If you listen to our weekly podcast, you may have heard me talk about construction taking place at our host radio station, WRSU-FM.

Located in the heart of Rutgers University’s College Avenue campus, the radio station is undergoing a major makeover. While some broadcast equipment has come and gone since I joined the station nearly 25 years ago, this is the first time I remember such major changes taking place.

The changes are both cosmetic and technological. The station is installing new carpeting, furniture, sound-proofing equipment, and more…while at the same time, upgrading the equipment we all use to create the world-class entertainment we offer each and every day.

I thought it would be fun to keep everyone updated throughout the process.

Construction @ WRSU: Before…and During

Before construction began, I recorded a video walk-through of our beloved WRSU studios. To get a picture of what the station used to look like, check out the video below.

Recently, WRSU Broadcast Administrator Mike Pavlichko sent some photos around, documenting what’s been going on since we last stopped by in early May.

Here’s our main broadcast studio. Some equipment has started coming out, but the main control board is still in place.

Then the board came out…

…and then EVERYTHING came out.

Here is our adjacent production studio, also completely empty.

It’s very strange to see our broadcast home completely gutted. Getting excited for what is to come!

UPDATE 6/27/19:

Carpeting and furniture are in! The new WRSU is really starting to take shape!

Here is our production studio with new carpeting installed:

And our main studio. It may be hard to see from the photos, but the walls of both studios have been covered with sound-proof material.

Here’s where things get really exciting. The furniture was delivered, and our on-air studio has a brand new layout! It’s a radical change from the past 50+ years of WRSU.

But first, here’s a peek at our production studio, all ready for technical equipment to be installed. This is the room next door to our on-air studio, where DJs conduct interviews, pre-record segments of their sh0w, edit audio, and more.

And now, the photo that was most exciting for me – the brand new layout of our on-air studio. This new layout gives DJs a clear line of sight into the rest of the station, and allows us to interact with guests in a much more effective manner. With hosts and guests facing each other, DJs can look directly at their guests while minimizing background noise from microphones that were all facing the same direction.

We’ve been facing that window in the back for as I’ve been at WRSU, so this is a major upgrade. It’s also much more in line with the layout of most radio stations throughout the country.

What’s next? We’re now awaiting the installation of all the equipment: control boards, computers, CD players, etc. They tell us that we should be back on the air by sometime in July. Can. Not. Wait!

I’ll update this post as additional photos become available. In the meantime, I’m podcasting from home over the next few months. There’s NOTHING like the thrill of live radio from a real studio, but I’m doing my best with a cheap pair of headphones, a decent microphone, and my laptop.

Stay tuned!