General
Ralph Jennings, 86, Dies; Built Up Fordham’s Public Radio Station
He transformed WFUV from “a sandbox” into a professional operation, increasing its listenership nearly tenfold.
Ralph Jennings, who gave stature, stability, prosperity and influence to WFUV, Fordham University’s radio station, died on Oct. 9 in Manhattan. He was 86.
His death, at a hospital, was caused by normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain condition, and multiple infections, his wife, Paula (Tadlock) Jennings, said.
Dr. Jennings, a lover of the radio since he was a little boy with severe nearsightedness, took over at WFUV in 1985. At the time, the station played rock shows with shout-outs to the disc jockey’s dorm buddies and cultural programs that targeted niche audiences. At the office, Dr. Jennings discovered matching grant forms for $10,000 that were lying around unnoticed and had never been processed.
“You had a 50,000-watt radio station in New York City that covers 13 million people, acting as a sandbox,” Dr. Jennings recalled to The New York Times for a profile in 2011.
Dr. Jennings wanted to maintain the station as a trainer of student talent. WFUV was established in 1947 from three converted lecture halls as New York City’s first college noncommercial station, with alumni that included the sportscasters Vin Scully and Mike Breen, as well as the multifaceted music broadcaster Paul Cavalconte.
Yet in some fundamental ways Dr. Jennings reimagined the station.
He obtained support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by expanding the station’s professional staff.
