WRCU DJ Tate Fonda ’25 interviews alumni who worked on the radio station as students and are now working at Rolling Stone, Fender, Sony, and more.
I met my co-host during one of those whirlwind days of first-year orientation, when, in a sea of other students, Meg McClenahan ’25 and I noticed our similar red hair and introduced ourselves. A week prior, we had arrived early to Colgate: she for the WRCU pre-orientation and I for the Maroon-News program. So when she later asked me to co-host a radio show, which we decided to name Redhead Radio Hour, I was lucky to have an in.
Since then, we’ve found our niche as one of the station’s only folk music programs. On Tuesdays, in between selections from artists such as Neil Young and Big Thief, you’ll usually hear us spewing English-major jargon and talking about the best banjo players.
From there, I suppose I could tell you about the time we blew dust off of vinyl records and spun them on the air, or the time we just had to find the CD of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown for an autumn show, but I’ll hand the mic over to a few distinguished alumni, whom I’ve had the privilege to speak with on behalf of Colgate Magazine.
Finding Fender
Perry Martin ’11, digital product manager with Fender.
When Perry Martin ’11 was 12 years old, he started strumming his first Fender Stratocaster — a classic, two-horned model with a reputation as one of the most recognizable and beloved instruments ever created. Today, in his work as a digital product manager for Fender, his Stratocaster still holds a special place in his collection.
Martin’s work with the instrument company known for its guitars began in 2016, when he moved to Los Angeles. “I wanted to play more music and be part of a music scene,” says Martin, whose first role as a production coordinator started his professional journey with the Fender Play app. When Martin started getting involved with Fender Play, he took the lead — he shot thousands of videos for the guided guitar lesson program tailored toward beginner and intermediate players.
“Our initial strategy was to make our videos very high quality,” says Martin, whose early days introduced him to a world of familiar creators. “We were shooting in a nice studio space in Los Angeles, where artists like The Chainsmokers and Vince Staples would come through to record their own projects,” he says.
Just two years later, Martin was promoted to a producer for Fender Play — it was at this time when he began to tailor the learning experience beyond the videography component.
“It is common for beginner players to start learning guitar and quit,” says Martin, “so we wanted to create a digital experience that would help new players overcome that hurdle.” Music scholars and rising stars lead the lessons, which range from learning a recognizable riff to a full song.
Today, Martin’s role as a product manager for Fender Play places him in an integral position — overseeing development of the app to meet the brand’s greater business objectives.
Martin’s guitar collection includes:
→The 2012 Fender 50th Anniversary Jaguar in “burgundy mist”
→Two seafoam-colored Fenders: the Thinline Telecaster and the Powercaster, one of three in circulation with the original “Fastback” name on the headstock
→Danelectro’s ’59 Vintage 12-string in white and its ’59 Mod New Old Stock Plus Thunderbird in pink
→A 1990 Fender American Stratocaster with a custom red paint job
→Two blue guitars in Fender’s Squier line: the Supersonic Electric and Deluxe Stratocaster
→A “sunburst” orange club bass by Höfner
→Two acoustic guitars: a Taylor 514ce and a Fender Paramount
→A 1934 National Duolian Resonator on loan from the family of Hobie Bowman ’11
When Perry Met Paul
In his days at WRCU, Martin broadcasted a midnight rap hour with Paul Vogelsang ’11. Martin and Vogelsang’s show featured songs from the “’90s golden era of hip-hop,” including artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, OutKast, and Nas.
When he reflects on those days, Martin fondly recalls the friendships fostered by his radio show. “My senior year, my friends and I lived on Lebanon Street in a house we called Baby Blue,” he said. “During my show, my friends would call in from home, requesting songs and all hanging out, listening to the radio.”
Even now, Martin continues to share his love for music with these friends through an album-of-the-month club. “Each month, one person picks an album, and everyone has to listen to it over that month all the way through,” he says. “We then gather on Zoom to share our thoughts.”
So for Martin, what started as a radio show led to a lifetime of opportunities, both personal and professional.
“When I got into academia, I almost put my passion for music aside,” he remembers. “WRCU kept that passion alive, and now, I’ve found a profession that fuses my love for music with my professional skills.”
Like a Rolling Stone
Jon Dolan ’96, music critic and reviews editor for Rolling Stone.
Like many, Jon Dolan ’96 discovered “the canon of great albums” through a Rolling Stone list. “When I was 12,” he recalls, “[Rolling Stone] put out this issue on the 100 best albums from 1967 to 1987. I remember going to the record store to get one after the other, again and again.”
