looking back

Black and white photo of WSRN student workers in the station, surrounded by records. Some of them hold records, by artists such as Stockhausen, Minor Threat, and Rhinoceros. Other album covers are unreadable due to the lighting.

Swarthmore College Archives

AUDIOPHILES: Front row, left to right: Jerry Moye ’88, Norman Wright ’86, Jonathan Kulick ’88. Back row, left to right: Ian Samways ’87, Alex Ellerson ’86, Anna Ballard Snider ’88, Marc Bennett ’86, Tracy Korman ’86, Matt Wall ’87, Charlie Woodruff ’86.

“THE STATION TOOK UP much of the top floor of Parrish,” says Jonathan Kulick ’88, budget director at WSRN 91.5 in 1985-1986 and music director 1986-1988. “[With] the on-air studio, adjacent record library, and production studio on one side of the corridor, and offices and an overflow storage room on the other. That room had tens of thousands of records — on shelves and in piles on the floor. It seemed that no one had been in there in years — except for pigeons, which had done to the room what pigeons will do.”

Working at Swarthmore’s radio station was a formative experience for many involved. For some, it was the origin of a career path. For others, it sparked enduring romance. Alumni shared memories of bringing music to airwaves in the mid-80s.

Tracy Korman ’86 is one half of a Matchbox couple with WSRN origins.

“I asked my crush to help me out with one of my graveyard shift shows,” he recalls. “She promptly took over my show, as she had much better and more current taste in music,” he says. “We must have made a pretty good team, as Joan Hsiao ’86 and I have now been married for 33 years this spring.”

Matt Wall ’87 learned that everybody has something interesting to contribute. “[By] opening your ears, you open your mind,” he explains. “Experiencing that non-intellectually — through other peoples’ music — was irreplicable. I moved from being a snob about my own favorite music to being an explorer, and that definitely has stuck with me ever since.”

Time spent at WSRN cemented Norman Wright ’86’s love of jazz music. “Hosting a show and serving as the jazz director helped build my confidence in leading, communicating, and being able to reach people on a human level,” he adds. “Those skills have been critical pillars throughout my journey in life.”

Alex Ellerson ’86’s WSRN experience inspired him to pursue a music career. “After attending law school, I became the COO and General Counsel of CMJ, a magazine that was the sort of alternative music version of Billboard,” he says, noting that though he’s no longer at CMJ, he still works in media today. “You could argue that my entire career path was started off by my experiences at WSRN.”

For Jerry Moye ’88, the pleasures of working at the station were simple. “Being a part of WSRN was just another piece of an overall positive experience at Swarthmore,” he says. “I really enjoyed my late night slot of playing the music I enjoyed and hanging out with friends.”

—NIA KING

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