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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

WIUX students compile first album

CAROUSELentWIUX

Music played softly in the background at the WIUX station house.

It came from the station’s first album.

The station resembled a dorm room, with random furniture sprinkled through the rooms and students lounging around.

The smell of fried chicken, left over from WIUX’s latest fundraiser, pervaded one of the rooms.

Joe Heath, the station manager, sat in the office with eight years of radio experience under his belt. An IU senior, he is proud to say the radio’s latest project, “WIUX Presents: Live from the Black Box,” is entirely student created.

“It was a team effort between everyone that was involved,” Heath said.

Initially inspired by the work he has seen in other university radio stations, Heath said he wanted to create a massive multimedia package.

The new album, which was released today, is part of that package.

“The idea was we wanted to present some sort of multimedia performance,” Heath said. “And then be able to put it on the web or put it up and show people what
happened.”

The package features a live performance, an album utilizing the concert’s recordings of rough rock and soft indie music and a video.

Two bands featured are Charlie Patton’s War and The Broderick, both local bands.

“Everything that you hear was done in one take,” he said. “I really think it captures the magic that radio wants to capture, which is live performance.”

Heath said he could not have done it himself. To help, he brought in WIUX General Manager Bari Finkel along with the entirety of the WIUX crew. 

Also an IU senior, Finkel said her initial thoughts for the project were enthusiastic.
“I totally want to be involved with that,” she said.

Finkel said the key to the album’s success is the ability that went into the work.
Agreeing with her, Heath said three types of people went into the project — theater students, music majors and radio enthusiasts.

“It was really fun,” Finkel said. “These students are unbelievably talented.”

Looking back on the concert, she said that despite the long process of getting the concert planned, it all happened in a concentrated, short amount of time, almost like a delayed chain reaction.

Heath said the album was a way for him to give back to the people who support the station.

Whether it is the two bands that both frequently appear on WIUX airwaves or the sheer amount of work the students put forth, Heath said he wants others to hear how hard everyone worked.

“The fun story about it is that it’s 40-plus college kids all coming together not ever doing this,” he said. “It was really rewarding seeing how hard people worked ... and the coolest thing WIUX has done in the last few years — even in the last decade.”

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