Dolan began his work with the publication in 2010, when he began writing reviews on artists ranging from Steely Dan to Paramore. It was a skill he developed not only in his music-loving background, but also in his prior work with music magazines Spin and Blender. “When I worked with Spin,” he says, “my office was filled with towers of CDs — I would get sent piles upon piles of them.” By parsing through countless records, he learned how to unpack the art of the album: “I try to find what’s interesting about something, why it might resonate with people, and try to lock into that rather than just writing about my favorite records,” he says. At the same time, Dolan remains honest in his criticism: “I heard this, kind of by-the-by from someone,” he says, “that I made the guy from [a redacted household-name band] cry.”
Dolan Attributes his ear for compelling music, in part, to a summer he spent archiving thousands of records for WRCU.
In 2018, Dolan was promoted to his current role as the reviews editor for Rolling Stone. And whether he’s assigning a batch of stories to his staff or writing his own, he continues to cover a blend of mainstream and lesser-known artists. In the past few years, he’s overseen Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums (from 2020) and 500 Greatest Songs (from 2021).
Dolan attributes his ear for compelling music, in part, to a summer he spent archiving thousands of records for WRCU. “Going through all of those collections,” he says, “was a good education on how to be a dedicated, active music listener.” During a cataloging and preservation project, Dolan was part of a student team who organized and reviewed WRCU’s vinyl collections, which are still spun on-air today. “[Professor] Michael Coyle asked us to organize them,” he says, “so they wouldn’t melt in the sun. Before we intervened, the records were going to be stored in a bin outside, where construction was happening all summer. So we saved this treasured collection that had accumulated since probably the ’50s and ’60s.”
In his own collection, Dolan doesn’t care to chase rare pressings of albums, as others might. And although he describes his shelves as modest, they actually consist of approximately 1,000 vinyl records and 2,000 CDs. “It’s about having albums I love,” he says. “I want to reach into my collection and always pull out something I want to listen to.”
In the time before streaming services, physical collections were all the more important. “While planning my show with WRCU, I’d have to go to my friends’ dorms and borrow their CDs,” says Dolan. “That was part of the fun, going around like, ‘I know so-and-so four dorms over has this record I want to play — I’m going to go get it.’”
As for Dolan’s taste, it cannot be confined to a particular, defining genre. “It’s astonishing, really, to see how much good music is out there,” he says. “And when you really listen, you find that artists are making great new albums all the time.”
From the Sidelines
Danny Healey ’19, in content and partnerships with Tom Brady’s media studio, Shadow Lion.
During his senior year at Colgate, Danny Healey ’19 co-founded The Morning Blitz, a daily sports newsletter recapping “everything you need to know in the world of sports in five minutes or less.” Five years later, the Monday through Friday memo hasn’t missed a day — and has amassed a following of more than 50,000 readers.
From his early experiences with WRCU to his time in the sports media industry, here’s Healey’s highlight reel:
At Colgate, Healey was a member of the men’s lacrosse team known for his defense and leadership. After touring CNN studios with his coach, Matt Karweck, Healey was inspired to begin his newsletter project.
Healey’s WRCU spot was a sports talk show — Ruling on the Field — where he (a Boston sports fan) and Matt Donovan ’19 (a New York sports fan) would debate and discuss sports news.
Following graduation, Healey’s success with The Morning Blitz scored him a role with ESPN, where he worked for a year in media planning.
When the sports media network TorchPro later picked up Healey’s newsletter, he took up a career as its head of content, managing a network with 30 million monthly impressions across its channels.
With TorchPro, Healey started a podcast — Pass the Torch — where he interviewed athletes such as Adam Thielen and Dana White.
Since May, Healey’s new role with Shadow Lion (Tom Brady’s creative studio) has placed him at the head of its newsletter strategy operations and original content series. “The 12-year-old Danny would be pinching himself right now,” says Healey, who has cheered for the studio’s founder since his childhood.
STAR TIME
Steve Sidman ’92, entertainment attorney with Pierson Ferdinand LLP
When Steve Sidman ’92 was a student DJ, he and Eric Breitman ’92 named their show Star Time after a box set of the funk legend James Brown’s greatest hits. “Which is ironic,” says Sidman, noting that he went on to become Brown’s day-to-day transactional attorney — a full-circle coincidence that still amuses him.
In his work with various firms, Sidman has represented many household names and brands, including Willie Nelson and the labels of Warner Music Group and Netflix. Today, his position with Pierson Ferdinand LLP stations him in Atlanta, where he’s been since earning his JD at Emory University School of Law.
“At my first job,” Sidman remembers, “I brought my little Mac-in-a-box that I bought at the Colgate Bookstore.” This first firm was where Sidman found his way: “Every so often, someone would come over and dump some work on my desk, and I would just devour it all. That’s largely how I learned. Eventually,” he says, “I became one of them.” Sidman would remain with Greenberg Traurig LLP — a firm representing the likes of the late Jimmy Buffett and his Margaritaville empire, maestro John Williams, and Brad Paisley — for all three years of law school and 13 years after.
