Ever since the evening of Oct. 29, there’s been nothing but static at 91.1 FM.

WFMU, New Jersey’s much-loved free-form radio station, took a haymaker from Hurricane Sandy. The not-for-profit station, which depends on donations, has been off the air ever since the storm.

"The Hudson River came right up to our block," says station manager Ken Freedman, who moved WFMU’s headquarters to Jersey City’s Exchange Place neighborhood in 1998. "The streets behind the building were underwater, too. WFMU was literally on an island."

The basement of the independent radio station did not flood. But WFMU did lose electricity, many circuits and all of its telephone lines. Power remains out at the primary transmitter, which stands atop the Watchung Mountains in West Orange.

"The good news is that it doesn’t look like there’s any visible damage to the transmitter," says Freedman, who isn’t sure when the station will be able to broadcast again.

"But the real problem is that the power didn’t go out all at once. A drop in voltage is worse than a blackout, and a lot of our equipment suffered from brownouts."

The station’s other transmitter in upstate New York was undamaged by Sandy. But Freedman and his DJs have no way to send a signal.

The hurricane also has forced the cancellation of the popular WFMU Record Fair, an annual swap of vintage vinyl that serves as the station's most reliable fundraiser. A blog post at WFMU.org minced no words about the meaning of the cancellation, calling it a "financial disaster" for the station.

Freeman estimates that the swamping of the Record Fair will mean a $150,000 loss for the station. Add that to an estimated $100,000 in "fried equipment," and one of the world’s most fearless stations is facing a quarter-million-dollar disaster.

WFMU does not have the broadcast reach of New York City’s famous commercial stations. But fans of adventurous music consider the iconoclastic free-form station indispensable.

WFMU began as Upsala College’s campus radio station; Upsala closed its doors in 1995, but the records kept spinning. For five decades, it has been the on-air home of nonconformists and its audience is ferociously loyal. Check the parking lot at any independent music event in the Garden State; chances are, you’ll find WFMU stickers on the bumpers of the cars.

Freeman stayed at the station until 6 p.m. the night of the storm. The next day, the manager, who lives in Hoboken, woke to a drowned world. He twice attempted to reach WFMU headquarters by bicycle and was blocked by 5 feet of water on the Observer Highway, the road that leads from the Mile Square City to Jersey City.

He did not leave the station unmanned. Clay Pigeon, host of the Dusty Show on WFMU, stuck it out even after the power was gone. The DJ spent the night surrounded by rising waters at WFMU and didn’t make it home until the following day. Freeman said that Pigeon, a New Yorker, paid a cabbie $100 to get him through the Lincoln Tunnel.

To make a pledge to WFMU, visit wfmu.org.

Tris McCall: tmccall@starledger.com

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