The student radio station at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg was recently named the fourth best in the country by The Princeton Review.
When I visited the small studio on a rainy October afternoon, I was a bit surprised to hear “Daytripper” by The Beatles on the studio monitors.
“My parents in general really did shape the music that I listen to,” said Vivian Codiga, a co-general manager of WECX—pronounced “wex.”
Codiga is a senior majoring in business management with minors in interdisciplinary arts and psychology.
My dad grew up in the ’70s and so I really like—I love classic rock,” she told me. “And that’s also primarily what I play. And I feel like there’s also been a bit of a resurgence in it. And so a lot of Eckerd students also really enjoy classic rock and that like Beatles, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, especially.”
The station’s other co-general manager, Taj Sorensen says WECX has been around since the 1980s, but nobody’s sure of the exact year it started.
She says there are 84 DJs and it’s the biggest club on campus.
This story first appeared at WMNF News, which is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP), a Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication or donor interested in Tampa Bay Journalism Project, please email rroa@cltampa.com. Support WMNF News by visiting the community radio station’s support page.
The number four ranking by The Princeton Review came as a surprise.
“Apparently a bunch of emails were sent to random students and they all voted on their favorite things about their college and Eckerd really loves WECX.” Sorensen said. “Especially, last year we redid the entire station and made it more of what it is today, and we got a lot more DJs from that. We got a record-breaking amount of DJs. We had to add Saturday shows. So the number four Princeton Review was a good reflection of that impact.”’
Sorensen is a senior majoring in marine science with minors in environmental studies and music. She DJs “Taj’s Punk Happy Hour” on Sunday nights.
“Punk is a genre that’s really, embedded in my family,” Sorensen said. “My Dad raised me growing up on the Sex Pistols and random different punk things. Music connects my family more than anything in my family. So when coming to Eckerd, I went up to our general manager at that time, Jordan, and I was like: I really want to do a punk show. And so for four years, I’ve been on the board and doing a punk show on Sundays.”
WECX programmers also play new music, of course.
Bergen Hembree is assistant manager at WECX. She’s a junior anthropology major with a minor in public health.
“We actually do this fun thing where we follow albums that are going to be released. We have someone on our board and the whole board will watch for new releases. We’ll have a fun listening party with the club, so that That’s something that we do just to kind of keep up with current music,” Hembree said. “But then, like I said earlier, there are so many styles of music that are played throughout WECX. I think we cover everything. There’s not a genre or style that isn’t coming out of WECX, which is really cool.”
Their most recent listening party was for a new Harry Styles album.
Sorensen said WECX lost its ability to broadcast over FM when their antenna was destroyed by a hurricane. So Eckerd College students listen on the web at WECX.org. They hope to have an app soon.
In the same Princeton Review list, the University of South Florida’s student radio station was ranked 25.
Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.
Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky
This article appears in Oct. 22 – 28, 2026.
