WRMC, blogging with the best Catching up with the boys behind the blog...

Author: [no author name found]

The Middlebury Campus: Why the blog? How did you come up with the idea?

The Boys: In recent years, radio has been a relatively static venue for music. Due to services such as iTunes and Internet radio sites, stations like ours simply don't have as many listeners as they used to. The blog is a great way to keep radio up-to-date with the fast paced Internet music scene. It all started after Bobby made a music blog of his own, powderhornterrace.blogspot.com. He approached Dakota [Sam] and me about making one for WRMC and it was obvious that we had to do it. Bobby and Dakota were both working jobs in the library all summer, and given the amount of time they had to click away on a computer, the blog took off quite successfully.

TC: How does the blog complement the radio station?

TB: The blog is the robotic avatar of WRMC. It is the station's direct avenue into the Internet music scene. The blog is interactive by nature, so everyone can participate. It is an extremely visible outlet to post updates about music, culture and everything related to WRMC and contemporary music in general. It is also a great way to get students involved with the organization, the largest on campus, and it connects WRMC to what's going on in music across the globe. With similar goals in mind, we have also created a MySpace page and have plans to do a large revamping of the Web site, wrmc.middlebury.edu.

TC: What do you hope visitors to get out of the blog?

TB: We hope to encourage dialogue and creativity, to promote WRMC as a radio station and to bring as much fresh music to the community that we otherwise might not hear. Since blogging is based on community and connection, we also hope to expose readers to more bloggers in the blogosphere, writing about and posting music on a daily basis. Many of the comments we receive actually come from Middlebury alumni, who continuously thank us for providing welcome distraction from their desk jobs. And this guy from New Hampshire named Fleezer. He writes us every day.

TC: There are a lot of music blogs out there these days. How does WRMC 91.1 set itself apart?

TB: The main thing is that WRMC's blog is not trying to compete with anyone. The blog is representative of the station and its members. We are just a new member of a greater musical community. Our blog is unique in that since it is affiliated with something other than itself, simply getting WRMC's name out there is a success.