 "Photo: Tory Ellis '12, Graphics Editor and Assistant Photo Editor")
Deep in the trenches of the Schneider Center lies a hidden jewel. The walls are lined with thousands of CDs. A circle of well-worn couches and chairs takes up the middle of the room. There is messy writing on the ceiling and random band posters on the rare patches of wall not taken up by the extensive CD collection. This is WZLY headquarters.
WZLY has been Wellesley’s very own radio station since 1942. In the 80s, they nicknamed their studio the “Electric Ladyland”, based off of Jimi Hendrix’s album of the same name. There are currently fifty student Disc Jockeys and thirteen members on the executive board of WZLY. Most of the board is comprised of experienced DJs. There are many more students who work behind the scenes, helping to store and stock CDs. There are also interns who hope to become DJs themselves.
“Interning is actually fairly simple,” Hailey Huget, WZLY’s general manager, explained. “To intern, you have to sit in with a DJ for seven hours. Most students have it finished in a couple weeks. Then, you have to record your own hour long show.” Huget, a senior, has been involved with WZLY since the beginning of her first year. “Being a part of WZLY can be as time-consuming as you want it to be. You can spend only a few hours a week, or you can make it your life, like me,” she laughed.
On September 19th, WZLY hosted an eight hour long “open house”, drawing students into their nook with the promise of free CDs and free baked goods. Most visitors expected the CDs to be in short supply, but instead found twenty-one bins full to the brim of free CDs.
Huget explained, “We’ve donated CDs to the Goodwill before, but they’ve actually gotten mad at us. ‘How many more boxes are there?’” Despite the many shelves for CDs, WZLY often needs to weed out their collection so that they can fit the constant flow of new promotional demos.
Most of the CDs were put out by unknown bands with entertaining names like Lust Penguins. “There are definitely some hidden gems in here,” one of the visitors remarked. Most of the CD sorters picked based off of CD covers and band names. The “electric ladies” insisted that the visitors take as many as they could, because otherwise the CDs were going to be thrown away. “We can’t sell them, because they’re sent to us for promotional purposes”, Huget said. (This reporter obliged, and after sorting through the estimated three thousand free CDs, snagged 49 CDs for herself.)
Even though WZLY has been a part of Wellesley’s history for over sixty years, many Wellesley students don’t even know that it exists (or why they should care). After all, in our generation of mp3s and online radio, why should anyone bother with analog radio anymore?
The answer lies in the very nature of radio – the connection between the DJ and the listener. Wellesley as a college is all about community. WZLY is exactly the same. Moreover, WZLY tries to keep their sound as original as possible. The Top 40 may not be officially shunned, but most of the student DJs play unknown artists, or well known songs from a different era.
“There’s a real range of the music that we play here. We’re known for having an obscure ‘college radio’ feel, but one of our DJs plays Boyz II Men. We are really as varied as the DJs’ musical tastes,” says Huget.
At one point during the open house, a WZLY DJ started to play a Taylor Swift track. A group of Wellesley radio veterans lounging on the couches suddenly pricked up their ears. “Are we really listening to this?” one asked scornfully. Another defended it, stating that it was “one of the best songs in the world”. Varied musical tastes indeed.
WZLY is the official name of the radio station, but the women who work on WZLY do more than run the broadcast on 91.5 FM. Student organizations and societies often call on the DJ services of WZLY for their parties. WZLY also brings up-and-coming bands to campus. Last spring they brought the indie band No Age, and they will be bringing The Young Republic in December.
Despite all this, WZLY’s presence on campus is not as widespread as they would like it to be. “We’re definitely trying to branch out,” Huget said. As visitors meandered into headquarters, Huget greeted them and encourages them to sign up for the mailing list. They are then led into the studio where two DJs are painting their nails as The Velvet Underground broadcasts over the airwaves.
This kind of relaxed vibe is not rare at WZLY. “I think the culture of the radio station is different than the overall culture of Wellesley. Wellesley in general is a lot more stressed. We just like to hang out with our friends and listen to good music,” Huget laughed. In this way, WZLY is a healthy outlet for these women. The only downside is, with no windows in the underground studio, “I have no concept of time down here”, a DJ jokes.
Still, that’s a relatively small price to pay for the experience of having your own radio show, and a group of friends with similar interests. Wellesley is a school of “sisters”, and WZLY is a group that has formed a sisterhood of its own. A sisterhood that they would be more than happy to include other music junkies.
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