WVUM hosts a variety of musical genres

You may listen to WVUM, the University-sponsored radio station, but you might not be familiar with the men and women behind “The Voice.”
“Somewhere between 70 and 85 people work at WVUM. Most of those people are DJs, doing three-hour shows once a week,” said Jesse Agler, general manager of WVUM 90.5. “There are also sizeable news and sports staffs.”
WVUM has daily news updates and two new news shows: The Weekly News and the Local Music News Show. The station also has a weekly sports talk show, Ibis Sports Weekly, and broadcasts football, women’s basketball and baseball games.
“Everyone at WVUM is a full-time undergraduate or graduate student at UM,” Agler said. “No one gets paid directly at WVUM; it is all volunteer work.”
“Doing a show is a great way to expose yourself to an eclectic range of music,” said Kira Wisniewski, who does a show with her friend Trevor from 1-4 a.m. on Sunday mornings. “It’s a sigh of relief from mainstream radio and mainstream-saturated pop culture.”
“We play a potpourri of music from the Bouncing Souls to Azure Ray, from Cradle Filth to the Pietasters,” Wisniewski said. “Sometimes we mix it up with old reliables like Weezer.”
“When I was looking for colleges I looked at their radio stations, because that’s what I wanted to do,” Wisniewski said.
Students listen to WVUM for a variety of reasons.
“I listened to it over the summer because my boss made me; he thought he was cool for listening to it,” Kae Richards said. “But I actually thought it was okay.”
“I like listening to not-so-popular bands. Those are the kind of shows that I go to as well,” Richards said.
“I listen to it when there’s nothing else on the radio – basically every day,” said Ashley Wingate. “I truly enjoy listening to Natalie and Matt’s afternoon grooves,” she said, referring to the show Natural Notions.
“The shows that are ‘rotation shows’ during the week and weekend are basic music shows,” Agler said. “They are three hours long and are pretty much all music. They differ in that the rotation of music that comes up is always changing, and DJs with more experience are oftentimes given more freedom over which type of music they can play during their shows.”
Agler says the station also has specialty shows, which focus on specific genres of music and are given out to experienced DJs who propose an idea for a show.”
“One of our more popular shows is the Hip Hop Show, with Miss J. on Thursday nights,” Agler said. “We also have a metal show, a punk show and a classical music show.”
Students interested in working with WVUM can stop by the office, located next to the UC, and ask for an application.
“We do not turn anyone down who wants to work with us,” said Agler.
The schedule of shows and applications for WVUM positions can be found on the station’s website, www.wvum.org.