The Return of WMAR
William Rosen and Samantha Stulbaum in the WMAR Studio Room. Photo by Lilian DeFilippis '26
After a multi-year hiatus, Marist Radio, known as WMAR, is making its long-awaited return to campus. The student-run online radio station at Marist University is back on the air, offering a platform for student voices, creativity and live sports coverage.
The revamp of WMAR is being led by Samantha Stulbaum ‘26 and William Rosen ‘27, and it has been a long time in the making. Stulbaum explained that before her time at Marist, there had been a group of students fighting to revamp the program. She had attended general interest meetings during her freshman year, but eventually, the conversations fell short.
Stulbaum continued to work towards rebuilding the club behind the scenes. With previous interests and work with her radio station at home, she was a great asset in revamping the club. While it has been a long time coming, WMAR is here to stay.
“Our main goal at this point is to get [the radio] up and running. During COVID, we lost our FCC license, so we haven’t been broadcasting for a while now. So with this revamp, we are trying to bring the station back without an FCC license, through online streaming using Live365,” Stulbaum explained.
Rosen is spearheading the sports aspect in the return to radio. He has already connected with students in the sports communication program to enhance WMAR’s play-by-play and sports radio offerings, which will serve as a significant part of the station’s programming.
“In the last two years, while there has been a lull and a defunct in the music and radio aspect of WMAR, on the sports side we’ve been doing play-by-play and color convos,” Rosen explained.
They work heavily on football and basketball broadcasts in partnership with the Red Fox Network, which they hope to expand back to WMAR.
Beyond their sports programming, Stulbaum emphasized an interest in hearing what students want to listen to. Some programs in the works include a talk show where students can interview staff and faculty members, sports talk radio, additional Marist-focused programming and traditional music radio offerings.
“I am a big classic rock fan,” Stulbaum added. “A big reason I am doing this is I want to play my music, and I want other people to be able to play their music.”
“We want to bring students together,” Rosen added.
By the end of the academic year, Rosen and Stulbaum expressed their desire for the radio station to be fully operational and to have a designated space for students to express themselves and continue efforts on the sports side.