In his earlier experiences at Colgate, Sidman was no stranger to the music scene. Alongside his radio show, he was also a member of multiple bands, the Maroon News’ music editor and record reviewer, and the student in charge of booking campus concerts (featuring artists such as the Psychedelic Furs and Spin Doctors). It doesn’t come as a surprise, then, that Sidman stayed in the music business after his undergraduate studies.
“I enjoy being around creative types, because, in all humility, I think I relate well to them and they relate well to me,” says Sidman.
In his work with various firms, Sidman has represented many household names and brands, including Willie Nelson and the labels of Warner Music Group and Netflix.
As an entertainment lawyer, Sidman’s work is exclusively transactional — it takes place outside of the courtroom. Over time, his experience with industry-specific contract agreements and intellectual property law has broadened to cover book publishing, social media, and the representation of celebrity chefs, athletes, songwriters, and producers.
“Helping artists and other creative types get their projects out into the world is a professional calling for me,” says Sidman, “and the highest honor I could possibly have.”
And We’re Live
Allan Dodds Frank ’69, two-time Emmy Award–winning journalist and political correspondent
Reflecting on his time as a WRCU broadcaster, Allan Dodds Frank ’69 will always remember his last day — when he was fired by Joe Castiglione ’68 (the future voice of the Red Sox). And “he was right,” says Frank: “I was supposed to open the station as the first morning show and slept in late. Students with 8 a.m. classes had set their alarm clocks to WRCU and were depending on me to wake them up.” Since then, throughout his fruitful career as a correspondent for ABC News, CNN, and Bloomberg, Frank has never missed a show time.
Frank’s early experiences include working as a journalist for the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska) and the Washington Star (D.C.) before he began his seven-year career with Forbes as a foreign correspondent. This title brought him to 34 countries, but one of his favorite stories took place in the U.S., when he spent a week with The Grateful Dead:
“They traveled around with a posse,” says Frank. “It smelled like patchouli oil and there were tie-dye T-shirts everywhere. I spent a day wandering around, counting how many thousands of steps I could make around the whole crowd. It turns out that the crowd they traveled around with was the size of a medium shopping mall” — a number Frank confirmed by calling the International Council of Shopping Centers in Washington.
Frank’s knack for crunching numbers earned him recognition among the media community. After Forbes, he began to work with ABC where, in his role as an investigative correspondent, he broke a story exposing the extent to which presidential candidate Ross Perot relied on taxpayer funding to build an airport in Fort Worth, Texas. For this story and a CNN piece on the funding of the 9/11 attacks, Frank was awarded the Emmys for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story (1992) and Best Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (2002), respectively.
Frank was awarded emmys for outstanding coverage of a breaking news story and best story in a regularly scheduled newscast.
And to think — all of this started in “the little stone building that housed the WRCU studio,” which Frank compares to “a trip into a magic castle.” (This was when WRCU was located in a room in the Drake Hall tunnel, before Blackmore Media Center was built in its current location in the Coop.) “For me and, I suspect, most of my fellow radio folks,” he says, “it was the first time I had really experienced being in an actual studio with big old microphones.”
Broadcasting in the booth, Frank says, “imparted a strange confidence in me about whether I could spread a message, whether it was news or trying to convince students to appreciate the music I liked. Having your own moment with an audience was special.”
Podcasting with the Pros
Tracy Hoole ’08, in podcast promotion and planning at Audacy Broadcasting, Inc.
Based in: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Works in: Promotion and media planning at Audacy Broadcasting, Inc., filling podcasts’ ad slots with referrals to related shows. “My job is to handle the promotional inventory — for instance, when you’re listening to podcasts and you hear ads for other shows we think you might be interested in.” She had previous experience in media planning at Nickelodeon, VICE, and Sirius XM.
Get to know Hoole: “Over my career, I’ve always worked with companies that release content I enjoy. It’s important to me, especially from a marketing standpoint, to believe in the shows I’m promoting. So I’m an avid listener. I rely on podcasters to tell me stories I would have never heard otherwise.
At WRCU: “I was program director, and it helped me land an internship with Sirius XM.”
Advice for current DJs: “Learn as much from the experience as you can. Learn how to edit, and share your tastes with other students. In college radio, you have space to be as silly or serious as you want.”
Label Talk
Griffin McMahon ’19, in artist and label relations with Stem Disintermedia
Together in Harmony
“I work with Stem Disintermedia, an independent distribution company that provides artist and label services. We oversee release rollouts, marketing, and funding for the artists and labels who work with us. As a member of the artist relations team, I act as a kind of manager between Stem and the artists’ teams to create meaningful and fulfilling partnerships.”
Putting Them First
“The whole ethos behind the company is to benefit the artists and their teams as much as possible, so we try to be flexible and understanding. Although Stem is a relatively young company, we’ve worked on all kinds of projects with all kinds of artists, including James Blake, Nicolas Jaar, and BADBADNOTGOOD.”
