It started in college radio and now is sweeping stations around the world. No, I’m not talking about R.E.M. It’s Vinylthon!
This Saturday, April 13 – which, not coincidentally, happens to be Record Store Day – 140 stations will feature programming with only vinyl records, some going all day long. The ones that clock in a full 24 hour of records will receive the Golden Slipmat Award.
In addition to celebrating this venerable music medium, the event is a fundraiser for the College Radio Foundation, which raises funds for equipment to keep college stations on the air, and is also responsible for College Radio Day.
Our own Jennifer Waits is coordinating an astonishing 60+ hours (thats more than four days) of vinyl-only programming for KFJC-FM in Los Altos Hills, CA. You can listen to the analog goodness beginning Thursday at 10 AM.
I’m a life-long vinylphile. Even when I bought my first CD player in 1987, I bought a new turntable at the same time, and never traded in my albums for their digital equivalents. I learned to cue and play vinyl in college radio, and have never stopped collecting the 12" black discs. So I really dig Vinylthon.
Still, while many pixels have been spilled considering the “renaissance” of vinyl, some may still wonder why stations would dedicate a full day to such a cumbersome technology. College Radio Day founder Rob Quicke writes, “Vinyl is back because there has been a return to an appreciation of craft.” Indeed, pressing play on a CD player or automation system is never quite as satisfying as cueing up a record by hand, then back queuing a half-turn or so to be sure the turntable comes up to speed before the music starts to get a clean intro.
As an aside, I’m just a little amused that Quicke is the general manager of WPSC-FM at William Paterson University in New Jersey. You see, I went to high school just north of there, and used to listen to the station back in the late 80s and early 90s. So I remember when WPSC converted to all CD in 1988, making a big deal of the switch by renaming itself “Laser Hits.”
Of course, that was way before his tenure there. I’m glad to see the station is redeemed with Vinylthon.
So, tune in your local participating station, or dial in the stream as you head out to Record Store Day, or whatever you’re doing this Saturday.
May a million needles drop!
