Wbru 95.5 Fm

originally from RI. lived in CA for many years and got to enjoy stations like KCRW. sadly wbru is the only «alt» station there is and its barely tolerable. Its not a good source to keep up with whats truly on the fringes, pioneering and interesting — it doesn’t introduce new artists nor does it play anything that isn’t mainstream «alt». Also they play the same songs over and over and over again, there are so many amazing well known alternative artists they don’t play and its quite shocking. There are songs on there i would never consider alternative in genre and in fact are quite insulting to it. as another reviewer says, it has potential but … its not being realized for one reason or another.

Do you like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? I mean, do you REALLY like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? If you said yes, man, do I have a radio station for you — WBRU, Providence, RI! If you’re not so keen on the RHCP? You might want to think twice. Come to think of it, variety is the Achille’s heel of WBRU in general. They get points for soldiering on with the 1990’s college radio ethos, and every now and again, they’ll add new and interesting things to the mix. However, even casual listeners will get frustrated with the lack of variety in the playlist. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:
There’s also the «what am I listening to, again?» issue. Is it classic 80’s/90’s college rock? Modern alternative? Or more jarringly, that lame tranche of decades old nu-​metal crap like Linkin Park, Incubus, etc. The answer is, «yes»!
Sundays are a whole different thing, though. On Sundays, WBRU shifts from their white college alternative rock audience to a black gospel, R&B audience — the «365 degree black experience». The DJs are sloppy and amateurish, but the variety problem is mostly solved.
WBRU, you’re better than WHJY because your DJs aren’t of the morning/​afternoon zoo crew flavor. Work on diversifying the playlist a little more, and you’ll make radio just that much more relevant again.

I think this radio station has a lot of potential to be a really good station. There are a lot of really good alternative songs out there and this channel has less commercials then other local stations which is a big plus in my book. One big problem this station has more then any other station, song repetition. That makes it not a good work station to listen to because you will tire of their playlist very quickly.
They play the exact same songs every single day and if there is a new hit song that is added to their playlist, be prepared to hear it about 10 – 20 times a day. WBRU takes a hit song and plays it to death to the point of killing it. One example is Hosier’s Take Me to Church. WBRU plays it approximately one and a half to every three hours apart all day, everyday. They play it to the point where hearing the song makes me want to bash my head through the wall. They ruined the song, that song was not all that great to begin with. Extremely overrated if you ask me. They need to play a much bigger variety of songs and play some of the hits less. The whole top 40 format needs to change because I almost wonder if this channel plays less then 40 different songs a day, I mean in all seriousness. But the problem is they will never listen to us. Radio stations like everything else is all about making money and what songs listeners really want to hear is not even a factor to channel like WBRU.
In all seriousness though, commercialized radio stations today are absolutely terrible, no matter what station it is. The songs that are played are controlled by six huge companies instead of fifty different companies like it use to be back in the day. That means listeners like us today have to suffer listening to the same songs. Radio stations cater only to people who listen to their stations less than 30 minutes a day so they will get to hear the popular songs more frequently. People who have to listen to one channel all day while at work are the ones who will be suffering though the repetition the most.

They’re the best music station in Rhode Island, but unfortunately that’s not saying much, because for the most part they SUCK. I’ve been in RI since 2011 and I’ve watched the station steadily go downhill.
You can pretty much expect to hear a rotation of the same 10 – 15 alt rock songs from the 90’s (Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys), mixed with college alternative top 20 (90% Lorde). It’s not all bad music, but there is NO variety. In 2 hours of listening time spread throughout the day — I drive a lot — I often hear the same songs played 3 times or more.
It’s run mostly by college kids and it shows. The DJ commentary is either bland or ridiculous, and half the time they don’t seem to know what they’re talking about. Lately they can’t even seem to master the basics — they announce a song title and then play an ad, or they announce one song and then play another. The other day they played silence for about a minute, then the second half of one song, then the first half of another one, and then a commercial. I’ve also been hearing overlapping tracks, like they’re playing an ad and a song at the same time. Seriously! Get it together kids!
I give them one star for the free concert series, and one star for the «home-​brewed» session with local artists. I wish that session were longer — it’s not an hour, like another review said, it’s only 5 minutes. They play one song by a local artist at 9pm and then go back to either Nirvana or Green Day. It makes me long for a REAL indie radio station, like some of the ones they have up in Boston.
The other good news is that I’m becoming much more informed about world events, since I keep getting annoyed and switching to NPR. Thanks BRU!

