Abrams Communications Center at C.W. Post Celebrates
40th Anniversary at Homecoming Festivities
Students and Alumni of 88.1 FM/WCWP to Honor Memory of Elizabeth Abrams

September 25, 2005 - Brookville, NY -- A walk down memory lane is on the play list at 88.1 FM/WCWP September 30, October 1 and 2, Homecoming weekend, at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. Celebrating its 40th year in the Benjamin and Elizabeth Abrams Communication Center, the station is turning the airwaves over to alumni, who will play a mix of music popular when they were students. The good times start on Friday night, September 30 at 7 p.m. Alumni will also broadcast from the Homecoming Football game versus Bryant University, on Saturday, October 1 at noon. For the past few months, members of the station staff have put together an archive of audio tapes, photographs and other WCWP novelties from alumni. They will be placed in the radio station lobby.

“It’s always a treat to have alumni back,” said Station Manager Dan Cox. “Students get the chance to learn from experienced broadcasters and learn about the history of the station.”

Special reflection will be given to the memory of Elizabeth Abrams during the celebratory weekend. The Communications Center is named for Elizabeth and her husband Benjamin who were both Long Island University Board of Trustee members. Benjamin, who founded the Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corporation, provided the funds to construct the present radio station building. Following her husband’s death in 1967, Elizabeth continued to be a benefactor of the station.

On Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., after the Homecoming Football game, a plaque honoring Elizabeth will be unveiled in the station’s lobby next to a portrait of her husband. The ceremony will be followed by a reception in WCWP Studio 3.

“We wanted to honor Elizabeth Abrams and her kindness and commitment to the students of WCWP. With this plaque, future students who didn’t know her personally will know of her and what her generosity is allowing them to achieve,” said Cox.

WCWP was founded in the spring of 1960 by C.W. Post student S. Arthur Beltrone and Professor Virgil Jackson Lee. With a staff of about 20 students, WCWP first signed on the air at noon, October 18, 1961, from a small studio and control room on the campus. The small station quickly outgrew these quarters and in 1965, the Benjamin and Elizabeth Abrams Communications Center was erected.

Part of the Long Island University Public Radio Network, WCWP 88.1 FM and its WebRadio counterpart provide students with first-hand experience in the broadcasting field. They produce and host talk shows each weekday evening covering topics such as news, sports and politics. As an associate member of National Public Radio (NPR), WCWP FM broadcasts hourly NPR news updates.

For more information contact Dan Cox at (516) 299-2683 or visit www.liu.edu/wcwp.

At the dedication of the Abrams Communications Center in 1965 (from left) Long Island University Chancellor R. Gordon Hoxie, Elizabeth Abrams, and Long Island University Chair of the Board John P. McGrath.

A ceremony honoring the memory of WCWP radio station benefactor Elizabeth Abrams was held on October 1, 2005 at the Campus’ Abrams Communications Center. Attending the ceremony was (from left): Dr. Joseph Shenker, Provost, C.W. Post Campus; Dr. David Steinberg, President, Long Island University; Daniel Cox, WCWP Station Manager; Marjorie Hyman and Cynthia Hockman, daughters of the late Benjamin and Elizabeth Abrams; Bill Mozer, Director of Broadcasting for WCWP (1970-1990); Joe Manfredi, WCWP Director of Operations; Dr. Wallace Smith, General Manager, WLIU and WCWP, and Director of the Long Island University Public Radio Network.