Ever since these pages went up July 1995, we've had a great response, not only from listeners here in town, but also from former members of the station who chanced upon them on the web. Here are some of the things they've written to us. We think that these letters paint a vivid picture of the growth and expansion of the station, from lowly carrier wave in Tolman Hall to a 14,500-watt powerhouse located in the bowels of the Sarratt Student Center. If you're a former DJ with stories to tell (and you don't mind them listed here) drop us a line at wrvu@vanderbilt.edu!

Date: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 11:59:29 -0500
From: "Jeffrey T. Spoeri"

Hi, fellow WRVU'ers -

I was pretty much a short-timer on 91 Rock, working only in the summer of '89. I was in an M.Ed. program at Peabody and, having worked as a DJ on WCWM (College of William and Mary) as an undergrad, I was eager to participate in a station with a broadcast radius greater than five miles! While I had done jazz shows in undergrad, I quickly adapted to the college/progressive/alternative/whatever-you-want-to-call-it format.

I guess my only real 91 Rock memory anymore, besides playing those up-and-coming bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden before anyone but college DJs had heard of them, was plugging the hilt out of a Fetchin' Bones concert at Exit Inn (they were my favorite band at the time), then missing it because my girlfriend and I got in a fight. (As an aside, we ended up getting married in '90 and divorced in '95, so I guess it has a happy ending.)

Keep rocking Nashvegas, 91 Rock! (And don't sell yourselves short on signal strength - I once kept the station on loud and clear all the way down I-65 to the Alabama line.)

Jeff Spoeri, M.Ed. '90
Recovering Lawyer and currently Law School Administrator
St. Petersburg, Florida

Dear WRVU:

I enjoyed finding your homepage, and finding the station in obviously good hands. From 1953-57 (in times ancient) I was a news reporter (rip and read school of broadcasting), DJ, program director, business manager and finally station manager. We lived from hand-to-mouth then, and cadged most of our equipment from WSM in exchange for plugs, services, and whatever else we could think of. We also played a lot of miserably bad music(?) because it was FREE. Back then, we did the unthinkable - we had women on the air and in management - two of the first were Rachell Merritt and Lynn Ramsey. You problably can find them in the dusty archives of Commodore Yearbooks under the WVU entry.

In any event, it is gratifying to see our dark ages efforts to keep the station going were not in vain.

I shall follow your successes on the Web.

Dear WRVU:

It's good to see WRVU continuing a community presence in Nashville. I was station manager at 91.1 FM 20 years ago and did most of the paperwork to get the signal up to its current power level. Kind of neat to come across you on the WEB.

The mix of programming sounds great, we were only a real alternative 20% of the time with some blues, jazz and bluegrass (my preference was alternative, but most of the staff was mainstream pop rock yuck.). Anyway, just wanted to say glad to see the stations still around and hope to be through Nashville some year and hear it again. Good luck.

[Later]

Like your idea about gathering up station history. My crew had a reunion about six years ago, and there are some good stories out there. I'm trying to finish a dissertation in Instructional Technology and move to a teaching job in Georgia this month and next, so it'll be a while till I can contribute anything but I will maybe later in the fall.

A couple of key people you might be able to locate on-line with a little searching are Steve Womack (known as Step, an old computer major, currently a Methodist minister somewhere in middle TN I think, but he's been in touch with the station sometime in the past 10 years through one of the Deans), Jack Walton (I think he's still a news producer at WBZ or whatever the big Boston tv station is, can't remember -- but if you find him call him Frank LaVergne), Dan (Brother) Womack is an accountant in Dunwoody/Atlanta GA, and Pat Nolan is in PR there in Nashville (used to be in news at WPLN). These four guys, plus our old engineer Barney (?last name) can probably track the history better than anyone I know -- they were with the station when it was still carrier current, then saw it go to 10 watts FM and on up the power scale. A number of people from that period went on to professional broadcasting, successfully and unsuccessfully.

Anyway, I'll stay in touch and see what stories I can come up with later in the fall. Good job!

Dear WRVU:

It was a pleasant surprise (nay, *shock*) to find WRVU on the Web. My tenure at the Station started a couple of years before 91.1 went to 10,000 watts, and ended scant months before the cd players arrived.

I write in response to your request to hear from WRVU alumni. I was a DJ at the Station from 1979 thru 1985 (while attending VU undergrad and law school). If memory serves, I was also Music Director (1983-1984), and Program Director (1984 - 1985). My tenure ended in 1985, in the twisted aftermath of an incident wherein a disgruntled med school alum in town for an alumni weekend phoned the Chancellor's office to complain about one of my DJs playing a Pretenders song that allegedly made reference to oral sex, causing the alum's young son to pose ticklish questions while Dad was trying to negotiate the rent-a-car around West End Avenue.

I have many memories of WRVU, and virtually all of them are fond. I hope that 91.1 gives you as great a ride as it did me. If you remain interested in your forebears' foggy recollections, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Meanwhile, remain eclectic.

REG

WRVU:

Hey. It's me, Alison Scholly, General Manager of WRVU back in 1988, and Business Manager in 1989. I'm sure you all have heard of me, and I'm glad your programming seems to have continued according to my master plan. Are you ever going to stop playing industrial? It was an 80s thing!

By the way, it was my administration that changed the logo. Glad to see it graced your web page.

Alison Scholly

Vanderbilt University '90

Dear WRVU:

I'm a former 91Rock jock, graduated in '89...worked there for three years during my stay at Vandy...it's nice to see WRVU with a homepage...i now live in New Orleans, and miss my beloved 91Rock...Tulane's radio station sucks, no comparison! i spent many an hour down in the tunnel, between WRVU and the Hustler (I was the photo editor for 2 years...), some of my best times spent at Vanderbilt. I had a dance show and an acoustic show (way before MTV started doing the Unplugged thing!), and myriad other eclectic shows...i was always one who came and filled in when no one showed up for their shifts! i wish i had that outlet now...we have a community radio station here, WWOZ, that's dedicated to the jazz heritage of new orleans, but it's really hard to get a shift there unless you know the right people...and you have to play all jazz, new orleans r&b, blues, gospel, etc...

I've been here in New Orleans for 5 years, haven't been back to Nashpit for a few...just recently got back into the music biz, am dj'ing at a hiNRG club here called Rubyfruit Jungle, and am writing dance music reviews for Dance Music Authority magazine, as well as record reviews and general music info for a local queer press called IMPACT....tell me more about the format change of 91.1...sounds interesting, but i'm sure most jocks were not happy to have their freedom...i woulda been bummed....

anyway, gotta run...nice typing to ya...keep up the good work...

margaret coble

aka dj mags