Not one is the same.
There are freshmen, skaters, singers, guitar players, RAs, bio majors, English majors and Greek life members.
But we all have one thing in common: a passion for music.
WQAQ 98.1FM is the alternative radio station on campus. It’s also the only radio station on campus.
Many people don’t know that there is a station or that we stream live shows. I am currently the public relations manager of the station and I absolutely love it, not the position part, but being a part of the WQAQ family.
Everyone is incredibly different from each other but we all come together in our tiny station across from the SGA suite, sit on our two couches and talk about the most random, yet significant, things. It honestly feels like home.
Before coming to Quinnipiac, I was on a tour when my tour guide told us that you could get your own radio show on the station. My dad was all about that and told me that if I got my own show he would buy me a car, which is super unlike my dad since he never offers me anything for free like that. Little did he know that applying for a show is as simple as 1, 2, 3.
My first show was called “The New Normal; Life On Campus.” I did it with my roommate Gina Miele and we talked about the most random things and played great hipster remixes. This past semester we had a show called “Been There, Done That.” We unfortunately don’t have a show this semester because of my busy schedule, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a part of the WQAQ family anymore.
I didn’t really start hanging out in the station until this year. I would just go in and out when I had my show and everyone would say hi to me but I didn’t really know anyone.
It wasn’t until the end of my freshman year when we had our last general membership meeting and all of the seniors were saying their goodbyes that I realized how the station had impacted them. So many of them said how WQAQ was the reason why they didn’t transfer or how WQAQ made Quinnipiac feel like home.
Junior Kyle Gallatin, music manager of WQAQ, immediately loved being a part of the station because of everyone’s passion for music.
“It was just a bunch of like-minded kids all with the same passion for music. It’s like this little, stylistic, judgment-free niche away from the rest of campus. The eclectic group of kids makes it the funniest place ever,” Gallatin said.
As I sit in the station and watch the different people come in and out, it makes me happy to know that there is such a place at Quinnipiac where people are totally accepted for who they are. We are all incredibly different, but music brings us all together.
“Becoming a part of the station was really the first time I felt like I was part of any community on campus, and the decision to join has led me to some of my closest friends to this day,” said senior Billy Vessio, programming manager of WQAQ.
We like to provide an alternative type of music than the Top 40. I’ve never been into pop and that is another reason why I love the station. We’re the alternative station, not just music-wise, but people-wise too. You find people unlike anyone else on campus in the station.
My dad never bought me a car, but I’ve never regretted my decision of joining the radio station. And if he hadn’t had made me that empty offer, I probably would have never joined.
