WIUS sells collection of old vinyl, raises money for charity

Dozens of people lined up Sunday morning outside the State Rooms in the Indiana Memorial Union, many waiting at least an hour for a chance to rummage through hundreds of LPs and find a few albums -- or a few boxes of albums -- to add to their collections.\nStudent radio station WIUS sold off a large portion of its record archive Sunday to raise money for the Middle Way House. The sale, which took place from noon to 6 p.m., raised just under $2,000 for the women's shelter, station manager Cody Leitholt, a junior, said.\nSenior Galen Clavio, the station's sports director, said WIUS decided to get rid of many of its albums because they would have deteriorated in storage and most of them weren't being played.\n"There's enough vinyl at the station to satisfy all our needs. Most of what we've had on vinyl that was worth repeated airplay has been received on CD already," Clavio said. "It also allowed us to raise money for a local charity, which we're always in favor of."\nThe music lovers and record collectors crowded in the State Rooms, exclaimed over found treasures and laughed at one-hit wonders as they sifted through the boxes of albums by often obscure artists. The available LPs included a variety of musicians from Gloria Gaynor to the Sicilian Vespers and records ranging from a rare release by the Gin Blossoms to classical symphonies performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.\n"I'm glad they're selling them rather than storing them. I think music lovers will really enjoy them. People who come out today are the people who really want to collect," JoAnne Burley, a Bloomington resident, said, holding a stack of jazz, R&B and reggae albums. "I'm impressed. They've got a very wide selection with classical and jazz, heavy metal and rock."\nSome customers, like sophomore Jay McClurg, were disappointed by WIUS' decision to dispose of its vinyl collection. McClurg said he thought it was a shame that WIUS was getting rid of so much vinyl.\nMcClurg was not alone in his opinion. His friend Johnny Smithenson bemoaned the station's poor judgement, while celebrating his own good fortune.\n"No one should ever get rid of vinyl, but it's cool for us," he said.\nAt the end of the sale there were only a few records left, which the station decided to keep.\n"We're not going to throw it away, obviously," Clavio said.