While most students listen to their iPods or YouTube for music, James Maniscalco goes through about 30 CDs a week, looking for the best new music. As general manager and host of a weekly show, Zig Zag Wanderer, for WRBB 104.9, Northeastern’s very own nonprofit radio station, Maniscalco plays the best new music while holding down the fort (or, at the very least, their offices in Curry). HC Northeastern sat down with Maniscalco for an interview.
HCNU: So, first off, what’s your year and major?
JM: I’m a middler physics major.
HCNU: Wow, I was expecting music industry.
JM: Yeah, we actually have a lot of scientists here.
HCNU: So how do students get involved with the station?
JM: Well, I started in the beginning of my freshman year. We have general meetings, so people who want to get involved can just come to one of those. We’re starting a program where people can shadow shows, so they get a feel for how to run a show. Then you have to get cleared, just so we know you can use the equipment. Also they have to submit a demo tape. But it’s really not that hard.
HCNU: So tell me more about your show.
JM: Well, it’s every Tuesday from 8 to 9. We get about 30 CDs a week from record labels and promoters, so I listen to those and play what I like. Usually it’s more indie rock, but I play some funk and other stuff too.
HCNU: What are the other shows like? Are all of them student run?
JM: One of the things we like is that it’s such a varied schedule. We have some talk shows, but a lot of them are a mix of music and talk. A lot of shows are run by two or three friends, so they’ll chat between songs. People can play whatever they want as long as it follows censorship rules. And we have a sports program that broadcasts from all the men’s games – home and away. We had a broadcast from Minnesota recently. And some of the shows are run by community members, but most are students.
HCNU: Do most people listen on the radio or online?
JM: Most people listen over the Internet, especially students or friends from home. When people listen on the Internet, we can kind of gauge how many people are listening, which you can’t do with radio waves. But a lot of people in the community listen on the radio.
HCNU: What are you doing to get more people to listen?
JM: We usually sponsor one big event each semester. Last semester it was the Block Party with Fountains of Wayne, Oranjuly and Art Decade. We don’t have plans for next semester yet though. And we’re starting to promote individual shows by putting up posters and running ads.
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