Raspe grew up in Cresskill in
Bergen County and went to Hofstra University. He originally
was undecided about his major
but leaned towards a business
degree. After noticing he was
spending most of his time in the
college radio station, he decided
to switch to Communications/
Radio in his second semester.
As a die-hard music fan, the radio station called out to him.
“In high school, me and a friend
or two had achieved the reputation that if you wanted to know
about a new band to ask them,”
he recalled. “I was always the
guy if you asked me something
like, ‘Hey, have you ever heard of
this band R.E.M?’ The next day I
would have a 90-minute mixtape
of R.E.M. and R.E.M.-related stuff
for you.”
He remembers riding his bike
from Cresskill to the Disc-O-Mat
store in Paramus (a distance of
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7-10 miles) to purchase vinyl
albums. The trek involved crossing Rt. 4. Thankfully, there was
an elevated walkway. Unfortunately, it meant carrying the bike
up and down a flight of stairs.
The ride home took place with
LPs clamped onto the back of
his bike. The mission was to
make it home without breaking
the records.
As with many DJs, his first onair experience came in college.
He worked the Friday night shift
shift at Hofstra for his final 3 1/2
years. After graduation, he landed a job at WHTG (FM 106.3) in
Eatontown, NJ — a station that
included DJs like Matt Pinfield
(who would go on to MTV) and
Mike Marrone (now on Sirius/
XM); and one that earned Rolling Stone Magazine Readers’
Poll Awards for Top Local Station. He stayed there until 2001
and moved to WBJB (90.5 The
2016 - ISSUE 3
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