WOBC 91.5-FM is Oberlin’s student-run radio station, broadcasting music, public affairs, and news 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the semester. No experience necessary. If you are interested but cannot attend, send a note to wobc@oberlin.edu.

Applications are now up for Fall 2010! Applications will be available from now until September 17th, 11:59 PM. Click here to apply.

The schedule will be posted outside of WOBC in Wilder 319 at noon on Sunday, September 19th. There will be an all-station meeting in West Lecture Hall on September 19th at 9 PM. All DJs must attend.

If you have any questions/concerns, email Elissa at pd@wobc.org.

Apply! Apply! Apply!

While WOBC News takes a summer hiatus, here is a compilation of all of the in-depth coverage produced this year.

Starting in the Spring of 2010, news returned to WOBC with the creation of the WOBC News Corps. Editors Max Rivlin-Nadler ‘10, Caroline Lewis ‘10, and a team of correspondents produced community-based news pieces twice weekly. Each edition was played on-air during a period of three to five days, 12 times per day, at the top of every other hour.

Stay tuned to WOBC 91.5-FM this Fall for new editions of WOBC News!

WOBC News :: February 19, 2010
This edition covers the upcoming Oberlin College Student Senate election and features a report on the increase of foreclosures in Oberlin and what the organization Helping Oberlin Maintain Equity is doing about it.

WOBC News :: February 23, 2010
This edition explains changes in the Oberlin College student housing selection process and features a report on the proposed bottled water ban on campus.

WOBC News :: February 26, 2010
This edition reports on the first Apollo Mini-Fest film festival and features a report on the architectural significance of the renovation of the Lormet Credit Union building on Main Street, Oberlin.

WOBC News :: March 1, 2010
This edition reports the planned May visit of Bill Cosby, Camille Cosby, and Stevie Wonder to receive honorary degrees and celebrate the opening of the new Jazz building and features a story on the bicycle initiative 4000 More.

WOBC News :: March 9, 2010
This edition reports on the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association’s relationship with a farmer’s union in Nicaragua and features a story on the creation of a new student group, the Prison Justice Project, and their series of lectures, “Bars, Walls, and Bodies: Rethinking Incarceration.”

WOBC News :: March 13, 2010
This edition reports on the cancellation of the 19th annual Drag Ball and features an interview with Theresa Desautels ‘10 about the production of the documentary, “Hungry for Health: A Journey Through Cleveland’s Food Desert.”

WOBC News :: March 17, 2010
This edition features an interview with Sam Cassanos, member of the student group Students for a Free Palestine, about Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s campus visit and lecture on U.S. foregin policy in the Middle East.

WOBC News :: March 19, 2010
This edition covers the Oberlin production of the opera Candide and features a story about the Center for Leadership in Health Promotion and its efforts to promote student interest in public health.

WOBC News :: March 23, 2010
This edition covers the visit of George Essl, founder of Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble, and features a story on the Street Law class offered at Oberlin High School.

WOBC News :: April 11, 2010
This edition features a story about the Oberlin Street Photographers, a group of Oberlin High School students participating in a the creation of a collaborative photographic map of diverse experiences in Oberlin, Ohio.

WOBC News :: April 19, 2010
This edition reports on the Oberlin Green Dreams fashion show, a highly-produced showcase for Oberlin’s new line of apparel, and also features a story about the grand (re)opening of the Pizza Shack.

WOBC News :: April 26, 2010
This edition investigates the recent legislation that revamps Federal student loan programs, eliminating fees paid to private banks and increasing money for Pell Grants, and features a report on a recent educational event held by international students, “Myths and Truths About My Country.”

WOBC News :: April 30, 2010
This edition covers the Democratic Ohio State Senate primary debate for Ohio’s 56th district held in Oberlin on April 26 and features a report on the Student Finance Committee’s decision to cut student stipends.

WOBC News :: May 3, 2010
This edition features coverage of student and community reaction to the passage of Arizona’s new immigration law and includes an update on Oberlin Track and Field.

WOBC News :: May 7, 2010
This edition features a story about the newly active Socially Responsible Investment Committee, a subcommittee of the Oberlin Board of Trustees and the Student Senate, and includes an update on the East College Street building project.

WOBC News :: May 10, 2010
This edition features a story about the Big Parade, a community art event held annually to bring together Oberlin residents of all ages.

After more than ten years, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti manages to stay relevant despite the current over saturation of the chillwave/chillcore/chillout/dreamwave/dreampop genre. With the release of their latest single, “Round and Round,” from the album, Before Today, the band sprints ahead of the pack.

The song includes elements that can be found on previous Haunted Graffiti albums, such as Ariel’s frequent use of harmony and poppy melodies, and gives them some extra attention in the production studio. The listener is left with a shinier, more polished sound than what can be found on previous albums.

Not only does the song boast better production quality, but it is more accessible than past singles. “Round and Round” is catchy, infused with highly melodic vocals over a steady, bouncy baseline. Although it’s a pop song that can rival any on the airwaves today, Pink’s unique sound is undoubtedly at its core. The song chooses to employ the help of a mid tempo beat that stays constant throughout and works well with the baseline. “Round and Round” is driven by its instrumental elements and Pink, singing more clearly than usual, sews all of the parts of the song together with well-crafted vocal tracks.

