Front- Jeremy (WCVF PD), Spencer (Engineer), Jon (WDVL PD), Erica (News). Back- Me (SM), Hank (BM), Keith (Staff Rep.), Greg (Advisor), Vince (GM), Laura (Advisor).
Each year our advisor Laura Johnson has the executive board over to her house for a fantastic dinner. We also exchanged secret santa gifts! I got Wall-E from Keith! :] Happy Holidays from FRS!
As the snow falls and the Holidays move in, it’s time for all of the little college kiddies to clear out back to their respective hometowns for five glorious weeks of Winter break. This of course means few people to spend endless hours wasting away at the radio station. This semester was a successful one and a HUUUGE thanks goes out to all who’ve contributed to our efforts.
Next semester we’ll be back and busier then ever. Between Rock ‘n Skate, a themed skating event to raise money for the Fredonia High music program, and Rockin’ the Commons, our day-long benefit festival for Roswell Park Cancer Institute, FRS will really earn it’s keep as a great contributer to the Fredonia-Dunkirk area. Until then I will be on my way to Rochester to spend Christmas with my family, then hopping on a train to spend some time (and New Year’s!) in New York City. Eventually I will return to my quaint townhouse in Fredonia to get back to the station, and of course class. Spring semester, here I come!
As a follow up to my previous post, here are some pictures from our advance screening of the Flaming Lips film Christmas on Mars.
Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips
I also came across this interview with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips from Pitchfork Media, discussing the film. I found it to be extremely insightful and interesting. I believe that Coyne describes the film best in the interview by saying, “Little by little, as we went, I wanted it to feel like some kind of drug-damaged foreign film that you found in your collection, that was actually made 60 years ago.” Yup, exactly what I got out of it. I’d suggest taking the time to check that out here if you are interested in the actual production of the film.
If you don’t have time to read through the interview, I also found this video that pretty much sums up the film to the shortest length possible. It’s a fun video, and if you look close you can catch some of the more subtle genital references I alluded to in my previous post. However, you’ll just have to see the film for yourself to catch the real obvious ones. You can check the video out here, and I highly suggest you do!
As a last note, Steve Burns, who you may (or may not) know from the former Nickelodeon children’s program Blues Clues, appears in the film. Who would’ve expected that?!
Steve Burns post-Blues Clues
The Flaming Lips "Christmas on Mars"
I am currently in a state in shock and confusion, as I just saw the Flaming Lips film Christmas on Mars. Warner Brothers contacted FRS to see if we wanted to do an advance screening of the movie on campus (the film was supposed to be released in 2003, but I suppose there must have been a few road blocks along the way). We were quite thrilled and excited. Frankly, we had no idea what we were in for. I will leave most of the haunting details left to the imagination, but I will tell you that apparently people living on mars have hallucinations of marching bands with female genitalia where their heads/facial features should normally exist. Enough said. All-in-all, we had a good turnout and a good laugh, and the movie was actually very enjoyable. Warner Brothers also sent us some CDs to give away, and free stuff always makes college kids happy.
If you’re really aching to see more, you can see the trailer here, or you could just pick it up when it when it comes out this Tuesday at the Flaming Lips online store. Spoiler warning: the bare butt that appears in the trailer does not actually make an appearance in the actual film. I was pleased, yet part of me was slightly disappointed…
On a more serious note, there was a presidential election this past Tuesday. You may have heard some dude who goes by the name “Obama” won? Yeah, um, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past FOUR YEARS you already know this. But anyway, our news director Erica Wolfling put together a plan for some really kick ass election coverage, and it would be silly of me not to mention it on here. We had correspondents at the Chautauqua County Democratic Headquarters and at the Erie County Republican Headquarters calling in updates, interviews with professors and students from campus, call-ins from former FRS members and Fredonia alumni, wonderful commentary by the host, and the most productive work our office has seen this year. Podcasts of various interviews and updates from the day are up on our website (more to come in the next few days!), and Professor Elmer Ploetz posted some pictures from the night on his blog as well. I’d urge you to check all of that out if you were not tuned in on Tuesday (but of course everyone was, right?). WNYF, the campus television station, also produced coverage of the election, and had a camera in our office the whole night to document the occasion. If I can get ahold of any of their footage I will get it up on here ASAP. Unfortuately the best part of the night (when Obama was announced president-elect and we all danced around the office the Andrew W.K.’s “Party Hard”) was not caught on video camera. I will leave you with that thought.
Goodnight.
…I give you the wonderful video project of Max Henstell (General Manager of the campus television station, WNYF-TV), and FRS’s own Jeremy Steinkamp (WCVF PD). If you are into outrageous, funny, and slightly offensive video clips, well then do I have a treat for you! You are about to witness the true personality of Fredonia Radio Systems…
Now, I know that after viewing that you may be thinking, “But I want more, there must be footage I didn’t get to see in that first clip.” Well it’s your lucky day, because we also have the Director’s Cut (fancy, right?). If you watch closely you will indeed see yours truly doing some sort of dance. To be exact it was my “I’m too hungry to dance” dance.
There’s still more. Due to the over-abundance of footage of our good friend and Assistant Staff Rep, Graham, doing martial arts and dancing, and some delicious sushi that was left in our refrigerator, an entire video was made just for him (still featuring yours truly).
Just keep in mind, these were all in good fun, and to be taken very lightly :] And a thank you Max, because I stole these off of his Vimeo profile.
P.S. As a follow-up to my previous post… I did indeed win a basket in the raffle! It was a food basket, but not the chocolate basket I was hoping for. I am in no way complaining however, because this one was full of gourmet bread mixes and dips. Yum. I’m awesome.
All-in-all the event went really well. There was an overwhelming turnout of people, and FRS was honored to be part of such a great cause.
For all interested, more information regarding donations and benefits for the McKinnon family can be found here.
Yes, I’m a college student. Yes, I have a cubicle. But don’t be so quick to judge, this isn’t just any cubicle. At any one moment I could (and should) expect to have objects such as CDs, staplers, and bagels thrown in my general direction. Sounds dangerous you say? It is. Luckily, I’ve yet to suffer any serious injuries (knock on wood).
So at this point you may be asking yourself, “What kind of business does this chick work at?!” To answer that question, I would tell you that I am the Station Manager at Fredonia Radio Systems (FRS as I will refer to it), the SUNY Fredonia campus radio station. Obviously we are located in Fredonia, New York. We have two stations: 88.9 FM The Voice, a non-commercial FCC licensed station, and 89.5 The Inferno, which is broadcast via the campus cable network and streaming worldwide online. FRS is a completely student run radio station, minus the help and guidance of our wonderful faculty advisers Laura Johnson and Greg Snow. These days, that’s a very rare occurrence. If you feel the need to know more about the logistics of our organization, you can read more at fredoniaradio.com. Why should I retype it all if it’s already at your disposal on the Internet? Also, as a dedicated reader of this blog, reading my constant rambling will allow you to get to know the place like it was your own.
With that said, FRS is not all business all the time. We get our work done, but we also have fun. LOTS. Hopefully I will be able to let you in with some lovely pictures, amusing stories, and recaps of some of the events that go on throughout the school year.
Want to know more about me? You’ll learn over time. I promise.
