Back To My Roots
From the time I first grabbed the microphone to read the announcements over the school loudspeaker, I knew I was destined to become a radio DJ. While it is a dream job with perks that include free concert tickets and compact discs (showing my age but that was a huge perk back in the day), anyone in the business will tell you that talking for a living isn’t as easy as it sounds or looks. The voice you hear on the air has gone through countless hours of training, development, and coaching to project “the golden throat” that keeps you company while you’re in the car or at work.
My Time At WMCX
I learned at the feet of a master of voice and diction, Professor Rhett Rich. He was the faculty advisor at WMCX, the college radio station of Monmouth University, and raised the station from the literal ashes when it caught fire back in the mid-eighties. Professor Rich, PR for short, was an idyllic kind of educator long on patience and encouragement.
With his tight grey beard, mischievously playful eyes, and a heart worn on his sleeve, he was adored by the students who would walk through fire just to hear him say, “now that was nice work.” Under his tutelage, I shed nerves, ego, a midwestern accent, and anything else that got in the way of me projecting my authentic self on the air. Over time, I took on managerial responsibilities at WMCX as Program Director, which bolstered my confidence as I graduated and headed out into the working world.
WMCX turned 50 over the weekend, and our campus return was a celebration for the ages! It was a night of tear-stained hugs, belly laughs, and a cyclone of memories that ricocheted off the studio walls! I ran into dozens of current and former staff members of WJRZ and our sister stations WRAT and WDHA, providing testament to the impact WMCX has made to Garden State.
PR was in the center of it all, as popular as Mickey Mouse during a Disney character breakfast. He was hugged and loved throughout the night, which was the purpose of the evening. PR is 82 now and none of us in the room are getting any younger, making moments like these ones to savor.
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Apart from learning everything I know about radio; I met my husband Mike on campus and we cemented our love of music and one another as DJs at WMCX. While his on-air legacy is now reduced to providing the killer Irish accent to WJRZ commercials in March, he is the first one to credit his prowess as a charismatic business coach and public speaker to the lessons he learned behind the microphone at WMCX. It was Mike who first had the idea to start a scholarship in PR’s name to mark the occasion of WMCX’s anniversary and to pay forward the benefits we took from our time at the station under PR’s mentorship.
Mike’s impassioned speech announcing the scholarship during the celebration recalled the struggle to afford tuition that many families face today. “I’m the proud parent of Irish immigrants who threw every cent of NJ Turnpike overtime pay and grubby dollar diner tips into my education,” he recalled. “A few thousand dollars made the difference between attending classes or not, and that dynamic is still at play today for many working families.”
PR openly wept at the announcement of this scholarship honor, and we would have funded the tuition of a whole graduating class if tears were dollars in the room that night. If the WMCX reunion was a cocktail, it would be one part honoring the legacy of the station and PR, one part nurturing deep rooted friendships, and one part providing support for future broadcasters who will keep you company on the air at WJRZ for generations to come.
If you would like to donate to the scholarship and/or share it with the Monmouth University alumni in your life, click here
