SXU’s own radio station, WXAV, will be participating in this year’s annual global celebration of Vinylthon.
According to CollegeRadio.org, Vinylthon is described as “… organized by the people behind the national College Radio Day event every Fall, [where] last year saw college radio stations broadcasting special programs entirely with music played from vinyl records only.
Some stations also broadcast a full 24-hours of nothing but vinyl music!”
SXU’s own Anthony Lopez, aka “DJ Napkin”, is one such radio host that anticipates the coming festivities.
Being the Music Director, Lopez’s responsibilities extend to working with promotional companies, managing music traffic, and serving to emit positive public relations.
When asked to describe Vinylthon in his own words, Lopez articulated, “Vinylthon is a special day where radio celebrates the legacy heavy format of vinyl…We turn off the automation, we don’t play songs from the computer, and we’re just gonna play only music from vinyl.”
Lopez also admits that the DJs enjoy the prime Vinylthon experience. “I definitely think it’s more interactive if you are DJ here at WXAV.
Or if you’re friends with one, you just get brought up … and you can see the process of fading the mics, fading of the turntable, staring it, and playing some good ol’ tunes on vinyl.”
Lopez expects a laid back experience in turns of management for the event.
“…it’s the [DJ’s] call to bring their own records, or choose from the ones we have up at the station.
Nothing is exactly predetermined; we’re not getting super strict with the timestamps or anything of that nature.
If the DJ’s have a favorite copy of Abbey Road or Nevermind or Are You Experienced or whatever, they’ll just bring it over and have it spun.”
When asked what genres listeners of Vinylthon should expect, Lopez related, “I definitely think there will be a predominance of rock.
“A lot of our DJs here are big rock fans. Also, I don’t think a big rap fan, for example, would buy a clean version of a vinyl. They’d want to experience their favorite albums uncut. And even though it’s a special day, we still need to play by the rules. That being said, I can totally see people bringing in their jazz or blues records.”
Lopez shared that he believed deeply in the tradition of keeping vinyl alive. “Vinyl is representative of music in a lot of ways…As many discussions as you have, and as many albums you stream, vinyl is still the big dog….For a lot of people, vinyl is really special because it adds a certain warmth and sound to spinning the record.”
Lopez aspries to witness the continuation of the Vinylthon tradition. “We didn’t have enough participants this year, but I’m hoping next year we have enough to do a 24 hour Vinylthon. I also want Vinylthon help the culture of vinyl thrive. Music is something that’s important…Not to be a snob, but we live in a time when we listen to one hot trap single after another and then forget about them in a few weeks. Not there’s anything wrong with them; there’s totally a time and place for them. I just think the artistic effort that goes into making a solid front to back album is something that should stay relevant.”
Vinylthon will be held on Saturday, April 13th, from the hours of 9 a.m. to approximately midnight. Readers near enough to Saint Xavier University will be able to tune in to WXAV 88.3 FM. Due to compliance with FCC regulations involving the streaming of consecutive songs by a single artist within a certain time frame, online streaming will not be a valid option for participating.
WXAV can be found on Twitter @wxav883 and Facebook @WXAV88.3FM.
Readers interested in listening to Vinylthon, but are too far from SCU to receive WXAV 88.3 FM may go to https://www.vinylthon.com/stations to find stations closer to them.
Eric Perez
News Reporter