Giving it a spin: Ashland U radio station to play nothing but vinyl records for 48 hours
The students and faculty of Ashland University who run 88.9FM WRDL plan to set another station record this weekend by broadcasting 48 hours of continuous vinyl.
This weekend's Vinylthon event is scheduled to run 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, besting the 29 hours of vinyl music played last spring.
It's two days of music that everyone associated with the station is excited about, according to Lauren Gulden, a freshman in the digital media journalism program at Ashland University.
"I think people do have an appreciation for that still," Gulden said. "It's timeless and it really just keeps going throughout the ages."
Six years of Vinylthon for WRDL
The station has over-the-air listeners throughout North Central Ohio and an online audience who listen from around the world.
Gulden, who grew up in Worthington, knows one special fan who will be tuning in to hear the vinyl records all weekend.
"My grandma listens to all my radio shows," Gulden said. "She's excited about it. A lot of people don't know that you can even put vinyl on the radio, but yeah."
Vinylthon is an annual 24-hour event organized by the College Radio Foundation, a non-profit charity in New Jersey, explained Derek Wood, the station's manager and an instructor of journalism and digital media for Ashland University.
"This year, they're encouraging stations to try 48 hours," Wood said. "We were one of the first stations to do 24 successfully, and now we would be one of the first to do 48."
This is the sixth year that the college's station will take part in the program.
To help the students complete the lengthy show, several faculty and staff at the school will fill in as guest jockeys.
"Everybody gets involved with Vinylthon," Wood said.
'The history is repeating itself'
Keeping with the branding statement of "More Music, More You," the station has expanded its list of vinyl tunes to include hits from as far back as the 1940s.
"Across all genres, across 80 or so years of music," Wood said.
Each jock gets to select their own music to be played during Vinylthon.
"I brought some of my own vinyl from home," Gulden said. "And then I borrowed some from my friend here, and we also have a whole room of vinyl."
The 19-year-old has been collecting her own vinyl records for several years.
"You wouldn't expect me to know about vinyl, but like in my generation, things are kind of coming back," Gulden said. "The history is repeating itself. So, a lot of pop artists, like up-and-coming artists, now are creating vinyl for people."
Even her favorite artist, a British singer named Rex Orange County, releases new albums on vinyl.
There will also be plenty of classics from the station's vault of vinyl: Tesla, Foreigner and Meat Loaf. Gulden said she has become a fan of R.E.M. and will play at least one of their songs during her time on the air.
And now that vinyl records have outsold CDs for the past three years, the station manager thinks Vinylthon will become more popular each year.
"As vinyl gets bigger, I'm certain that we will see more stations playing vinyl," Wood said. "With Vinylthon, there's a perfect reason to do so."
Vinyl also being celebrated with Record Store Day
The radio Vinylthon event coincides with Record Store Day, a national observance taking place on Saturday. Record Store Day began in 2007 and is held in April and on Black Friday each year to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store."
The stores receive shipments of new, limited-edition vinyl released just for the occasion. This Saturday's lineup of records features new releases from a wide range of artists including Taylor Swift, U2, Chet Baker, the Cowsills, and Post Malone.
Local stores participating in Record Store Day include Blackbird Records in Mansfield and Wooster.
ztuggle@gannett.com
419-564-3508
Twitter: @zachtuggle
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland University's WRDL to play vinyl records for 48 hours straight