Plenty of artists are associated with the baby-making genre that is currently flooding the radio waves and invading dancefloors everywhere. Ariel Pink is not one of them. The music from previous albums, home recordings wrapped in indiscernible lyrics, manipulated vocals and driven by distorted synthesizers and guitars, usually doesn’t come to mind when the candles are low and your special gentleman or lady friend is looking for inspiration. But with the release of “Round and Round,” the band has the potential of earning a place in the hearts of poorly-lit dancefloor patrons everywhere. Whether intentional or not, the song is sexy in its own right and marks a new era for Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti.

– Aba Essel

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round

Every Thursday this summer tune into 91.5 FM, Oberlin College and Community Radio, at 3PM to catch Doc Gooden’s latest sports wisdom on WE CAN STILL GET THESE RUNS BACK. Broadcasting from WOBC’s sports desk, Gooden covers the biggest stories in the wide world of sports from the World Cup of Soccer to your favorite Lake Erie Crushers baseball.

In this week’s special episode, WE CAN GET THESE LEBRONS BACK, Gooden was joined by longtime personalities Tommy Morello and Matt Orenstein to discuss the future of Lebron James. The show also featured a play-by-play reenactment of Wednesday night’s “Keep LBJ in CLE” Crushers’ game. (The final score was Freedom 5, Crushers 4 in 12 innings.) Other highlights include a brief appearance by Coach Orenstrong to promote a newly created sport called “basketball,” and the weekly Weekend Box Office Roundup.

Lebron College and Lebron Community Radio presents: M.A.P.M – Next Year’s Our Year, a punk rock cover of a Cav’s favorite by Michael Stanley.

Visit voiceof2million.com to join the stay Lebron campaign.

From the Vault will be a reoccurring feature here on the WOBC blog where fearless DJs plunge into the depths of the station vaults to bring you the freshest stuff gone stale! In addition to a massive vinyl collection, we’re also sitting on hundreds and hundreds of 45s, lots of which are super rad and super rare. We’ll be posting cuts from these recordings for your enjoyment, so let us know what you think!
If you own the rights to any of this music and want it taken down, e-mail wobc@oberlin.edu and we will comply immediately.
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It’s been a while since we posted any cuts from the archives, but want no longer! Here’s a 45” from an old Oakland area band The Nonce (feat. Rookie Phenom). This got pulled on the merits of its title and turned out to be pretty awesome. The A side, “Roadie For The Kinks” is a fun homage to Davies, Davies & Co. (the sleeve also bears the plea: HELP PUT THE KINKS IN THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME! call 415-648-9405) but the real winner is the B side, “Sometimes I Wonder.”

RIYL: The Kinks, History, Parahistory

More information can be found on the following site: http://www.energyoverseer.com/Nonce2.html

1A The Nonce – Roadie For The Kinks

1B The Nonce – Sometimes I Wonder

WOBC participates in a Prometheus Radio Project workshop entitled, “Making Waves: Radio as a tool to build and organize community.”

What is the US Social Forum? From the US Social Forum 2010 website:

The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a
 conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the 
economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our
 struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational,
 diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and
 changes history.

We must declare what we want our world to look like and we 
must start planning the path to get there. The USSF provides spaces to learn 
from each other’s experiences and struggles, share our analysis of the problems 
our communities face, build relationships, and align with our international 
brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world.

Spanish In The Elementary Schools (SITES) allows Oberlin College students to teach Spanish to Oberlin public school students. For their final project, Mr. Codney’s 4th grade class at Prospect Elementary School learned about community radio and then students planned, practiced and recorded their own radio program to show off what they learned this year. Parents, students, and anyone else can listen to the audio, which includes the following segments: 

1. “Bienvenido”- A welcome from the class
2. “Introducción”- An intro about the date and weather
3. “La Familia”- Students talking about the members of their families
4. “El Alfabeto”-The call-and-response alphabet song
5. “Los Animales”- Students teaching each other how to say different animal names in Spanish
6. “¡Pies Pies Pies!”- A song that students sing about the body, “el cuerpo”. Accompanied by an exhausting dance!
7. “¿Qué quieres ser?”- Students share what they want to be when they grow up
8. “¡Adiós!”- The “Goodbye” song

The piece was recorded by Spanish teachers Caroline Lewis and Chris Gollmar and produced by Caroline Lewis. Thanks to Professor Codney’s class for a great year!

Download SITES Radio.mp3

Summer programming is off to a running start! Check out the summer line-up here.

Stay tuned in this summer for ticket giveaways and information about community events around Oberlin and Lorain County.

Are you going to be around Oberlin this summer? Have you always wanted to have a show on the radio but haven’t applied, ‘TIL NOW? Apply for a radio show for the summer season!

Summer programming runs from June 14th to August 13th. WOBC will broadcast between 8AM and 4PM Monday through Friday.

Click here to apply. Applications are due by 11:59PM on Friday, June 11th. Email questions to Will Floyd at wobc@oberlin.edu.

An all station meeting will be held 5:00 PM, Sunday, June 13th on the porch of Wilder Hall, 135 W. Lorain St., Oberlin, Ohio. DJs must attend.