

I doubt many alumni could match the keepsakes I still have and cherish: mimeographed fliers promoting Speak Easy, my weekly WPEA talk show back in the spring of 1974. It came on every Monday at 8 p.m. between news and sports and Vivre à Paris. … That’s where it all began for me at the campus radio station. It kick-started my love of broadcast journalism and a remarkable 45-year career in television news … a 30-year stint at CNN and still going at CGTN (China Global Television Network) in Washington.

Jim Barnett ’75

In 1956, a few of us set up a radio station in the basement of Merrill Hall. Technically it might have been illegal, but we were live for the entire year. One day I was playing Kitty Kallen singing “Chapel in the Moonlight” when Jon Friedlaender burst into our wee studio excitedly asking me to play a song on an album he had with him. It was Elvis Presley doing “Blue Suede Shoes.” Our lives were changed forever.

Ted Trainer ’57

Got my FCC third-class license fall of my prep year. Had to pay my dues then and work the reveille slot before classes started. Would often put on a long track and go next door to Elm Street and bring a bit of breakfast back — praying that the LP didn’t skip while I was away.

Jon Kiger ’81

My two-hour program was a mixed bag of favorites and new discoveries, but at the end I would always close my show with Gene Kelly “Singin’ in the Rain.” A true classic. Loved doin’ that show!!!

John A. Thomas ’74

I loved the 8–10 slots and having a legit reason for getting back to dorm after official check-in time.

Jeff Bandman ’80

I was a WPEA DJ for one full school year. The year before, Station Manager LeRoy Little ’65 invited applicants to audition. I remember LeRoy asked me to read some typed copy at a microphone, then a week later let me know I had qualified. I suppose my voice was a little deep and sonorous, and (as a Cleveland native) I used good “Huntley-Brinkley” diction.

David Clark ’67

Great memories of nights in the basement studio going through newly delivered vinyls and trying out their B-sides also. Early Dire Straits and UB40 were among those new deliveries.

Ferit Ferhangil ’85

I hated the move away from Amen as it was so easy to sleepwalk my way back to Cilley after working the graveyard shift at WPEA.

Stephen Robinson ’73

This was my favorite place on campus! I remember traveling hours to find rare records for our shows. The bookstore was a sneaky good spot to get CDs a day before their release. Just being in the room was magical.

Alexander Valhouli ’00

Responses originally shared via email or on social media

From the editor:

Station Manager LeRoy Little ’65 announced the Academy’s first radio broadcast at 9:25 p.m. on Sept. 10, 1964. From its modest 10-watt infancy
to the launch of its new season this October, WPEA 90.5 FM has been an Exeter institution for decades.

The station was the inspiration of the late John Pearson ’64, but his efforts were “plagued by red tape and the lack of men in the Exeter area who know how to organize and maintain such a station,” The Exonian reported in 1963. “Otherwise,” the paper wrote in earnest, “the station is quite well organized and almost ready to operate.”

Even after its eventual debut, WPEA faced challenges. Chronic interference with local TV broadcasts led the station to halt all programming in early 1965. Homemade remedies failed. The FCC license expired. The station went quiet for two years.

It reawakened in 1967. With a frequency shift and the help of technicians from Bell Labs, who added filters to limit the interference, WPEA resumed broadcasting on May 28, 1967. A Bob Dylan “spectacular” highlighted the day, and DJ George Mattingly ’68 said, “If we’re coming in on your electric razor in the morning, it’s not our fault.”

The station outgrew its studio in the basement of Amen Hall, moving to a new home in Davis Hall in 1973. Today, the station broadcasts 100 watts from the Elizabeth Phillips Academy Center.

Have you heard of the tunnels beneath Exeter’s campus or have a story to tell about them? In the mid-1900s — before Elm and Wetherell dining centers were built — meals were served in dorms and food was ferried from kitchens to dorms through a series of underground tunnels. Email your reminiscences to bulletin@exeter.edu. Select responses will be published in the next issue of the Bulletin.