Blue Hawk Talk – A Music Show for Everyone

Author: Mark Rodriguez '20

Over the past few weeks, I have had the wonderful experience of bringing our Volume 11 artists to Monmouth's on-campus radio station, WMCX (88.9 FM). Every Wednesday night from 10-12pm, Blue Hawk Records takes over the campus radio station for our own segment, "Blue Hawk Talk". Our great collective of singers and bands for this upcoming compilation are constantly preparing for recording and performing. In fact, many of the artists have already gone to the studio to record their tracks this semester. However, these radio shows allow our audience to see a different side of these artists. Not only musicians, these charismatic people also like to talk and have fun. 
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I’ve started incorporating more talk-show elements into the show since the beginning of this season. For example, my new “rapid-fire“ question segment has been a hit so far with the guests. These range from opinion questions about music and arts, to silly questions such as “what’s your favorite type of cheese?” My favorite part of running this show is the opportunity I get to pick the artist’s brains on all these different topics. 

Our artists and I have also been collaborating on making their own “artist picks” Spotify playlists which get played live on-air. Each artist has had a different feel to their playlist, from Malibu’s Alternative-Rock hit-focused playlist to Jacke Tripp’s modern Hip-Hop and R&B collection. This allows for our show to appeal to a wider demographic of music listeners and hopefully make more people fans of Blue Hawk Records. Each artist also plays one or two songs live on air, including each artist’s original song for the compilation in production. Listeners caught a live rendition of The Nooks’ “Bulldog’s Cage” and Tim DiDomenico’s “Random Words” on the show in October. 
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The talk show is a ton of fun, and we are going to have our final artist, Kristen Wilczewski, on during the month of November  Keep tuning in every Wednesday night from 10-12pm, folks! Click the WMCX logo below to go to their website where you can listen to the live broadcast. Don't be afraid to call in either! Drop us a line at 732-571-3493.