When I think about college radio, I don’t think of lanky guys in beat-up Doc Martens or outcasts who desperately try to convince you that “no, vinyl is never going out of style.” When I think about college radio, I don’t think of snobs who boast hundreds of thousands of listening minutes on Last.fm because Spotify Wrapped is too ‘normy’ for them. When I think about radio, I think about home.
As a self-conscious first year, I went to my first club fair and was immediately overwhelmed by the countless options. I put my name down for women’s rugby despite never having caught a ball in my life (I did not go to a single practice), I signed up for a legion of mailing lists and interest meetings, but it was the indie rock thrumming from the WRMC table that drew me in like a magnet. WRMC board members presided over the fair from the very front table like royalty from a throne — I was hooked. I don’t think I had ever wanted to be someone as badly as I wanted to be those seniors manning the WRMC table. I grew up surrounded by music, going to festivals with my family throughout my childhood and slowly but surely finding and perfecting my own taste. Despite how little I knew about the college, I felt that WRMC was the right choice.
Programming happened over the Fall Family Weekend and my painfully unoriginal firstshow idea — yes, it was road trip themed — landed me the coveted 1 a.m. Wednesday night time slot. But I was committed, and despite my Thursday morning 8 a.m. first-year seminar, I did not miss a single show.
I found myself going to WRMC’s general meetings, known as Gen Board, every Monday at 5 p.m in the Gamut Room and getting to know some of the untouchably cool upperclassmen. I worked on my playlists all week in preparation for each upcoming show. I went to social events, I put myself out there, and just like that, I found my community on campus.
Since that first 1 a.m. slot, I have had a radio show every semester I’ve been on campus. I’ve even held multiple positions on the executive board from social media manager to programming manager, and now, at long last, general manager. I could not part with my radio show even during my rainy junior spring at Oxford University, where I joined Oxide radio and learned that even across the pond, college radio is still cool. But it isn’t as awesome as WRMC.
Because the only prerequisite for joining WRMC is a love for music (or talking), being in this organization has given me the opportunity to meet many of Middlebury’s most interesting students. College radio helps me feel connected to the student body in so many ways — WRMC shows me what kinds of music people are listening to and to share the music I love with others. It gives me the space to be that obnoxious girl who uses Last.fm and professes her love for Radiohead without judgment. Most importantly, college radio has given me a safe space on campus to be heard and to listen to other students, on and off the air.
So, now I have made it to the gilded club fair throne, I have become that radio senior I imagined transforming into during my first semester. More than that, I have found some of my best friends on campus, listened to countless small artists, gone to concerts by myself simply because I wanted to hear new music, brought bands to campus, designed posters and formed a stronger sense of self, all because I signed up for WRMC my first year fall and stuck with it.
WRMC has helped me become a leader, it has helped me grow as a person and a friend. It has introduced me to people from every corner of this campus and has given me the best home at Middlebury I could ask for. As general manager this year, I can only hope to continue the legacy that WRMC has held for 75 years. If you have been sufficiently convinced by my love letter to the radio station, our All DJ meeting is this Thursday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. in Wilson Auditorium for anyone interested in running a show this semester.
