Did you know that Point Park has its own radio station?

A lot of people don’t seem to know that WPPJ is the school’s own student-run radio.

Society’s interest in radio as a medium has been on the decline, in part due to streaming services dominating the music industry. Most of us use Spotify or something similar in order to get our music fix, myself included. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but it made it way easier to toss radio aside. It’s as if radio is a lost art that doesn’t exist anymore.

Savannah Ikach, current general manager of WPPJ, said, “I also think having easy access to listen to a specifically curated playlist for you that’s made on Spotify or another application is much more appealing sometimes.”

It’s true that accessing pre-made playlists, whether your own or someone else’s, is a lot easier and appealing due to how tailored to the listener the experience is.

“Radio is all about connection, however. And I think nowadays we’re realizing we need connection more than ever,” Ikach said.

In a previous article, I wrote about the isolation we experience when we rely too heavily on social media and our devices. In doing so, we pull ourselves away from our community and become more withdrawn.

There is a special kind of connection that comes from experiencing things like our local community and media instead of what we see when scrolling our feeds. We can still have our social media and tech use, of course, but I feel we need to start working on balance. We truly are addicted to our phones.

Elle Murphy is the host of Escaping Through a Screen, where she discusses movies and television that interest her. Murphy said, “It’s important to give a voice to every Point Park student who wants one. Whether they use that voice to talk about politics, or play the music that is meaningful to them or ramble on about movies for an hour like I do, they deserve the opportunity to let that scream inside of them out.”

Especially in times of loneliness or uncertainty, feeling that you have a voice is one of the key elements to begin feeling better. There are many ways to get that feeling, too. You don’t have to be well-spoken, or a great writer or even know what to say in order to have a voice. You can express that voice in many different ways — your music taste alone can be one of them. This is where I feel WPPJ can help students directly.

“I am someone who suppressed their own voice for many, many years, and I refuse to do that any longer,” Murphy said. “Now I try my best to get myself to always say what I wanna say,

and I am grateful for the avenues Point Park has given me to do that.” You can listen to Murphy’s show any time from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday.

Nostalgia also plays a huge role here as well. In talking to fellow Gen Zers and students, I’ve come to find we are all craving things from our childhoods.

A lot of us grew up in the 2000s, where we had things like cute boomboxes and CD players with neat designs. I see a lot of nostalgia-bait posts about the silly, simple and fun things we had in the 2000s. I see so much color and vibrant designs that just don’t seem to exist anymore.

In a world that is harsh and drained of all its color and whimsy, a lot of us are wanting to return to better days. I think we can tap into that nostalgia to unlock memories and reignite passion for things like radio, too.

Most of us, if not all, have experience with radio. You’ve at least heard a radio station at some point in your life, and I myself grew up discovering my music taste through radio.

I remember scrambling to grab my old MP3 player to start recording a song that I like. The quality would never be good, but I just fondly remember the excitement I’d feel being able to capture a specific song from the radio. Little things like this I find myself missing as we stray away from these older mediums.

I also miss letting someone else pick the music, instead of me seeking out my own based on my existing preferences. The radio leads to discovery of not just more music but a discovery of self, too. You can learn more about your own music taste and what it means to you.

The future of WPPJ is still being developed, but Ikach and others on the team have clear ambitions for it. There are dreams of a bigger board with many more positions that open the door to more events and activities for WPPJ to host. They also are hoping to have more variety on the station, such as new music and shows, sports content and even a news broadcast. With enough passion and love, anything can grow.

“I think WPPJ can continue to stand as a fun, welcoming space where any student can host their show,” said Ikach, “I do think we have a bit of a way to go to make our presence more known and get people excited about radio specifically, but I have hopes that WPPJ will become more and more integral to campus each year.”

I hope that I can help WPPJ in the small ways that I do as well. I host my own show on Friday, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., where I play all of my favorite hardcore techno, industrial, gabber, breakcore, rave and speedcore songs.

I have always been passionate about these genres, so I focus on those, but I also play subgenres under these umbrella genres as well. I play whatever makes me happy, and it’s been a great outlet and way to relax on Friday evenings.

As of right now, students can visit WPPJ on Instagram (@ wppj670am) for the most up-to-date information. The website itself can be used to stream the station, as well as WPPJ on the TuneIn app. However, the current website’s information may not be as updated. This is because WPPJ has been looking for a web designer to give the site a much-needed makeover.

Thank you for listening to WPPJ, and if you haven’t listened yet, I hope you listen soon. Stay tuned!