Behind the Scenes

VIC Radio is broadcast over the Internet, providing listeners with both established and new artists in mainstream and independent pop and rock. VIC, staffed by students, also offers specialty programming dedicated to an array of musical genres including jazz and country.

92 WICB is a student-operated FM station with a listening area that reaches from Tompkins County to northern Pennsylvania and Lake Ontario. WICB is an affiliate of both ABC Radio and the Associated Press and has active news and sports departments, which cover such events as Ithaca College football, soccer, baseball, and lacrosse. The radio station is Ithaca College's only FCC-licensed broadcast facility and is in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In a survey conducted by the Princeton Review for the 2008 edition of its “Best 366 Colleges,” Ithaca College ranked fourth in the best college radio station category.

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Pulling all-nighters at college isn’t a rare experience for many students. But try to extend that over an entire weekend, and you end up with an annual tradition -- VIC Internet Radio’s 50-hour marathon.

VIC is the College’s own Internet radio station, and the marathon features two student DJs who stay on the air from 4:00 p.m. on a Friday to 6:00 p.m. Sunday. Their goal is to raise money for a local charity. Sure, it sounds simple, but it’s much more than living on caffeinated drinks for two days.

“Our duty is really to just entertain Ithaca for 50 straight hours with our ability or inability to stay awake for that long and also to make a statement and show our dedication to the charity, to inspire people for a weekend, and to reach out to our community,” says former VIC student station manager and marathon DJ Andrew Steeley ’07.

Steeley and co-DJ Josh Giordano ’09 were selected by their peers at VIC to host the event last year, with all the money raised going to the Ithaca Free Clinic, a local nonprofit health care organization. In the last few years, other local charities that have benefited from the marathon include the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County and the Ithaca Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.

“It’s really all about raising money and awareness for the clinic and also fulfilling our duty as a community radio station by getting out there, involving ourselves in the community, and showing people what a great station VIC is,” says Giordano, who also pointed out the effect it has on Ithaca College as well. “I think one thing we often fail to do at Ithaca is integrate all our media, and this is one of the few times we do that by getting the Ithacan involved as well as both radio stations and ICTV.”

From March 30 to April 1, Steeley and Giordano spent time at the VIC studios in the Park School of Communications as well as at other events all over Ithaca, including a basketball tournament and a battle of the bands to end the weekend long epic. While the marathon is always a mental and physical test for the DJs, there’s satisfaction in depriving themselves of sleep for a good cause.

“If we were to stay up late for a paper, that’s one thing because you don’t necessarily have the drive to do that,” says Steeley. “What will really keep it going is the fact that we’re doing it for a good cause, and we’re doing it for the community. In that respect, the marathon flies by because we really have that inspiration on our side.”