My name is Gennie Herron, and I am the General Manager for WRMC Middlebury College Radio. I have been involved with the station since my first semester, when I started a radio show called “Songs I Play for My Dad in the Car.” Each week I picked a different road trip destination and made a playlist for me and my dad. I loved the experience so much that I ran for, and was elected to, the position of Concert Manager on the executive board in the spring of 2020. The next year, I was named Programming Director in the spring. Now, I am the General Manager, which is radio-lingo for the president of the organization. And for those of you who don’t know what college radio entails, I would love to enlighten you.
College radio can be whatever you want it to be. At WRMC, we want to create a safe space for everyone to be creative, expressive and authentic. There is a lot of room for radio show hosts to be as involved as they want to be. Involvement can range from hosting a radio show once a week to coming to weekly board meetings and WRMC events.
The base structure of WRMC’s shows is hour-long radio programs. Students can have multiple shows, solo or with others. Hosts have the creative freedom to choose a genre: talk shows, music shows, radio comedy or informational programs are all on air.
Now, how do you start your own radio show? It’s pretty easy. First, you must attend the “All DJ Meeting” at the beginning of the semester and fill out a show application. The application is not really an application, it’s more a chance for you to give us the information we need about your show, like the showtitle, the DJ name(s), student ID number and other necessary details. This is not an application where we will judge your idea or music taste. We love seeing all the funky stuff our lovely DJs come up with! Once you get your show, you have the whole semester to play music and chat away on air.
Once we get programming up and running, weekly board meetings start, and that’s where things get fun! At board meetings, you can get to know other DJs and executive team members as new music is passed out by the Music Directors. This semester, the Music Directors are the wonderful Yardena Carmi ’23 and Noah Hochfelder ’22.5. We always have snacks and, generally, there is a theme or activity. Throughout the semester, we also host events like our Mixtape Exchange or a “Pass the Aux” party.
And if you need more reasons to get involved, don’t just take it from me.
“I love WRMC for so many reasons,” Programming Director Dan Frazo ’23 said. “The first is because of my love for music and the bonds that it allows me to create with other people. It also gives me the chance to create a space where people can be uninhibitedly creative, like with their show ideas and the music they play.”
“Music has always been a love language of mine that has been passed down to me from my dad,” Spring 2023 Concert Manager Lily Kanady ’23.5 said. “Finding and sharing new music is one of my favorite ways to connect with people, and WRMC is a fertile ground for this sort of connection! Enjoying music is a universal experience, and it’s truly incredible that the spectrum of human emotion can be communicated through combinations and compositions of 12 notes.”
So, I hope that I have whetted your appetite for college radio (as if you weren’t hungry for it already). I love WRMC and hope that you will try out radio. It really is a magical experience, and there is a space for everyone! Keep your eyes peeled for information about the “All DJ Meeting” and upcoming events. Listen at 91.1 FM or at wrmc.middlebury.edu. Our Instagram is @wrmc911. And email wrmc911@gmail.com with questions!!!
In addition to the website, WRMC has an app that is available in the App Store and on Google Play.
