Ralph “Doc Roc” Anttonen, a longtime Millersville University faculty member, radio personality and adviser to student-run station WIXQ, has died at 82.
Anttonen died Friday, Oct. 21, Millersville University President Daniel Wubah announced in an email Monday afternoon.
Anttonen held many positions over his 41.5-year tenure, the longest of which was as the coordinator of exploratory programs from 1986 to 2013, when he retired.
“Very few people in Millersville University’s history have touched as many people as Dr. Ralph Anttonen, affectionately known as Doc Roc,” Wubah said in a statement.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, Nov. 5, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Millersville’s Pucillo Gymnasium, where he spent nearly 50 years.
‘A force of nature’
Though Anttonen was best known as the adviser of WIXQ, he was also the voice of men’s basketball games. He was inducted into Millersville Athletics’ Hall of Fame in 2016.
Anttonen got his nickname at WIXQ, he told LNP reporter Kevin Stairiker in a 2021 interview.
Newly minted DJ J.J. Williams said, “I’m the Duke of Soul,” and Anttonen replied, “Well, then I’m the Doc of Rock.”
Anttonen hosted his radio show, “Oldies But Goodies,” with his wife, former Conestoga Valley School District special education teacher Judy Anttonen. The radio show played music from 1955 to 1962, or from the era between Elvis Presley and The Beatles, Anttonen said.
Anttonen and his wife, known on campus affectionately as Mama Roc, had been married since June 9, 1962, according to Anttonen’s Facebook page.
“Without Mama, Doc would not have been the person he was,” said Shane Garcia, a 2019 graduate who worked on WIXQ alongside Anttonen.
Anttonen continued to host the radio show even after he retired as the station’s adviser in 2013. The person who would succeed him, Lowery Woodall, assistant professor of communications at Millersville University, ended up growing a long-standing friendship with Anttonen.
“Doc was a bit of a force of nature,” Woodall said. “He’s the sort of person who filled up a room when he came into it. Whether he meant to or not, he couldn’t help but be the focus in attention in a room he was in, as he was just this incredibly tall man who sort of had a habit of speaking with his arms and his hands.”
When they hung out, Woodall and Anttonen would often find themselves talking about every topic, from radio, to philosophy, to how to better the lives of students around them.
“He was a character: just this sort of loveable, affable, cartoonish character that just made the rooms he was in much more enjoyable to be a part of,” Woodall said.
Woodall, who remained WIXQ’s adviser until May, recalled Anttonen’s big heart Monday and remembered him as someone who just wanted others around him to be happy.
Legacy at WIXQ
That welcoming, friendly attitude and grace was extended to his students.
“Doc was very responsible for creating a lot of the culture for WIXQ,” Woodall said. “(WIXQ) is sort of seen as this home for loveable misfits and people who could not find any other place on campus where they feel like they fit in and can be themselves.”
2019 alum Garcia, who formerly worked with WIXQ, agreed. Garcia said that Anttonen understood the oft-wiley nature of young adults and knew they needed a place to express themselves.
WIXQ turned from a plain, cinderblock-laden studio to a colorful, painted studio where students could hang out and be themselves under Anttonen’s advisement.
“He allowed that to happen when he knew that other professors, other advisers, would not let that happen,” Garcia says.
In 2020, Anttonen contacted Garcia with the idea of starting a podcast to supplement the written history Anttonen gathered about the creation of WIXQ.
The podcast, Scholastic Transmission, features more than 70 episodes filled with WIXQ’s history, featuring guest appearances from previous alumni.
“WIXQ is Doc’s legacy,” Garcia said. “WIXQ was a home, because Doc made sure of it. … He wanted to make sure he provided everyone he met with the home that he never had. That’s Doc Roc to a T.”
Staff writer Olivia Miller contributed to this report.
