By Lauren Barrett
Guest Contributor
The student radio station received a Golden Slipmat Award for 24 straight of vinyl-only programming for the College Radio Foundation’s annual Vinylthon.
On April 13, the student voice of Fairleigh Dickinson, 89.1 WFDU-HD3 participated in the fourth annual Vinylthon in which they programmed with 100 percent vinyl records for 24 straight hours. The event, hosted by The College Radio Foundation, united over 140 college and independent radio stations all over the world, all committed to playing vinyl records on the air.
In the past, the event has been recognized and supported by public figures and artists such as President Obama, Moby, Coldplay, Wilco, Andrew WK, Avicii, The Lumineers, and Wyclef Jean, among others.
Moufatih Muhammad, more commonly known as “Mistah Shofi,” WFDU-HD3 program director, kicked off the event at midnight with Lauren Barrett, known as “Ms. Bee,” who is the host of the Lo-Down. The pair took over the graveyard shift at 12 A.M and went through the night until 6 A.M.
This was WFDU-HD3’s first time participating in Vinylthon and for many hosts, it was their first-time using vinyl on the air.
“Participating in Vinylthon gave me an electric feeling,” Mistah Shofi said. “I now have a newfound appreciation for music, considering how far we’ve come. I’m glad WFDU-HD3 was able to be a part of something so amazing. It’s motivated me to do a vinyl only episode of my student shows, and I’m very excited to get that project started.”
Mistah Shofi returned later for another five and a half hours and was there with HD3 faculty advisor Professor Ian Ranzer from 7 P.M through midnight.
“As a long time vinyl DJ and collector, it amazing to see the HD3 student hosts commit to going for the whole 24 hours,” Professor Ranzer said. “It was a long day and night of spinning records, but we had a lot of fun.
Many other HD3 student hosts were involved over the course of the day, including James Laughlin aka Jim Grim, Junior C aka Ryan Modica, Naniyah McClain, Sara Perez, G-Minor aka Julian Oliver and Luis Maravilla. The founder of the College Radio Foundation and Vinylthon, Rob Quicke, also stopped by WFDU to spin records for an hour.
“Music connects everyone across the world and this event not only celebrated good music, but also college radio and vinyl/physical media,” Ranzer continued. “We’re already looking forward to doing again next year with even more student and community hosts getting involved.”
Photos provided by Professor Ian Ranzer
