Imagine, just for a second, that radio was actually cool — like it was before the days of FCC deregulation and major corporate buyouts, before repetitious and predictable playlists took over. What if DJs played music you’d never heard, and would probably slash their wrists with vinyl before playing the same song twice in one hour? Enter WNUR, Northwestern’s student-run radio station.
The small three-room station that fills one corner of Annie May Swift received national attention in the September issue of Spin magazine, where it was named the best college radio station in the country. So just what does “the station that gives the middle finger to corporate America” (as Spin called it) and its DJs think of the recent accolades?
“I think it’s a really cool thing, but at the same time it goes against what WNUR is about,” said station manager and Weinberg senior Laura Weinstein, who hosts a ska and punk show late Saturday nights and thinks, for instance, that the new Rancid album “sounds too slick.”
“I think it’s kind of ironic that Spin would name us best college radio station, when they’re mainstream and report on bands we would never play,” says Weinstein.
It may seem surprising that a history major controls the “best” college radio station in the country, but the academic interests of WNUR’s jockeys are as eclectic as the station’s music. These rebels of the airwaves come from all corners of the campus, from English majors to journalism students to what Weinstein calls “a lot of engineering majors.”
The few non-student DJs are Chicago-area residents that not only help keep the station on the air 24 hours a day, but also assist younger jocks with their musical education, often introducing them to older underground heroes like Captain Beefheart.
“People come [to WNUR to DJ] thinking they know music, but they don’t,” Weinstein said of WNUR’s vast knowledge of all things obscure.
Upon arrival at the station, budding DJs take a two-quarter-long apprenticeship for a chance to host their own rock show, and must be adept enough at mixing music to do so live on-air for WNUR’s Streetbeat shows. Once the training stage is complete, DJs have complete control over what music is played … almost.
“We have a pretty rigorous screening process for all the music we get [from record companies],” says Weinstein. Since most albums sent to the station are from record companies hoping for airplay and promotion, music directors for the rock shows must pore over new discs with a critical eye. One of the strictest guidelines is that the music played on WNUR cannot be getting heavy airtime from other stations. And, of course, it has to rock.
“We play a lot of songs that other college stations don’t,” says Weinstein. “The College Music Journal consistently has bands like Radiohead on the top of the list. We would never play Radiohead, not because they’re not a good band, but because they get enough coverage and airplay already.”
Though WNUR-ites spend a significant amount of time searching through the extensive collection of records the station has amassed since its inception, they also take their live music quite seriously. In recent years, WNUR has begun sponsoring several concerts and music festivals both on-campus and off. Last year saw the debut of Sonic Celluloid, a music and film lover’s wet dream that brings in both student bands and Chicago professionals to perform alongside experimental film in Northwestern’s Block Theater. It was incredibly successful in its first year, and WNUR hopes to make it an annual event. Also planned for this year is the third annual station-sponsored Jazz Festival on Oct. 9, and three shows at the Hot House in downtown Chicago.
With events like this, it should come as no surprise that WNUR’s close ties with the area’s vibrant music scene are central to its success. The station uses Chicago as an invaluable resource and has garnered critical acclaim as a result. For example, “Airplay,” a WNUR show airing on Saturday nights, features live in-studio performances collected throughout the week.
“Bands that have shows in Chicago will come in the day of their show and perform,” says Weinstein. “We’ll help promote their show, and they give us a live performance.”
This reciprocal relationship is what helps WNUR “discover” so many bands and unleash them upon the public, whether the public likes it or not.
Weinstein hopes that the accolades from Spin will get more people to tune in. But in the end, she doesn’t really care why they listen, just as long as they do so. “Hopefully they’ll find bands they’ve never heard of before that they like,” she says. “We’re going to keep playing stuff you’ve never heard before.”4
