WPRK Anniversary Party
Rollins College radio station WPRK is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a fundraiser and a free all-day event and live broadcast today from the Rollins College campus in Winter Park, Florida.
According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, the station has 120 student and community volunteers. The article states,
“It’s community and student involvement that inspires Rollins’ commitment to WPRK in an era when some colleges are selling student stations, said Karen Hater, dean of student affairs. That department invests $40,000 annually to fund operations and a small, salaried staff. ‘We want students to be involved in that kind of leadership activity,’ Hater said. ‘We believe we have listeners out there who identify with Rollins through WPRK.'”
About a decade ago there was a heated debate at Rollins over the future of the station after a local public radio station attempted to take over the station’s programming in exchange for offering internships to students. In early 2001 these plans were squashed and an article in the Orlando Sentinel said that, “Although the proposal would have provided equipment upgrades and internships, the prospect of relinquishing control of 16 hours of daily programming had sparked disapproval among students and WPRK’s community volunteers.”
You can view a live video of today’s 60th anniversary concert on the WPRK website.
