It’s late Friday night, Feb. 20, and music is thriving. Bathed in a neon blue haze, the lead singer of Dori leans into the mic and screams, “We don’t want radio to go away!” The crowd cheers. To one side, friends are drinking and laughing while the crowd of passersby flick through vinyl crates behind. Almost everyone is entranced, swaying on the dance floor. Occasionally, a mosh breaks out during heavier breakdowns, while other concert-goers pose for silly pictures with newly-made friends using analog cameras. People are living in the moment, and phones are nowhere in sight.
The Blind Pig concert was a winter benefit fundraiser for the University of Michigan’s own FM radio station, WCBN 88.3. Contributing to the fundraising were a variety of knick-knacks for sale: vinyls, CDs, sweatshirts, pins, bags and stickers were all laid out on a table, hanging on the wall or stacked in boxes just past the venue entrance. The crates were stocked with rare country, rock and R&B LPs sourced from WCBN’s archival music room.
The crowd was primarily made up of young people clad in baggy jeans, all searching for a good time. They bounced and moshed to Maxine’s reverb-heavy, power-chord-laden bridges; whooped for the virtuosic, stank-face-inducing guitar solos of The Mansion; and bopped their heads, swishing back and forth to the hypnotic chants and synth of Dori. Surveying the room, it was hard not to notice the lack of phones. Everyone was focused on the performing bands or being silly with their friends. In every direction, people were merging friend groups and reciting their names until they stuck — it was a unifying experience.
It is easy to view engaging with music as an individual activity. Cultivating a Spotify profile with perfectly personalized playlists or a record collection with highly acclaimed — yet still overlooked — artists are among my favorite pastimes. Music consumption is a method of self-conception and expression. However, just as important, if not more so, is the collective experience. Attending a concert with friends, playing music with bandmates or talking about music to a stranger is an equally important part of music as a whole.
In the modern digital age, music consumption is streamlined to fit the individual. Songs are hand picked by fine-tuned algorithms; everything is accessible without having to leave your house. Streaming offers convenience and bypasses the supposed “hassle” of going out to a record store or concert. However, forsaking the collective aspect of music for ease and convenience leaves many feeling unfulfilled.
An integral aspect of the WCBN 88.3 listening experience is the authenticity and eccentricity. DJs at WCBN are U-M students, U-M alumni or people with a passion for music and finding deep cuts. Each DJ spends time every week curating a tracklist out of the thousands of records lining the walls of the WCBN collection. Listeners are taken on an aural adventure, interspliced with commentary from the DJs detailing the history of each cut. In a world of music dominated by top hits and algorithmically perfect artificial intelligence prompt playlists, a passion-filled, authentic radio channel is a refreshing respite.
It’s a cliche to advocate against the overuse of screens, but it’s a cliche for a reason. People now more than ever lack in-person community. That Friday night, hundreds of young people showed up to support local radio, local musicians and living in the moment.
So, go ahead: listen to WCBN. Go to a concert or peruse a record store and strike up a conversation. Make a CD mixtape for a friend. Our love of music is to be shared, not insulated from the world. Most importantly, support local radio!
Daily Arts Contributor Henry Collins-Thompson can be reached at henryct@umich.edu.
