No matter how cool you think you are(n’t), WRUV makes you part of the college radio community

By Rachel Zell, WRUV

When touring UVM as a junior in high school, I walked past the WRUV station for the first time and thought, wow, I wish I could do that. Fast forward to September of my freshman year when my suitemate and I found a flyer announcing dates for the first DJ training session.

I began to second-guess myself, wondering if I was cool enough to do that. Sam, aforementioned suitemate and our last events director, convinced me to go with her. Ever since that first meeting, I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter how cool you are, who your favorite artist is, or if you know what cowpunk is; you have a place at WRUV.

The station is a colorful community of all types of music-lovers, and that’s all they need to have in common.

I found my home at UVM after that first meeting. I met some of my best friends. I had a space on campus to decompress. I learned. A lot. I learned about music (duh). I learned about communicating with others. I learned about leadership and problem-solving and cooperation.

I never expected WRUV to become as big a part of my life as it did, but I’m so grateful for the time spent, lessons learned, friends made, and music turned up to full volume and danced to, alone but surrounded by an unseeable network of other music-lovers.

I never got to have my last show, but I hope that can stand as a promise for one last public-private jam session in the future.

Rachel Zell, second from right, stands with the WRUV exec board at their August 2019 barbecue. To her left (the viewer’s right) is that suitemate, friend and fellow DJ to whom she refers: Sam.