Driving around Chapel Hill, you’re bound to get stuck behind a car donning a bumper sticker with the red letters, “WXYC.” Founded in 1977, UNC’s student-run campus radio station broadcasts across the Triangle from their studio in the campus student union. At all hours of the day (yes, even at 3 a.m.), the station, playing on channel 89.3, gives the area an insight into the music tastes of some of UNC’s most passionate DJs.
“For the people that actually DJ for WXYC,” said Molly Horan, a UNC sophomore who DJs at the station, “there’s a really strong sense of community.”
Depending on the time of the day, the station is bound to give an insight into the diverse tastes of students around Carolina, from The Strokes to Grimes. Not only can the station be heard over the airwaves, but WXYC is also available over an online web stream. But behind the scenes, working at the station is an individual experience for each of its DJs.
“The station itself is just this magical place,” junior Taloolah Cloos, a WXYC DJ, told The Daily Tar Heel. “There’s just so much physical media that even like doing so many sets, you can’t get through it all and you’re just discovering something new every day.”
The vibes of the station are only the start of what makes WXYC so special.
“I like that it’s scheduled downtime,” Horan said. “I’m technically working, but I know I have like two or three hours every week where I can go and chill out and listen to music and do something fun.”
Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, the station is still maintaining its reputation as a 24-hour radio. DJs can choose to do their set remotely via a broadcasting system, or alone in the station (mask required), which is sanitized between sets.
Though the music is still flowing at all hours, many of the DJs are facing some big differences in the community that made WXYC so special.
“I think everyone feels like we still have a community, but it definitely isn’t the same,” Horan said. “The main way we connected with each other was by going to radio parties and radio shows, and we just can’t have that anymore.”
For many of WXYC’s newer DJs, the experience at the station has been entirely impacted by COVID-19.
“It was also really different because when you’re training to work all the equipment, usually you get normal training, but we kind of just got videos of to work everything,” said sophomore and first-year DJ Connor Neely. “I kind of had to be in the station at 6 a.m. alone, figuring everything out for myself.”
Despite the challenges of acclimating to the radio station independently, Neely still gets enjoyment from the music he’s broadcasting.
“Last semester, I had a 6:30 to 9 a.m. show so I was working early in the morning,” Neely said. “I would try to pick stuff for that mood — I would start out with more blues and jazz earlier in the show, when people were waking up, and then we move into like some rock later on in the set.”
For many of the station’s DJs, working for the station is more than just a chance to express their own music taste — it’s an opportunity to expand music even more.
“A lot of stuff you play is music that you wouldn’t hear normally if you were just listening to any other radio station,” Neely said. “The music that I would find on Spotify would not be the same stuff that I find in the station, you know, so it’s definitely a way to explore new stuff. Honestly, if I liked the album cover I’d be like ‘okay this is fun to play,’ and just choose something from there that looks interesting.”
Through over 40 years and a pandemic, the station still remains a pillar for underground culture on campus, and a hub for student expression, no matter what music is your jam.
Photos courtesy of Molly Horan
