WRGW has been a home to me for the past four years of college.
When I first got to GW, one way I wanted to get involved was to join the radio station which I had seen on my tour of the university when I was a senior in high school. I was an intern on a talk show with three other hosts who were all upperclassmen at the time. I remember feeling nervous, but excited. It was a laid-back environment, and my show hosts were very welcoming and encouraging. The main host of the show, Alison, invited me to be on her show again in the spring semester, and I was so happy to do it. She quickly became one of my close friends as a little freshman at GW (and now is my grand-big in my sorority, funny enough).
That spring semester, unfortunately, was the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spring of 2020. We were sent home in March for spring break and didn’t return to campus until the fall of 2021. However, WRGW continued doing virtual programming, so I decided to have a show with three of my friends. We created a talk show called “Beet Farmers”. I’m not really sure how we came to this name, but I think it’s because we all joked that we were going to move to a farm with goats instead of doing the dreaded online Zoom classes, and we added ‘beets’ because one of my co-hosts, Meredith, is vegan. Me, Mere, Kerrie and Parker all zoomed each other once a week in the spring of 2021 to record our show. It was a really nice way to stay connected with them even though we were all living across the country. For each show, we played a Ke$ha song that fit our theme. We were all over the place, talking about whatever came to mind, and I loved it.
Radio stayed with me throughout the pandemic, and of course, when we returned to campus in the fall of 2021 I wanted to continue with in-person programming. I applied for the e-board and got a position as Assistant Ops Director, which was an enjoyable way to learn more about the technology in the station. Being on board that semester was a gift. It introduced me to so many amazing people, and we became friends very quickly. I instantly felt closer to the WRGW community, which meant a lot coming right out of the pandemic and being cooped up for over a year. During the spring of my junior year, I went abroad but remained connected to the radio station as the Assistant Business Director. Ari, the Biz Director then, always called me while I was gone and taught me how to keep track of the station’s finances. Even in Santiago, Chile, I had to be a part of the station.
Now we are in senior year. I am very fortunate to have been a part of WRGW for all four years of college, now acting as the Business Director. This year is my first full year at GW, and I have been so grateful to be able to go into the control room each week and do my show live on-air. This year, I have a music show called Elvis Hour, where I play Elvis playlists with different themes. I thought, what better way to bring two of my favorite things together than play Elvis ON WRGW! 🙂
I would like to end with a huge thank you to WRGW and the radio community for giving me a place in college and an incredible outlet to express myself. I now have a love and appreciation for radio and will always remember the times I spent sitting in the basement of the student center, laughing, talking, and playing music with some of the best people I’ve met. Thank you WRGW.
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