1931 - A Proper Home

As a former heating station for campus, Radio Hall needed significant renovation before it could accommodate WHA/WPR in the 1930s. A combination of federal New Deal and university funding  made the $18,232 project possible.

The lobby’s Native American motif was chosen to celebrate early forms of communication. Professor Wayne Claxton and State Historical Society Director C.E. Brown oversaw the project. The figures in the frieze border were copied from petroglyphs found on cave walls in southwest Wisconsin. The textile seat cushions were Navajo.

Although WPR and WPT moved to Vilas Hall in the early 1970s, a few non-broadcast teams still work in the historic building.

UW-Madison Archives Images: S12753
Undated

See more photos from Radio Hall in this gallery below –