Credit: Eli Grimes| From left to right: Micah Henson, Rebecca Barker, Maggee Bleyer, and myself
Well, they say that all good things must come to an end. This would, unfortunately, include my time here at Wabash Valley College. I will always be thankful for the friends and memories I made here.
I started out doing radio & TV during my junior year of high school at the Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center's radio station, 90.7 WPSR. While I didn't do anything noteworthy in my junior year, that changed during my senior year. Some of what I did includes co-hosting a radio show, helping with WPSR's 2021 Class Day Radio Show, filming some footage for SICTC's open house video, and much more. I had a lot of fun and will forever cherish the memories I made there.
Credit: WPSR Facebook| A picture from WPSR's senior day. I am near the middle in a maroon cap and gown
Fast-forward to August of 2021, I officially became a freshman at Wabash Valley College. Despite how much I liked doing radio and TV at SICTC, I still had some uncertainty about continuing with it as a career. Nonetheless, I stuck with the program.
Fast-forward again to present day. As I am typing out this blog, I am three days away from graduating with an Associate's in Applied Science in Radio/TV & Digital Media. During the past two years, I have board-opped just about all the 2022 - 2023 Gibson Southern Football and Wabash Valley Basketball games for 89.1 The Bash, hosted and produced a metal/hard rock radio show called Bang Your Head, interviewed six local bands for my radio show, filmed the 2022 cadaver lab, and so much more.
Credit: Wabash General Hospital Facebook| The 2022 cadaver lab that I (far right) filmed since I was the only one in the Radio/TV & Digital Media program that was brave enough to do it
So, with all that being said, let's get in to three of my best memories here at WVC.
In no particular order:
1. Wvc Homecoming
Credit: Maggee's mom| Myself (left) and Maggee (right) after the homecoming ceremony
The day was Tuesday, February 7th. I was in one of the recording studios editing songs for Bang Your Head. All the sudden, Kyle Peach (our instructor) knocks on the door to inform me that there was a three-way tie for the king nomination. The tie was between me and two other students: Micah Henson and Blake Piercefield. So, Kyle has me come out of the studio for a name drawing that was to be done by Maggee, who had won the queen nomination. Kyle shuffles the name cards, then has Maggee pick out one of the names. As she hands the card to Kyle, Micah and I are waiting in anticipation for Kyle to say the name. Kyle then says my name and I let out a surprised "oh."
A week and four days has passed, and it's finally the big day. Maggee and I are in the Spencer Sports Center lobby waiting in line behind the other homecoming nominees to be recognized at the ceremony. As we inch closer and closer to the gymnasium entrance, Maggee and I start to feel a little nervous. I notice my family smiling and waving at us. We walk through the gymnasium door, make a right turn, and make our way to the endline.
Then, the big moment finally happens.
Credit: My wonderful mother
In that moment, I felt like the king I was nominated to be, and Maggee probably felt like the queen she was nominated to be. Of course, neither of us actually made it to homecoming royalty. Nevertheless, we still had a good time.
2. SiU-Carbondale Game
Credit: Eli Grimes| Us when we got to the Banterra Center at SIU-Carbondale
Since I didn't go last year, I decided to take the opportunity to join my radio/TV brethren in helping to broadcast this year's IHSA Boy's Super Sectionals at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Everyone was dressed professionally, except for two people. While I was there, I ran the second camera at the top of the bleachers. Unfortunately, my phone became low on battery during the first game, so I was unable to communicate with the switcher operator. To work around that, I operated the camera as if it were on screen the whole game. After both games were over, we picked up Taco Bell to eat on the way back to Wabash Valley College. I had quite the grand old time.
3. Bang Your Head Interviews
Top Left: For No Reason
Top Right: 1984x
Bottom Left: Sonny White (left) and Zach Reuber (right) of Knights on Holiday
Bottom Middle: Clay Evans (left) and Tom Wilder (right) of Blood Tribe
Bottom Right: Danny Boyles (left) and J.D. Sale (middle) of Displacement USA, Malice (right) of Tri-State Wrestling
As I'm sure you're well aware, I host Bang Your Head on 89.1 The Bash. During the past eight months that I have hosted this show, I have had six guests come on for interviews.
My first ever interview on BYH was with For No Reason, which is a band formed by my friend Brendan Delaunois (AKA Malakai-X), Ozzy Summers, and Alex Issawi. They describe their sound as a mix of metalcore and post-hardcore. Delaunois performs vocals, while Summers plays lead guitar and Issawi bangs on the drums. We talked about their influences, their music, their record label, DemonClaw Records, a planned music festival, and a few other topics. While an actual audio recording of our interview has yet to be put on The Bash's website and YouTube channel, a compilation of video segments filmed by Delaunois can be found on the DemonClaw records Youtube channel. Since my interview, they have added two new members: Jace Fisher on rhythm guitar and Felix Smith on bass.
My next interview was with 1984x, which is a band with an interesting sound that they describe as "good ol' fashion fight music." They are made up of Curt-X (vocals), Joshua Hundley (guitar), Colton Mathies (bass), and Paul Waninger (drums). We spoke about their music, the recording process, a show they had coming up at the Powerhouse Bar & Grill in Princeton, IN, and more. The entire interview can be found here.
A few weeks later, I was joined by Zach Reuber (bass/vocals) and Sonny White (drums) of Knights on Holiday. They are a punk rock band out of Jasper, IN. We spoke about what inspired them to start the band, the Powerhouse concert with 1984x, and many other topics. The entire interview can be found here.
Interview number four was with Tom Wilder (guitar) and Clay Evans (drums) of Blood Tribe. They describe themselves as a "death/thrash band" and hail from southern Indiana. We spoke about their history, influences, which album(s) they were most proud of, and much more. You can find the interview here.
My most recent interviews were with Displacement U.S.A. members Danny Boyles (guitar), J.D. Sale (vocals) , and Malice of Tri-State Wrestling, and with Nick Vawter, Wyatt Traxler, and Austin Pocock of Fort Wayne, IN-based metalcore band A Burden To Bear, which was done through zoom. These two interviews can be found here and here.
To end this off, I would like to give thanks to Kyle Peach, JoBeth Bootz, and Kenton McDonald for helping me get to where I am now.