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| Virginia: Roanoke: College radio Station Beams an Eclectic Mix of Tunes |
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The Roanoke Times (Virginia) July 29, 2005 Friday Metro Edition SECTION: NEIGHBORS - SALEM; Pg. 2 LENGTH: 628 words HEADLINE: ROANOKE COLLEGE RADIO STATION BEAMS AN ECLECTIC MIX OF TUNES BYLINE: EMILY PAINE CARTER BODY: If you like a wide range of rock, folk and even the occasional show tune ... well, have you heard Roanoke College's station? Play WRKE-FM 100.3 and someone is bound to ask, "What station is that? I can't believe that song is on the radio!" At a recent dinner party, heads kept turning in unison toward the sound system. Incredulous guests had heard some 1950s bebop, followed by "Mack the Knife," something by America, then "Memory" (from "Cats," the musical). Sure, you might expect college students to spin (or "punch in?") Jimmy Buffett's classic "Why Don't We Get Drunk ...." But we've also heard tunes jumping among: "Hand Jive," PP&M (Peter, Paul & Mary), Steve Winwood, Tears for Fears, Springsteen, Enya, The Cars, Glenn Yarborough, The Beatles, swing music ... There's new stuff, of course, but we're too ignorant to name the artists. And no interruptions, except for station identification. Teresa Gereaux, the college's director of public relations, said that the play list has been random this summer, thanks to a computer making the selections. Aha! Gereaux complimented Director of Media Services David Mulford for "making the station happen." He said that a radio club of about 40 students will run WRKE when they return in the fall; rising senior Kara Hodges is president and station manager. "They've been playing off their own iPods and MP3s -- therefore limiting selections to what they have -- so the college bought and added some interesting music collections. It won't be all-Dave Matthews from iPods! There'll be more student shows this fall. Rising seniors Andrew Buck and Brandon Underwood have had a popular 'Buck and Brandon' show twice a week. They've played a good progressive rock mix, much like [actor/director Zach Braff's] 'Garden State' soundtrack." (A fine movie, by the way.) This summer Mulford maintained the Sunday/Southern gospel format that a student had been playing, giving the sense that her show continues. Gereaux said that such music befitted the Lutheran-related campus. Gereaux and Mulford said that the long FCC licensing process for the 24-hour station began in 2000 and was officially approved May 2 this year. WRKE is a "low-power FM," with about a three-mile range. So, like many of us Salemites, it gets shaky beyond our city limits. This summer's mish-mash of selections reminded me of an old Boston radio show: "Mattress Mishegas" (Yiddish for "craziness"). WBCN host Charles Laquidara gets credit for one of my all-time favorite, intentional juxtapositions: "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" (from "Annie Oakley") segueing into The Beatles' "She's Not a Girl Who Misses Much (Happiness Is a Warm Gun)." If you fancy the eclectic, you (and the students) should also catch Washington & Lee's longest-running-in-the-nation "student" show: "The Anti-Headache Machine," launched in 1972 by then-student, forever-hip journalist Doug Harwood. Like the RC students, he culls his own collection, but such a collection! This genius weaves the new, the old, the flat-out barking mad; classical, jazz, rock, soul, folk, old-time, blues, world music; speeches, poetry, news clips, comedy, Miss America talent, Smithsonian recordings. Perfectly, seamlessly, he melds them all into Art. Try both stations. Among the stuff that makes you say, "What was THAT?!" you're bound to hear something you'll like. Roanoke College's WRKE 100.3 FM. 375-2290. To listen online: www.wrke.org W&L's WLUR 91.5 FM. "The Anti-Headache Machine," 8 p.m. to midnight at least every other Saturday night. Harwood estimated that the station started in the mid-1960s, although before that it provided newscasts to Lexington's WREL "with used equipment, all tube-fired stuff, and a 10-W transmitter." http://wlur.wlu.edu/ LOAD-DATE: July 30, 2005 |