It’s Personal
“I work in the music industry because I love music and want to work with talented people. I’ve always had a very eclectic taste in music, but working in the industry has heightened my interests even more. And I think that the music should always come first — artists should be at the forefront of every decision that’s made to benefit the most from their work.”
18 Hours, 5.1 Million Dollars
Natalie Sportelli ’15, director at Bullish, a venture capital firm and brand consultancy
Whether it’s exemplified in her current work with Bullish or her past experience co-leading a massive broadcast fundraiser with WRCU, Natalie Sportelli ’15 has a way with numbers. Today, on behalf of Bullish, she coordinates investment and marketing for a variety of customer-facing brands, including Harry’s and Warby Parker. Looking back at 2013, she fondly recalls kicking off the historic WRCU broadcast that raised $5.1 million in 18 hours.
After the Office of University Communications developed the idea, the program was planned in association with several WRCU alumni working in the media industry. It was broadcast locally on 90.1 FM and across the country to more than 20 alumni clubs and the broader Colgate community on Colgate Day, Dec. 13, 2013. With contributions from 5,683 donors, the funds were to be allocated to financial aid and capital expenses. “It became a big competition,” remembers Sportelli, “when an anonymous alum pledged to donate $1 million if we hit 1,300 donors.” By noon, the alum’s pledge was met.
The fundraiser featured a variety of hotly streamed shows, including:
→ An hour of Sports Talk with Joe Castiglione ’68 and Vicky Chun ’91, MA’94
→ A special episode of the Chewin’ It podcast featuring its hosts, Kevin Heffernan ’90 and Steve Lemme ’90, and special guests Jay Chandresakar ’90, Carrie Clifford ’93, and Eric Levy ’94
→ An afternoon jazz soundtrack during Slim and Him and an evening of classic rock with Professor Michael Coyle and his co-host, Kara Rusch
The marathon will be remembered as one of the greatest student-led fundraising projects in Colgate history. “And to be seen as an important partner in that fundraising process made us proud of our involvement as a student-led station,” says Sportelli.
Cracking the Code
John Penner ’04, senior principal engineer at Sony Music Entertainment
Although John Penner ’04 is officially a senior principal engineer at Sony Music, he calls himself a “computer programming nerd” — having turned his passion for coding into a career.
In 2015 Penner started his work with Sony Music by joining The Orchard, a subsidiary specializing in independent music distribution. He transitioned into his current role in 2023, and since then, he’s worked more directly under the parent company. Altogether, though, his work has been consistently focused on building software, whether he’s writing code or mentoring others.
“Technology teams are like one giant group project,” Penner explains. “You have to figure out how to collaborate.”
At Colgate Penner majored in computer science and minored in mathematics. Outside of the classroom, his first-year experience as a WRCU DJ would land him a position on the station’s board for the next two years, during which he served as the music director for the indie rock genre.
In this role, Penner represented the station at music conferences, including South by Southwest and CMJ. “Talking to labels, promotional companies, and artists at these conferences,” he recalls, “was a really definitive experience — in my career with Sony Music’s team, I do this all of the time with technology vendors and partners.”
As he’s coded himself into the music industry, Penner has developed his skills for building applications and tools that help artists and labels get their content to fans, including projects to process streaming data and calculate revenue distribution.
“I find it super rewarding to build applications that help real people solve problems,” he says.
During Reunion 2024, Penner organized a WRCU alumni “radio takeover” with 10 shows, including his own hour of early 2000s throwbacks.
Always Playing in the Background
Here’s some WRCU trivia for you: Can you name the long-standing show that features a jazz-loving member of Colgate’s faculty and his partner?
If you answered Slim and Him, you’d be correct!
Many past and present WRCU DJs are familiar, at least by word of mouth, with this staple jazz hour — a music history broadcast hosted by Professor of English Michael Coyle and his partner, Kara “Slim” Rusch, since 2007. “The jazz tradition is now more than a century old,” says Coyle, who has served as WRCU’s faculty adviser since 1992. “So how do you know where to start?”
That’s where Slim and Him comes in. By planning a weekly themed show that airs on Monday evenings, Coyle and Rusch present playlists that are educational, but also playful. Topics such as jazz covers of albums by The Beatles keep the subject light while also providing an entry point into the genre. “There’s so much great music out there, and there’s so little time,” says Coyle.
Altogether, it isn’t about only reaching the jazz fans — but they’re out there, and they’ve been listening closely. “Some of our listeners are old-time jazz fans who know a lot about the genre, and they’re fun,” says Coyle. “But we never assume that our listeners know anything about jazz. You could spend your whole life exploring the genre, as Kara and I have, and not run out of new things to hear.”