I have lived in a couple of other states in my life. I can honestly say, that WBRU is one of the best radio stations that I have ever listened to. We don’t know how good we have it in RI and Southeastern MA! Aside from regular programming, they have things like the Retro Lunch Reunion, 12 cuts, and local artist hour (I forget now what it’s called). Get yer’ rock on and listen to one of the best Alt Rock stations in the country!

WBRU why oh why do you taunt us Connecticut people? Every time I travel to your beautiful state I’m reminded just how good you Rhode Islanders have it regarding radio stations. Well, at least you have one good radio station. WBRU isn’t perfect but I would kill to have a radio station like it in Connecticut. I can only tolerate so many times listening to Demi Lovato or Bruno Mars. Today during my morning commute I swear the same Justin Timberlake song was playing on three stations at the same time. We have and always have had some of the worst radio stations in the nation.
Other than the fact that WBRU’s signal doesn’t reach my place of residence, WBRU’s only real negative is that it does play an exceptionally large number of older songs. I’m all for the classics but I actually prefer listening to new and exiting stuff. Although I admit sometimes it is nice to crank up the volume when hearing The Smith’s How Soon Is Now over the airways. I end up turning up the volume a lot when traveling through the Ocean State. Unfortunately my blissful ride usually ends with me driving into Stonnington (I lose the WBRU signal around there) and immediately being greeted by a blabbering Justin Timberlake :-(
So Rhode Islanders please pray for your nutmeg neighbors. We live in a soul-​less radio hell and I can only hope that someday the station boosts its signal to eleven so it reaches us over here.

95.5 WBRU used to be one of my top picks for radio stations set in my car. Not so much anymore. It is rare that I stop on the station for more than 1 — 2 songs at a time. It really is a fall back as others have mentioned. It has fallen into playing less rock and more «whine».
The music though, does not stop me from entering contest upon contest that they offer, more-​so online than on-​air. Most recently, I won 10 tickets to a Rob Zombie concert on December 3^rd at Mohegan Sun. Using a descriptor that a friend of mine often uses.. . «bomb!» a.k.a. awesome!, great!, cool! Whats not so cool? Being given very little information and direction towards actually getting those tickets.
«Between Monday — Friday from 9 — 5, come pick up your prize.» Where exactly is that station? Anywhere to park? Where in the building do I go? Figuring it should be simple enough, I went online and eventually found the address of the station. Drove over there (it’s located in the middle of Brown University’s campus).. . no parking in site. Walked blocks after finally finding a pull-​off, entered the building.. . and found no one. No one at the front desk (with is through a couple doorways), no one answering the operator line on their telephone number listed online.
After a bit of pacing back and forth outside, I decided to give it another shot.. . finally found someone inside who was able to get me my tickets. None too easy.. . but I am EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for the prize, none the less :-D Can’t wait to go to the show. Perhaps if they had a little more direction, or a section on their website explaining prize pickup.. . or simply someone who answers to phone so as to ask some questions. First time prize recipients.. .need a little more direction than they are given.
Overall, a mediocre radio station with some great contests and prizes!

I have it in my pre-​sets in my car for radio stations just because there’s not much to offer around here anyways, as far as radio stations go.
They play a lot of new alternative music. Things you’d see on MTV… (System of a down, paramore, whiny music.) annoying music. Nothing of much quality. Although you’d be surprised and occasionally hear the Pixies or Pearl Jam during lunch.
It’s still a fall back radio station for me. I’ll put it on when nothing else is decent either.

The DJs on this station are so unbearably stupid/​inexperienced, it drives me nuts. Plus, really, the only time to listen is retro lunch. BRING BACK THE FREE CONCERTS! I’m so sick of hearing about that Paramour show already!