WUTK, a radio station on the University of Tennessee’s campus, is hosting a 24-hour vinyl only event this Saturday known as Vinylthon. Vinylthon is an annual event hosted nationally by the College Radio Foundation. The foundation uses the event as a fundraiser to help fund scholarships for students hoping to become radio broadcasters in the future.
This year marks the foundations’ 10th version of the event. Over 230 radio stations have agreed to take part in the event in 2025. The event aims to get as many radio stations as possible playing only vinyl records through the entire weekend.
WUTK’s version of the event is for Saturday only. Starting from midnight Saturday, all the way through to midnight Sunday, WUTK will play music using only vinyl records and turntables.
“The idea is that hopefully it’ll sound a little bit different, but at the end of the day it should be the same variety you normally get,” Carter Moore, a WUTK DJ, said. “We wouldn’t typically play a full album all the way through like we will on that day, but as far as genres it should be the same type of mix.”
Vinyl records have grown in popularity over recent years. In 2022, vinyls outsold CDs for the first time since 1987.
“You can really mess around with vinyl,” said Moore. “There’s a very hands-on, tangible connection to the music.”
WUTK has had turntables for several years, Moore said. Not only were they not being put to use, they hadn’t ever been connected.
“It is something we have wanted to do for a long time, and never had an excuse to do,” Moore said.
The growth of vinyl is evident not only by this event, but in local record shops as well.
“College towns and bigger cities always have a few record stores nowadays,” Nathan Moses, a Lost and Found Records employee said. “Current pop music and classic rock make up most of the sales, especially Taylor Swift.”
Artists from the 1990s and early 2000s didn’t release vinyls as often, and if they did it was in a very limited amount, Barry Bayless, another Lost and Found Record employee said.
Over recent years artists like Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams and Charli XCX have released vinyl editions of albums as the medium’s popularity has grown.
“We see just as many, if not more, college students on a daily basis,” Moses said. “College students come in daily looking for current artist vinyl releases.”
Moses and Bayless agreed that the vinyl event was unique.
“It exposes listeners to a medium, it could turn a viewer on to vinyls for the first time,” Bayless said.
Moore boasts quite the collection of vinyls himself. His office had multiple boxes stocked full of his own personal collection.
“I just love music anyway,” said Moore. “I love vinyl the same way I love film photography. Something about that physical, tangibleness of it. To me, it creates a real connection to the art.”
Anyone who wishes to listen in on the event can do so by finding 90.3 FM on their traditional radio or radio app of choice. WUTK’s website also allows listeners to tune into live broadcasts. Clicking the “listen to the WUTK MP3 stream” link at the top of the website’s homepage takes listeners straight to the live broadcast.
