WIUX Alumni Newsletter April 2015Keeping up with your favorite college radio station

WIUX Culture Shock 2015: An Unmitaged Success On April 11th in Dunn Meadow, nearly a full years’ worth of hard work, dilligent plan-ning, long nights, and more than a little good fortune finally came togther to create Culture Shock 2015. For many of WIUX’s lon-gest serving members, this year’s festival was the greatest one they’d ever seen. From the quality of the bands to the smooth sailing of the day’s logistics, from the bevy of local and regional vendors to the bright blue skies and smil-ing sun, this year’s Culture Shock was an unmitigated success. The biggest draw, of course, were the bands, and they delivered in a huge way. Local acts like Dietrich Jon and Thee Tsu-namis played spirited sets, while hip-hop duo Oreo Jones & Sirius Blvck kept the crowd moving well past the halfway mark of the day. Montreal’s TOPS hit the stage to a wave of applause, and proceeded to win the crowd over with their smooth, chimey indie rock sound. Twin Peaks, the rockers from Chicago, roared through their set with the kind of ragged enthusiasm that makes their music so appealing. They left the stage to rapturous applause, garnering the biggest response of the festival thus far.

But when the sun went down and Foxygen hit the stage, all bets were off. Nobody knew what to expect from the San Fran psych rockers; their wild live reputation proceeded them. But whether it was Jonathan Rado’s soaring organ lines or frontman Sam France’s wild and wacky antics, Foxygen positivlely pul-verized the 2000-strong crowd, driving the audience into hys-terics. The band, which included touring musicians “& Star Power”, sang and danced and freaked out, providing the Culture Shock crowd with a headlining set they won’t soon forget. There are plenty of other things that can be said about that day in early April. The weather, the most sinister threat to any festival, cooperated beautifully. A whole host of local businesses held tables that tied the Bloom-ington comunity to the event. Children painted gleefully on the art wall. Dogs romped around the meadow. And the power of the music brought a huge crowd together. It’s truly a testament to the efforts of the student volun-teers at WIUX that Culture Shock 2015 was such a success. It’s set a high precedent. And it’s one that we’re looking forward to surpass-ing.

The crowd rocks out at Culture Shock 2015

(Photo courtesy of Abigail Kaeser)

Foxygen frontman Sam France(Photo courtesy of Abigail Kaeser)

by Sam Velazquez

WIUX Alumni Newsletter April 2015

Culture Shock 2015 In Focus

Mike Adams at His Honest Weight

Foxygen

TOPS guitarist David Carriere

Dietrich Jon

Twin Peaks

All Culture Shock 2015 photos courtesy of Abigail Kaeser

WIUX Alumni Newsletter April 2015

Thee Tsunamis

Oreo Jones & Sirius Blvck

Vista Kid Cruiser

Foxygen frontman Sam France

TOPS

Twin Peaks

WIUX Alumni Newsletter April 2015

WIUX Alumni Spotlight: Galen ClavioDJ of the WeekName: Grace CostelloYear: SeniorHometown: South Bend, INShow: Unnamed, Mondays, 10 p.m. -12 a.m., 99.1FM

Name: Mia Torres & Sabrina DorowYear: Freshman, SophomoreHometown: Mun-ster, INShow: Monday Medicine, 5-6 p.m., B-Side

Name: Ashley Chambers & Haley ScottYear: SophomoresHometown: Bloomington, IN, & Carmel, INShow: Making Breakfast, Fridays, 8-10 a.m. 99.1FM

Name: Blake Biesen Year: FreshmanHometown: Val-paraiso, INShow: Between Two Bros on B-Side with Brendan & Blake, Saturdays, 6-7 p.m., B-Side

Want to support your favorite college radio station? Buy a WIUX bumper sticker! Put it on your car, your refridgerator, or any num-ber of solid objects! The stickers measure 11.5” x 3.75” and cost $2. To purchase, please mail in a self-addressed envelope with cash or a check (cash is preferred) to 715 E. 8th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47408. We will return the en-velope with a sticker in it. Support WIUX wherever you may be!

Buy a WIUX bumper sticker!

When did you start working with WIUX?I started as a timid freshman in the fall of 1997. I found out about the station by accident - I lived in Teter and was walking with some friends to Kirkwood, and happened to walk by a WIUS information table next to Showalter Fountain. I went over, looked at the information, found out that it was a student radio station AND it had a sports department, and signed up for the email list. A few weeks later, I went to my first mass meeting, and I ended up staying for four years.

What positions did you hold?I was on the sports committee all four years, and served as the co-Sports Direc-tor from 1999-2001. I also served as Pub-lic Relations Director (and did a terrible job!) in 1998-99. Beyond that, I hosted a regular sports talk show on Thursday nights for three years, and did a bunch of play-by-play broadcasts of every sport from basketball to hockey to soccer.

What's your favorite memory from your time at WIUX?I know this sounds corny, but my favorite memory really was of the people I met while I was there. I made a lot of lifelong friends - people I still stay regularly in touch with and who I consider to be among my closest friends today. We formed our own little social group, hung out all the time, and had a lot of fun. My favorite individual memory is probably the coverage we pulled off on the day Bob Knight got fired. We hadn't even had our mass meeting yet, but we somehow managed to get a staff of over 20 people working at the station that day, where we reported on and anchored 13 hours of non-stop coverage of the after-math of Knight being fired. It's hard for students today to understand what a huge cultural event that was here - there were literally a few thousand protesters march-ing around campus, burning the president of the university in effigy in front of his house, knocking down lamp posts and tearing the dolphins out of Showalter Fountain. I thought our sports and news staffs did a remarkable job of covering that whole event, and I was proud to be a part of the coverage.

How did working at WIUX prepare you for life after college?It helped me learn a lot about radio broad-casting, which is what my first career was before I became a faculty member. If I hadn't had the experiences I had at WIUX, I wouldn't have been nearly as competitive for jobs and opportunities in the industry. And unbeknownst to me, it also expanded my music palate a tremendous amount, although I didn't realize that until several years later.

What are you most looking forward to as WIUX's new Faculty Advisor?I'm looking forward to being able to give back to a place that has given me so much. The station is on so much better footing now than it was when I was in school, and I can remember our board of directors con-stantly having to move mountains just to get basic things done. We didn't have much faculty or school assistance or help, and yet the folks involved poured their hearts and souls into making things better. The growth of the station over the last 15 years in terms of the opportunities it provides students and the effectiveness of the students to get things done is incredible to me. So if I can help to continue moving that forward in any way, I want to do it - whether it's being an advocate for the station to the university, giving advice to students who want to work in music, sports, or broadcasting, or just cooking hot dogs at the station cook-out.

WIUX’s new faculty advisor and alumnus

Interview by Taylor Haggerty