There was a time when WMNJ Radio broadcast live from a corner of the Tolley Hall basement—a small, makeshift studio where students played records, shared stories and made their voices heard across campus. For more than 30 years, WMNJ has been integral to campus life at Drew, but no era captured its spirit quite like the 1990s. As alternative rock dominated the charts and reshaped youth culture across the nation, WMNJ filled the airwaves with generation-defining sounds, introducing new bands and creating a space for students to discover new music. Since then, much has changed: 88.9 FM has given way to digital broadcasting, the Walkmans and cassette tapes to iPhones, AirPods and MP3s and a shoebox basement station to a glass-walled studio in the heart of the Ehinger Center. Yet one thing remains constant: WMNJ continues to be a special place for all who have been part of its story. To trace the station’s evolution, we spoke with alumni who witnessed these shifts firsthand, reflecting on the music, the mayhem and the memories that defined WMNJ’s heyday.
Radios were the lifeline for college students before the 2000s. Former WMNJ DJ Susann Rutledge (C’95) recalls, “You heard everyone’s music in the hall, like you knew what your friends were interested in.” This was when Nirvana and Pearl Jam dominated the Top 40 charts, and Drew students tuned into 88.9 “The Forest” during Friday night hangouts or quick study sessions. However, college radio wasn’t just background noise; WMNJ was a cultural hub. David Briggs (C’94) explained, “College stations were at the forefront of musical taste.” Mainstream radio offered limited variety with playlists that leaned toward commercial hits, so students relied on campus stations to discover new artists not yet discovered by the masses. Mike Richichi (C’91) adds that college radio was central to the alternative music scene, bridging the gap between mainstream and underground. “There was a genre called college alternative,” he explained. “Bands like Icehouse, Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, The Church and REM were huge on college radio.” Richichi also recalls performances by acts like They Might Be Giants and Tiny Lights, highlighting the station’s close ties to live music. He adds, “Alternative got really popular in the ‘90s, but it became popular partly because college kids were listening to it in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.”
Working at WMNJ during its FM days in Tolley was a unique experience. DJs broadcast live, with no pre-recorded segments. If you didn’t have your albums, you didn’t have a show. Kippy Rudy (C‘90) recalls, “This was long before digital music, and it was actually the beginning of CDs. People would come down with their milk crates full of albums. That was just part of the normal routine—carrying your crates down and picking your albums in advance.” As WMNJ transitioned to digital broadcasting, many of those records were lost, eventually sold off as part of station fundraising efforts. Around 2011, WMNJ made the pivotal shift to full digital broadcasting, marking a major turning point in its history. While transitioning from FM to digital was exciting, it also signaled the end of an era, which, for many WMNJ members, was bittersweet. Amy Wheeler (C‘94) remembers thinking, “If we let go of it, we wouldn’t be able to get it back.” The change ended a time when live, student-driven broadcasts connected directly with the campus.
Past DJ and Music Director, Edgar Gonzalez (C’12), recalls, “I was part of the effort to transition from radio to online only. We moved everything from Tolley’s basement to the EC, which at the time we called the UC.” The main challenge, he adds, was affordability. “That was not easy, to put it lightly. We needed new equipment, and we also had to move everything to the new space.” Over time, WMNJ went from live broadcasting, where DJs played content in real-time, to a semi-automatic automation system that allowed music to play 24/7 without anyone in the studio. Despite these changes, alternative music remained a defining feature of the station. John Dabrowski (C’12) recalls, “There was a lot of rising indie alternative music…It was the time of bands like Vampire Weekend, MGMT, The Postal Service, Belle and Sebastian and Death Cab for Cutie.” So while going digital didn’t change the station’s music interests, it did alter the way students tuned in.
Opinions on the shift from FM to digital broadcasting varied among alumni. Nick Klein (C’13), a station engineer at WMNJ, recalls the difficult decision to sell the FM license: “We were going back and forth about it for a while, but it ultimately came down to a couple of points. The FM license was a prestigious thing—we could say we’re 88.9 FM, The Forest—but our FM transmitter barely reached the edge of campus. By the time I started my radio show, anyone listening was doing so online.” For Wheeler, the change was bittersweet: “I do wish we could have stayed on FM forever,” she said, noting how FM radio is what had brought WMNJ members together.
For students who never knew WMNJ before it went digital, like Kristen Oakley (C’21), the shift felt more like an opportunity. “I think digital is definitely the way to go,” she said, emphasizing its ability to reach a larger audience. Unlike earlier alumni, Oakley’s time at WMNJ came after alternative music had faded from the mainstream, replaced by the rise of pop and rap, which shaped her perspective on the station’s role in the campus music scene. Despite the nearly decade-long gap between her and the others, technology and affordability remained ongoing challenges. Oakley recalls, “I was in that transition period where we still had old equipment, but we needed new equipment.”
It is clear that WMNJ in the ‘90s was a far cry from its state in more recent times. Jeremy Blatter, faculty advisor to WMNJ, recalls the station’s condition in 2019: “I didn’t realize the extent to which the station had dwindled to virtually no one. When I was first approached by a student about reviving it, there were maybe three active students left, and the pandemic brought digital broadcasting to a halt for more than two years.” In 2022, Blatter officially took on the role of faculty advisor, dedicating the summer to updating the station’s license agreements and installing new equipment. By late 2022, WMNJ was back on the digital airwaves, and the station began recording podcasts for broadcast and distribution on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
For many alumni, discovering WMNJ was a pivotal moment in their college careers, one that shaped the trajectory of their personal and professional lives. Wheeler recalls, “It’s definitely one of my favorite memories at Drew—the radio station, the friends I made and the skills I developed.” Dabrowski echoes a similar sentiment, describing joining WMNJ as a “happy accident” that led to a fulfilling career in the entertainment industry. Briggs reflects on the strong sense of camaraderie among those who worked at WMNJ, calling it a place where bonds were formed. For Oakley, WMNJ is more than just a station; “It’s a part of me.”
The impact of WMNJ on these alumni’s lives remains undeniable. The beauty of WMNJ is that it brings together people from all backgrounds. These alumni have gone on to successful careers in publishing, law, public relations and television production, including work as a digital producer for the Sherri Shepherd talk show. While these Drew alums have ventured down different paths, WMNJ remains the thread that unites them. Whether through the ‘90s alternative days or its digital revival, WMNJ lives on as a voice for the Drew community, sustained by the efforts of faculty and dedicated students.
