Many things have changed since 1966, but one constant has been 90.3 WRST-FM, UW-Oshkosh’s student-run radio station. WRST-FM celebrated the 60th anniversary of its first broadcast on April 20 with a birthday party at the station on the fourth floor of the Arts and Communication Center on campus.
UWO faculty, staff, students, and alumni joined the celebration, which featured tours of the station, merchandise giveaways, and cake.
Robert “Doc” Snyder was hired by the university in 1964 to start a broadcast media program. WRST-FM (The Radio Station of the Titans) first hit the airwaves on April 20, 1966, by playing The Mamas & the Papas hit, “Monday, Monday” at 6 p.m. on 88.1 FM.
Originally, the station aired content for just four hours each weeknight at its first broadcast studio – the former Fuller Goodman Lumber Company on Blackhawk Avenue. In 1971, the studios and antenna were moved to their current location at the Arts and Communication Center. Two years later, WRST’s signal strength increased from 10 to 960 watts, and the station changed its frequency to 90.3 FM.
WRST became a Wisconsin Public Radio member station in 1992. Students produce their own shows for the remaining 11 hours of the day and air music, news, and Titan Athletics broadcasts.
The station remains one of the only places in the Fox Valley to air jazz in the afternoon in honor of Snyder, a jazz enthusiast. A special phone line has been set up to collect the memories of alumni who were on the air at WRST during their college days. The number is 920-424-3115.
