Only three years after Germany and Japan surrendered and World War Two ended, Rutgers students, many of whom were WWII veterans attending Rutgers on the GI bill, founded WRSU, Rutgers University’s first official radio station, on April 26, 1948.

On April 26, 2023, WRSU announced its anniversary on Twitter: “Happy 75th Birthday to us! WRSU came on the air April 26, 1948 at 680 on the AM dial! We're still rockin' the streets of New Brunswick! Tune in later today for some special programming!”

To celebrate the occasion, in addition to the special programming which ran for days and celebrated the music that has been played by WRSU DJs during every decade since the 1940s, WRSU hosted an Anniversary Dinner on June 10, 2023.

"Roger Cohen was an “obvious choice” for the hall of fame because of the influence he had over many Rutgers students at WRSU and SC&I." -- Mike Pavlichko.

The highlight of the dinner was the stations’ induction of several Rutgers alumni into the inaugural “WRSU Rutgers Radio Hall of Fame.” Those inducted include: the WRSU founders (1946-1948), the WRSU FM Transition Group (1969-1974), Mark Chernoff RBS‘76, the late Roger Cohen RC’65, the late Harvey Hauptman RC‘51, Matt Pinfield, Herb Sudzin, and Steve Vericker RC’81.

The live-streamed event was held in the multipurpose room in the College Avenue Student Center and included about 120 attendees. The delicious dinner was provided by Food Architects.

Mike Pavlichko, WRSU Broadcast Administrator and a Part Time Faculty member at SC&I, said Roger Cohen was an “obvious choice” for the hall of fame because of the influence he had over many Rutgers students at WRSU and SC&I.

Cohen graduated from Rutgers College in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in English, and he then earned a master's degree in radio and television from Syracuse University in 1969.

Back at Rutgers to pursue a teaching career, Cohen formed the Department of Journalism and Urban Communications at Livingston College — which was then a part of Rutgers in 1976. Cohen served as the department’s chair from 1996 to 2001.

Cohen developed and taught Rutgers courses in broadcast news, writing, radio production, and TV programming. He was also the first on-air play-by-play announcer for Rutgers Basketball. 

In recognition of his achievements and contributions, Cohen was awarded the JMS Department first Lifetime Achievement Award on November 10, 2013.

Pavlichko said Cohen created a lasting impact on the SC&I community at Rutgers, who influenced every JMS student through his teaching, and as one of WRSU’s advisors. “He did public affairs news shows for Rutgers that went statewide, which also aired on the station. And then he was on what's called a radio council, which is basically our governing body,” said Pavlichko, explaining that the radio council serves in an advisory capacity to WRSU. “Roger was on that for a long time. So he had a lot of influence on WRSU, and on the people who worked here,” Pavlichko said. 

To nominate someone for induction into the inaugural Hall of Fame, Pavlichko said nominators were required to complete a nomination form as well as send WRSU a letter explaining why the nominee should be chosen. He said many of these applications were filled out by recent alums.

The anniversary dinner and induction ceremony were very well attended, Pavlichko said, and he credited their efforts to promote the event on social media for capturing the attention of many of the attendees, who included current students and recent alums involved in the WRSU community.

The event also brought together many members of the SC&I community, and students and alums from other departments as well, all of whom shared a common interest in WRSU.  

Pavlichko said they received a lot of great feedback from many of the attendees following the event. “It was great to see everyone, and it was especially nice to see our current students and recent grads interact with and hear stories from alumni who worked at WRSU in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. While the technology might have been a lot different then, we all realized that we still do the same work,” Pavlichko said. “They were DJs, they played records, they went to cover sporting events, just as we still do in 2023, so we all realized our collective experiences at WRSU were very similar. The event was very well received.”

Learn more about getting involved at WRSU on their website.

Discover more about the Journalism and Media Studies Department on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.

Images: WRSU archives 1948-49. Courtesy of Mike Pavlichko.