The 21-year-old junior especially loved the ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," by Poison, so the station played that, along with dozens of other rock and country hits, said Andrea Becker, adviser to WNRC-FM.

Jimmy Gahan was half of the popular Dudley campus duo who hosted and produced the '80s rock extravaganza "Jim and Mikey's Power Hour," broadcasting tunes that first made Billboard charts when Gahan and co-host Mike Ricardi, 19, were just toddlers.

The pair loved interviewing musicians, and headed down to The Station in West Warwick Thursday night to take in the show by Great White. Gahan had hoped to add an interview with lead singer Jack Russell to a list of other artists he had talked to, like members of the band Extreme and country artists the Dixie Chicks, Becker said.

Ricardi escaped through a window when the fire broke out and is recovering at home. Gahan never made it out.

"He loved music and he had a passion for interviewing bands," Becker said.

When students and faculty learned Friday that Gahan was missing in the fire, more than 300 people turned out at a prayer service on just an hour's notice, said Nichols College spokesman Doug Barney.

Gahan also hosted a Tuesday country music show, "Hot, Kickin' Country," and enjoyed making mix tapes from his 600-CD collection for friends and family.

"He could name any song by any group," said his father, James C. Gahan III. "He wanted to be there where things were happening. He loved the excitement and energy."

ERICA NOONAN