How Two Stations Became Sisters

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This is a follow-up to a story we ran back on July 6 when students from William Paterson University went to Puerto Rico to help build a radio station there. Now representatives from the university tell Radio Ink that Brave New Radio (WPSC-FM 88.7) and Radio Vieques (WVQR-FM) have signed an agreement establishing an official sister-station relationship between the two stations. WPSC-FM is the University’s award-winning student-run campus radio station and WVQR-FM is the community-run radio station on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

The agreement establishes opportunities for the two stations to exchange local music and programming, and also launches a new flagship program, Gozando Con Shaney, a weekly bilingual, energetic, music-driven show hosted by William Paterson alumna Shaney Lara.

The agreement was signed in June when a team of William Paterson students, faculty, and staff returned to Vieques to continue the restoration of Radio Vieques and local humanitarian work they had begun during a trip in January. It established opportunities for programming development and promotional outreach while catalyzing engagement with Vieques youth. The small island off the coast of Puerto Rico was devastated during Hurricane Maria when all power and communication was lost. Through friends on the island, Lori Ramos, William Paterson professor of communication, realized the opportunity and initiated the Vieques Recover Project. A team was chosen to travel to Puerto Rico to help the struggling station recover and return to broadcasting. The team also helped with humanitarian projects already in place and laid the groundwork for a ham radio network to activate during future crises.

Lara connected with the residents of Vieques so strongly that she returned to the island and is working at Radio Vieques this summer. WVQR-FM, Radio Vieques general manager Robert Rabin says that Shaney has already been effective in her outreach work. “Shaney has created a small but powerful team of young people who are now empowered with social media skills,” Rabin says. “She is already beginning to document Radio Vieques programs and other activities.”

WPSC station manager Sebastian Escobar also welcomes this new partnership. “We’re very excited to see how this new relationship blossoms. This sister-station partnership is the next step in our relationship with the radio station and the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.”

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