By Mary Haley and Adrianne Hutto, Staff Writer & Production Editor
Manhattan College’s radio station, WRCM, has accepted new DJs for the Fall 2022 semester. After water damage in the booth and several members falling to covid infections last year, their recovery plays like an underdog story.
Students may have already seen the WRCM on campus during orientation and at the club fair. This is not a rare phenomenon, and in the past WRCM has hosted events with live bands in and outside of the college and hopes to continue to do so this year.
As in previous years, the radio will play Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. with a wide range of DJs filling in the spots. Students can listen to their friends and peers live on the WRCM website (wrcm.rocks).
Shows will be aired from the sound booth as they had been, with all the water damage from last semester being repaired. Sean Powers, Tech Director of WRCM, described how the past year had been a challenge for the station.
“[Due to water damage] in previous years, the microphones didn’t sound too good on air, and we just got new equipment to equalize the sound levels. It sounds more like what a radio station should sound like.” Powers said.
As for funding, Powers explains that this is the first year the station will be funded by the school, after previously being self-funded for a brief period.
“2019 was the first year [WRCM] was back in the modern era, and it was self funded up until now,” Powers said. “I think whenever this new era of WRCM started, we just knew that we’d be self funded for a while and then eventually the school would pick us back up again…it wasn’t like a planned thing, for at least what I know.”
Kate Uffer, the president of WRCM, spoke with The Quadrangle while personally cleaning out the sound booth in preparation for the new semester.
“Because we were doing elections during finals we didn’t have time to get the old board or the new board and to help kind of clean up the rest of what the physical plant had done, and that’s out of respect for our board members,” Uffer said. “We’re basically setting up the booth to get ready to air for the 19th [of September].”
For those who are interested in joining, WRCM will not be limited to just music. WRCM allows its members to host any style of show they choose.
“We use DJ as the general term for our club members that stream on air,” Uffer said. “But a DJ can be a talk show host, a DJ can be a music show, a DJ can be a news show host, anything and everything you could think of you know within reason can be done as a show.”
This club evidently has something for all music lovers. When asked why she joined the station, Emily Daly, the program director of the studio, explained that she enjoyed the freedom and self-direction that WRCM offers students.
“I really enjoyed the fact that I could play any music that I wanted, knowing that I was indirectly sharing it with the rest of the Manhattan College community,” Daly said
While the forms to apply close on Sept. 14, does not mean students are unable to participate as a general member.
“We have a system within WRCM where if someone can’t make a show, that slot then opens up for people who either do or do not have a show that semester, to be able to go on air for the hour and run the show that they want,” Uffer said.
These slots are scheduled by the program director, Emily Daly.
“I make the program schedule for each semester, which is around fifty slots that are filled by various shows,” Daly said.
Along with club application forms, there are other ways to get involved with the club.
“Anyone who is interested in joining can join our email list and follow our instagram page, @wrcm.rocks. The show application will be open soon, and anyone can apply for a one-hour weekly spot,” Daly said. “We are also interested in doing some on and off-campus events, hopefully, later in the semester.”
Even Jaspers who don’t join will be able to look forward to WRCM’s next semester, and tune in to listen to their fellow students fill the airwaves.