Vinylthon 2019

By JAKE DAY, Staff Reporter |

It’s almost time for Vinylthon on Amarillo College’s FM90. Five hours of music will be played straight from vinyl records April 13. 

This is the second time for FM90 to participate in this event. The College Radio Foundation, creators of College Radio Day and Vinylthon, will be celebrating its fourth year for Vinylthon. The Foundation’s mission is, “to promote and support noncommercial college radio stations and the students involved with them, across the United States.”

Thousands of colleges participate. Some play music from vinyl for the full 24 hours, but with record stores being few and far between, some stations find it difficult to have enough vinyl to play for long periods of time. Spinning Jenny’s House of Music record store in Shamrock, Texas, is working with FM90 to supply some of the vinyl.

“Vinyl doesn’t just sound better than other mediums,” Jenny Morgan, the owner of Spinning Jenny’s, said. “Vinyl appeals to all the senses. Touch, smell, sight. I think it says something about the medium that it has begun to resurface.” Morgan said she loves what she does, and has even gone out of state to purchase records so she can keep her store stocked with a variety of genres and artists. Since Vinylthon is on Record Store Day, Morgan is offering 10 percent off to any AC student with a college ID.

Vinylthon isn’t just about the vinyl itself though. It’s also about the act of playing only vinyl live on air for hours on end and getting students involved in the process.

“It’s a great way to show our students how DJs use to do their shifts, having to change records every two and a half to three minutes,” Amy Presley, FM90 program director and co-host of Vinylthon, said. Presley said the event celebrates the importance of records in the history of radio and shows students how the medium has evolved.

During Vinylthon, AC students and employees are encouraged to bring in their own records to play and share stories about their music. “I personally love all of the stories the students share about why records are important to them,” Presley said. There are no limits to what kind of music students can bring to play as long as they avoid songs with explicit lyrics.

This year will be the first time Vinylthon has stretched into two hours of the Body and Soul show that Saturday. Presley and Brian Frank, former FM90 program director and current PPBS content producer, will team up to spin their favorite “old school jams.”