North Penn High School Senior Maria Pushart makes her debut on the newly revived WNPV 98.5FM, 1440 AM.
Driving through Lansdale, it’s a rainy day. The drive is quiet, so you turn to the radio. Turning the dial, you stop at 98.5. “You’re listening to WNPV 98.5, 1440 AM Lansdale,” says a voice, “Stay tuned for more less old hits from North Penn’s official radio station.”
The voice is Maria Pushart, the first to go live on North Penn High School’s (NPHS) radio station in over two years. Pushart plans to consistently go live after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays — with the occasional Friday — as the station broadcasts throughout the North Penn school district “from Church Street to Birch Street.”
After longtime community radio station WNPV wrapped up its final broadcast in 2020, North Penn School District purchased the radio station property and WNPV donated the FM frequency to the school district. North Penn Communications Director Bob Gillmer said he’s excited to have revived the station, which now operates on both 98.5 FM and 1440 AM.
For Pushart, the road to making the idea come to fruition came after months of convincing Gillmer to let her take on the project.
“I really pestered Mr. Gilmer to let me do this,” said Pushart, who also attends the News Journalism class at NPHS. “Like Mr. Manero says, if you really want things in life, you have to be aggressive for them. That’s what journalism is about. That’s what making connections is about. If you really want something, you do have to push for it.”
“At the end of the [school] year last year, I came in and was like ‘hey, I’m really interested in doing [the radio station].’ On the second day of school [this year], ‘hey, still interested in this…’ So, I emailed him,” Pushart said. “One day I’m at work and I got an email saying, ‘can you meet at Knight Time?’ and I was like ‘oh, my god, yes! I will be there!’ And here I am.”
Pushart also opened up about why she was so adamant about starting up the station again.
“This is really just me converting people to my music taste,” Pushart joked, “but you have to please the masses. I knew this wasn’t going to be my radio station [and] my music. I have music on there that a lot of people don’t know to expand their music taste. I want to find good music. That’s what I thought this would be a fun thing for.”
Pushart said music has been a pivotal part of her upbringing and has molded her current music taste into what it is today. She enjoys a wide variety of genres and likes sharing that with others.
“My dad practically raised me with classic rock. His car never had bluetooth and he hated the pop stations,” Pushart said. “I’ve always liked sharing my music taste with people. I have my Spotify in my Instagram bio, and I make tons of playlists. I’ve always just really liked suggesting my music with other people and sharing it, kind of priding myself on it in a way. It gives me a little bit of my own ego.”
Pushart goes live for about an hour, speaking after each ten-minute music interval.
Some of her favorite artists — Tame Impala, Fleetwood Mac, and The Garden — as well as more mainstream artists — Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd — can be heard on the new station.
Pushart also plans to pursue working at radio stations further as she looks to begin college the following year.
“I’m really hoping I can do college radio,” Pushart said. “I’m pretty sure most schools do have it, but it’s nice that I have this experience — I’m getting this experience, I should say — to be the one who is a little bit ahead.”
See also:
After Decades of Serving the Community, WNPV Radio to Close at End of April
State Reps Malagari, Hanbidge Honor WNPV’s 60th Anniversary, Mark Its Closing
