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Ryan Center

2002 establishments in Rhode IslandBasketball venues in Rhode IslandCollege basketball venues in the United StatesIndoor arenas in Rhode IslandRhode Island Rams basketball venues
Sports venues in Rhode IslandSports venues in Washington County, Rhode Island
Ryan Center1
Ryan Center1

Ryan Center is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Kingston, Rhode Island. The arena opened as a replacement for Keaney Gymnasium, which was built in 1953 for the needs of a much smaller student population at URI. It is home to the University of Rhode Island Rams basketball. The building is named for Thomas M. Ryan, Class of 1975, former CEO of Rhode Island-based CVS Pharmacy and lead benefactor of the arena. The $54 million center opened in June 2002. The first game in the arena was a women's basketball game against Kent State University on Nov. 22, 2002, and the first men's game was an upset win against USC on Nov. 26, 2002. The building is recognizable for its three corner towers, which were modeled after lighthouses. (The fourth corner would be where the building meets the Tootell Physical Education Center.) It stands directly next to Meade Stadium, and the original field house and west (visitor's side) grandstands were demolished to make way for the building. There are seven luxury boxes that can view both the basketball floor and the football stadium outside, and new grandstands were built in 2006. The women's basketball team won the first-ever regular season game in the Ryan Center 53–39 over Kent State on Nov. 22, 2002 and four days later the men made their official debut in the building with a 73–71 overtime upset over the University of Southern California. Ever since, the Ryan Center has been a hard place for opponents to play, with the men's team drawing a standing room only crowd of 8,121 against No. 2-ranked Pittsburgh in 2002, and the women's team setting its attendance record with 3,402 fans against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 16. Both the men's and women's teams more than doubled their attendance from the last year in Keaney Gymnasium.With the opening of the Ryan Center, URI was able to move all of its games on campus for the first time since the 1970s. The team had played occasional home games at the larger Amica Mutual Pavilion since 1973.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Ryan Center (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Ryan Center
Lincoln Almond Plaza,

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N 41.4875 ° E -71.535555555556 °
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Ryan Center

Lincoln Almond Plaza
02881
Rhode Island, United States
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WRIU

WRIU (90.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station broadcasting a college radio format. Licensed to Kingston, Rhode Island, United States, the station serves the greater Rhode Island area. The station is owned by University of Rhode Island. The broadcast area reaches almost all of Rhode Island, and portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Long Island. WRIU began broadcasting on February 16, 1964, on 91.1 MHz (Channel 216) with a power of 10 watts. Weekday programming includes student and community member DJs shows featuring jazz, classical music, hip hop, folk, roots rock, indie rock, noise rock, electronica and experimental music, along with public affairs, sports, and news programming. A two-hour freeform block reserved for URI students also airs each weekday. Weekends have a less structured schedule, with an emphasis on world and electronic music, as well as children's, sports and specialty programming. WRIU has traditionally supported local and independent artists across its programming lineup. WRIU also operates RIU2 (formerly Studio B), an internet-only station with an air staff composed exclusively of URI students and a freeform format. The original purpose of RIU2 was to train and prepare DJs for the transition to FM, but the diversity and quality of shows on RIU2 have made it a significantly popular internet radio station in its own right. When the station first signed on in 1964, WRIU's music format was mostly jazz, classical, some folk music, and easy listening. The station signal was 10 watts and coverage was generally just nearby to the Campus, sometimes reaching farther. When the station wished to expand in about 1971, installing a more powerful signal with updated facilities, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements included surveying the current and potential audience- mostly URI students- to show support for FCC approval of such expansion. A music listener survey was conducted by WRIU staff, collated, and results were published to help establish a new format based on the survey of listener preferences. This helped WRIU gain the support of URI students and the URI Student Senate, which voted to fund the purchase of equipment for expansion by about 1972. The new music format that was established in 1971 was unique in Rhode Island and continues, flexibly now inclusive of many new musical influences.