SUNY Adirondack's WGFR spins into Vinylthon

QUEENSBURY, New York (April 17, 2024) — When WGFR The Revolution deejays spin 48 hours of records this weekend, it will be on turntables older than some of the students.

“The Techniques turntables we use are 26 years old,” said Kevin Ankeny, distinguished professor of Broadcasting at SUNY Adirondack and advisor to Adirondack Broadcast Association.

Sixteen deejays — including five SUNY Adirondack alumni — will participate April 20 and 21 in Vinylthon, a 48-hour national event that celebrates student radio, and supports their activities and operation.

SUNY Adirondack students and alumni will work mostly in two-hour shifts to cover the airwaves from midnight Saturday through 12 a.m. Monday. 

Ed Martuscello from sponsor Sweet Side Records will co-host a show with Ankeny at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday as part of the event. Martuscello brings doo-wop 45s from his personal collection. 

“Vinyl records were growing in popularity before COVID, but the pandemic pushed the resurgence to a new level,” Ankeny said. “For older fans, vinyl is nostalgic and there's a story behind every record album … a birthday gift, or purchased from money saved up from babysitting or mowing lawns …reading liner notes and studying the album art.”  

WGFR, SUNY Adirondack’s on-campus radio studio, has about 120 records in its collection that date back to the 1980s, when vinyl was one of the primary formats used on the radio. For Vinylthon, deejays will also bring records from their own collections. 

The campus radio station has participated in Vinylthon since 2017, with just a one-year hiatus during the pandemic, earning five Golden Slip Mat awards, in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. A Golden Slip Mat is an award recognizing 24 consecutive hours playing exclusively music from vinyl. (The recognition this year will honor stations who offer 48 consecutive hours of vinyl.)

“The most authentic listening experience is on an FM radio: The audio chain is entirely analog from the studio to the transmitter to the listener's radio,” Ankeny said. “Listening online is cool, too, but it adds a digital component to the process. No one was streaming Aerosmith's ‘Dream On’ over Bluetooth in 1973.”

Tune in to WGFR at 92.7 FM or online at https://listen.streamon.fm/wgfr. Learn more at www.wgfr.org or www.sunyacc.edu.