Rat Patrol Radio » RPR Station and Site

Pearl Harbor Special Broadcast

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:50:06 +0000

Today is the annual Pearl Harbor special broadcast that we do every December 7th. This year, I’ve added more of the longer half-hour special reports and analysis, and fewer “filler” songs. I hope people don’t get too bored, and perhaps get a good idea of what the nation experienced as our nation was plunged into war. I also have FDR’s complete “Day of Infamy” speech to Congress asking for a declaration of war against the Empire of Japan.

I’d love to hear your feedback after the show!

New Crossword: WWII Songs

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:24:21 +0000

We have a new crossword puzzle up for you, this time about the songs that were the hits of WWII! There’s an interactive version you can play in your browser, or a printable version. Answer key is provided in a separate link.

CLICK HERE to get started!

Eleven Years of Honoring the Greatest Generation

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:47:40 +0000

Rat Patrol Radio has now been on the air for eleven years! Thanks to everyone who has supported this living testimonial to the men and women who saved the world for democracy.

2011 24 Hours of D-Day Special

admin — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:26:25 +0000

It’s almost June 6, again, and as we’ve done for many years, we will preempt regular programming to present the complete CBS national broadcast day of June 6, 1944. In the pre-dawn hours of D-Day, as the rumors became more and more insistent, a broadcast engineer at CBS headquarters in New York began recording every word that went out over the air, beginning at 2:30 am. Hear the initial rumors, the confirmation from SHAEF in London, the military analysis in the radio studio from experts (which sound spookily like the ones we heard for Desert Storm.)

Later, hear the official announcements, the eyewitness reports of embedded reporters (!) as they return from the beachhead to London, the news alerts breaking into normal programming throughout the day, and King George VI addressing the people of the UK, and President Roosevelt leading the nation in prayer. I have goosebumps right now, just remembering this.

We will have a special encore performance on June 7, starting at 9am, so that more people can hear the earliest reports (because not many people will be getting up at 2:30am on a work night!) Please join us in remembrance of one of the most important events of the last 100 years, the liberation of Europe from the hand of fascist Germany by the free peoples of the world.

2010 RPR Christmas Playlist!

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:53:17 +0000

Thanksgiving is upon us, and that means it’s once more time to prepare the Rat Patrol Radio Jazzy Big Band Christmas playlist! Starting this Friday and running until New Years, we will bring you the best big band, swing, and jazz holiday music, with choice classical selections as well.

This is possibly our most popular even of the year, and we regularly hit our listener limits. As a reminder, I’d like to mention that Live 365 VIP members are never locked out of any full station on the network, and if you use the handy button here on our site to sign up, Rat Patrol Radio gets 25% of your VIP membership fee applied directly to station expenses!

And you can try it for 5 days, free!

Rat Patrol Radio is now on Twitter!

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:57:05 +0000

You may have noticed the blue button that just appeared the upper right of the front page. That’s right, Rat Patrol Radio now has its own Twitter account! Follow us for station and site updates, and WWII-related news and trivia.

Rat Patrol Radio Crossword: WWII Leaders

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:51:00 +0000

Here is a new WWII crossword puzzle from Rat Patrol Radio! This one covers political and military leaders from both the Allied and Axis powers. Rated **/****.

WWII Leaders (**)

For the interactive javascript version, click here.

For the printable page version, click here.

For the answer key, click here.

Adding Polls to Site

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 05:14:20 +0000

I’m working on a polling system for the site to get listener feedback on the station. Polls will be located under the Live 365 Player on the right.

I’ll be using your feedback to make improvements to the radio stream and the site. Right now, there is a generic poll to test functionality. Go ahead and vote if you’d like, so I have some data to work out the bugs with!

Introducing Rat Patrol Radio Crosswords

admin — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:37:47 +0000

I’m starting a new monthly feature, WWII-themed crosswords puzzles! I will be building these using Eclipse Crosswords and custom word/clues lists put together by me. I’ll rate each puzzle for difficulty using one to four *.

Our inaugural crossword theme is 100 words dealing with WWII Aircraft. You’ll have to be an expert on aircraft of all nations to get this one without looking things up! I aimed this at some friends who are warbirds enthusiasts, so I’ve rated this four stars for maximum difficulty.

24 Hours of D-Day Special Broadcast

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:44:06 +0000

Starting at 3am EDT, we are proud and honored to present the annual Complete Broadcast Day of D-Day. This is 24 hours of everything that went out over the air on CBS on June 6, 1944, rebroadcast by Rat Patrol Radio at the same time of day as originally aired!

This is probably as famous among our listeners as our Christmas playlist is, and Rat Patrol Radio was one of the first webcast stations ever to present these historic broadcasts in this format. This year marks our ninth year saluting the men who stormed Fortress Europe to put an end to Nazism. Join me as we relive the electrifying events of one of the most momentous events of the 20th Century. (I still choke up and get goosebumps at 10pm when FDR leads the nation in prayer.)