Disc jockeys unite at WXYC alumni dance

In conjunction with WXYC’s semi-annual ’90s dance, the first ever WXYC alumni dance took place Friday night at Cat’s Cradle.

WXYC alumni disc jockeys from 1978 to recent graduates came back to DJ once again for a chance to reunite with fellow colleagues and revisit a music blast from the past.

Many alumni have chosen to remain in the music industry in some way.

“There are a lot of people who are DJs for a semester and decide to focus on other things, but I know a number of alumni that work for radio stations, record labels or become musicians after they graduate,” said WXYC station manager and senior philosophy major Olivia Branscum. “There’s a fairly strong correlation between WXYC and music related careers, but I’m not sure if it’s the reason why they pursue it.”

Sarah Carrier, WXYC alumna and UNC 2001 graduate, stayed in the Chapel Hill area after she graduated to pursue a master’s degree in information and library science.

As a DJ at WXYC, Carrier said she has always been fond of music and found an appreciation for it through her mother’s record collections.

“I’ve always been really into music from the time that I was young,” she said. “My mom is a collector of records, and she gave me her record collection when I was young, and that was a central interest of mine growing up.”

Carrier now works as a librarian at Duke University and is co-music director of WXDU, Duke’s radio station. Unlike WXYC, WXDU is a community station.

She credits her experience at WXYC for the knowledge she needed to move into management at WXDU.

Glenn Boothe, general manager at Cat’s Cradle and WXYC DJ from 1987 to 1990, and Frank Heath, owner of Cat’s Cradle, came up with the idea to host the alumni and ’90s dance on the same night.

Boothe said his goal was to try to cover as many years at WXYC as possible, specially targeting alumni that had longer tenures at the station.

“We’ve done the ’90s dance since I was a DJ when it was the ’60s dance,” he said. “And then, we had an opening for the back room and were running ideas on what to do that night. Frank suggested the alumni dance, and we just ran with it.”

Boothe said it was a great event, but that if they host it again, they’d do it differently.

“We’d cater more to the younger audience,” Boothe said. “The alumni were less interested in dancing and more in talking.”

But both crowds were united through their connection to music.

“I think that the alumni dance was a really good idea as far as a way to reach people in our community who don’t interact as much and aren’t students.”

arts@dailytarheel.com