By: Anna Fahy
For budding music-industry professionals, there is nowhere better to get your start than WFUV. Located in the Keating basement, the NPR-affiliate public radio station has been streaming to the NYC-wide area since 1947. WFUV is most well-known on campus for their sports broadcasting opportunities, which has produced New York Yankees broadcasters and many successful sports media professionals. Lesser-known is the music side of student involvement at FUV, an area perfect for students interested in working in some facet of music, production or media.
Few Fordham students understand the scope of FUV’s involvement in music. Biweekly, alternative and contemporary artists from around the world make it into studio 2B in Keating and record what is known as a studio session. In this studio session, artists record anywhere from 1-4 songs, and with the help of a student audio production team and a video production team, these performances are broadcasted on the radio, as well as posted as videos on the FUV youtube. As a member of the videography team, I have gained the experience of learning to set up a studio, including lighting, formatting camera settings to match the studio lighting, directing shot angles, and editing in post-production to create videos for the youtube channel. Reaching just around 150,000 subscribers, the youtube channel has featured artists such as Hozier, Boygenius, James Bay, Mumford & Sons, Mac DeMarco and more alternative/contemporary rock artists.
As well as recording in the FUV studio, the station regularly throws concerts for their listeners, inviting them to historic venues such as The Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, and the Beacon Theater. Such experiences allow the video and audio team to work together with outside industry professionals to produce video and audio content for the station, while moving around a fast-paced live concert setting.
Videography and audio production not only introduce students to the world of live production, but it also provides valuable professional connections. Most FUV live music alumni end up going on to work at major record labels and music companies. The experience of working on the live production team is invaluable, and one any hopeful music industry worker should add to their Fordham bucket list.
