WPRB 103.3 FM and the Charter Trustees of its parent nonprofit, Princeton Broadcasting Service, Inc., have voted unanimously in support of the creation of the organization’s first Executive Director position. WPRB is proud to announce the promotion and appointment of independent radio leader Mike Lupica as its inaugural Executive Director. Lupica is a 30+ year veteran of community radio. Twice profiled by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, he has worked at and produced radio for WPRB, WFMU, WNYC, WRSU, and East Village Radio over the course of his career. Lupica has served in the role of Educational Advisor for WPRB since August 2011.
A New Chapter for an 86-Year-Old Listener-Supported Station
This position is being created by the organization to drive further stability, continuity, and growth for the 86-year-old, freeform, independent radio station. Lupica will work with both the student board and trustees to work towards reunification of the physical broadcast and recording studios, which has not been possible since 2020 during the pandemic. For decades WPRB has maintained a hybrid community radio model of having both student and community DJs broadcasting. This promotes the parallel goals of providing educational experiences for emerging broadcast, journalism, music, culture and nonprofit professionals on Princeton University’s campus and fostering an important community programming hub for music, culture, and more in the broader tri-state region.
Community DJs have been broadcasting from a separate off-campus studio since the pandemic began, in 2020. University policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in campus buildings led to a permanent change, siloing the station. WPRB and its parent nonprofit are exploring options for reunification, which would restore the collaborative, mentorship-driven environment the station is known for.
WPRB is committed to remaining an independent community radio station, providing a platform for local voices and emerging talents, creating a unique hands-on educational opportunity for Princeton students, and fostering a sense of culture and belonging within our diverse regional communities. The station currently is partially housed at the university but receives no direct financial funding from the university, and is entirely listener-supported. In this exciting growth for the station, Lupica’s extensive work keeping independent radio culture thriving in the Midatlantic region and by preserving and fostering voices that don’t fit the homogenized or dominant algorithms or our time will be important to leading this new chapter.
On sharing this news with the broader community, Mike asserts that, “Great community radio stations don’t waste time lamenting the loss of bygone eras. ‘Right now’ is always the best time to be involved, and by supercharging the energy of our present moment, my hope is to propel WPRB into a forever home where our programmers can freely pursue the creative impulse.”
Charter Trustee chair Dan Ruccia comments, “WPRB has always been about the transformative power of freeform radio. For the past 15 years, Mike Lupica has had a profound role in shaping the educational experiences for our student leaders. We are beyond excited to see him bring that same energy to our operations as a whole.”
WPRB’s trustees welcome community and campus feedback for potential sites for the growth and reunification of the station. Send us your ideas, comments, questions to Mike Lupica via email [mike AT wprb DOT com].
Charitable donations to help launch WPRB’s next chapter are welcomed at pledge.wprb.com.
About Mike Lupica & WPRB 103.3 FM
Lupica works with fellow WPRB staff members Jon Solomon (Operations Manager and staff member since 2019, and WPRB DJ since 1988) and Teddy Wimer (Development and Communications Manager, formerly General Manager at WMMT). The current Princeton University student board of WPRB is led by Station Manager Seryn Kim ‘27. WPRB’s 2026 Spring program calendar hosted programs from 68 on-air DJs.
Some fun facts about Mike Lupica: He grew up idolizing early hip-hop broadcast icons like Mr. Magic, as well as snarky college radio DJs with a taste for aural roadrash. He once climbed a radio broadcast tower just to see if he could spit on his car from the top. He believes that radio can be a transformative power for good. Prior to his work at WPRB, Lupica served as the Broadcast Engineer for New York Public Radio for three and a half years, after over seven and a half years working at New York/Jersey City’s WFMU as the Special Events Director.
WPRB was founded on and is currently based on Princeton University’s campus and broadcasts an iconic independent and freeform radio format. The station moved its studio to its current location on Princeton University’s campus in 2004 with a remote radio tower at Baker’s Basin. Prior to that WPRB broadcast for 59 years out of the basement of Princeton’s Holder Hall with a short distance radio tower on the top of the 140-foot high gothic tower of that dormitory building. WPRB began in a student’s personal campus dorm room at 441 Pyne Hall in 1940. Founded as WPRU, an AM station by Princeton University undergraduate H. Grant Theis ‘42 on December 6, 1940, WPRB has always been an anomaly. It is the oldest commercial college station in the country, with a powerful coverage area that includes central New Jersey and the Philadelphia metro area. Through the years, it has been operated by an ever-changing assortment of dedicated Princeton students and community volunteers, all with the singular goal of providing great broadcast content unavailable elsewhere on the dial.
The station pre-dates radio licenses, allowing WPRB the highly unusual structure of being run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, on a college campus, with a grandfathered commercial FCC radio license. In 1955, WPRU got its FM license and quickly began signing on as WPRB to not conflict with a ship callsign. WPRB was also a national pioneer in FM Stereo broadcasting, starting a stereo radio broadcast in 1964. To this day it has run as an independent nonprofit on the campus of Princeton University with an alumni trustee board and advisory board, a small group of employees and contractors, and a student board which supports operations, student initiatives, the WPRB music library and archives, and DJ recruitment on campus.
Press inquiries can be directed to Mike Lupica [mike AT wprb DOT com] and Dan Ruccia [dan AT wprb DOT com].