CDs line the ceiling above Taj Sorensen as she moves through Eckerd College’s radio station like it’s muscle memory. Drawings from years of student DJs plaster the walls, classic rock rings loudly, and somewhere nearby, another DJ is waiting for their hour on air.
Sorensen is from Utah, but this cramped, buzzing space–WECX 99.9-FM–is where she lives. Here, her bed is a white leather couch covered in Sharpied obscenities and her desk is a dazzling new sound panel.
“College radio is kind of a dying art,” Taj Sorensen, co-manager of WECX told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “Which is sad. But this is my real home here.”
Sorensen, now a junior at Eckerd College, serves alongside 10 other board members and a roster of 84 DJs. Together, the student-run station has filled every broadcast slot for the first time in years.
Maddie Merrick, Senior Manager for the station told CL programming runs from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. inside a recently-revamed space.
“We redid the whole station in August,” Sorensen added. “We got new equipment, reorganized and redecorated the entire place. A lot of people didn’t even know this back room existed before.”
The renovation sparked more than just aesthetic change. It transformed WECX from an abandoned Radio Shack-esk closet into a snug campus hub, where students can drop in, take creative risks and share what they love.
At WECX, each DJ gets an hour to do whatever they want: play music, talk, host a themed show or simply invite an audience into their otherwise lonely bedroom jam session. Genres range from classic rock to Taylor Swift, and nothing is censored—as long as it doesn’t break FCC guidelines.
A short tune-in to WECX always offers a surprise, with every student DJ claiming they will be the one to turn you on to a new band. On any given Tuesday of the week this semester, start your afternoon with an R&B hour, listen to Reggae and animal facts on the show “Creature Feature,” and wind down the day with metal and soul on “Syd Plays Bangers.”
“Radio is real,” Sorensen said. “Streaming is easy. Anyone can do it at any time. But radio has heart and soul. There’s work that goes into it.”
That philosophy fuels the station’s events, too. It’s largest is Wexapalooza, a music festival that brings local and campus bands to Eckerd’s Kappa Field. The lineup will include returning St. Petersburg band Liquid Pennies and multiple on-campus acts.
Merrick called the festival set for Saturday the station’s underground take on Lollapalooza. The school’s unofficial hot dog stand and boba tea company, Glizzy Guys and Boba Bros, will be there, too.
Wecxapalooza
Time Sat., April 4, 12-7 p.m. 2026
Location Eckerd College, 4200 54th Avenue South, Saint Petersburg
Another flagship event, Sex with WEX, blends music and sex education–an intentionally provocative and playful push against Florida’s climate around sexual health education.
“We’re not really allowed to do it, but we do it anyway,” Sorensen said. “College radio is about pushing against the system–that’s what it’s always been.”
Despite the digital age, listeners are still tuning in. While many are parents and friends of the DJs, the station streams online, allowing anyone, anywhere, to listen. DJs track listenership through a digital platform that maps where streams originate, sometimes lighting up internationally.
Other college stations across North and Central Florida are keeping that same student-run spirit alive. At WANM-FM 90.5 at Florida A&M University “The Flava Station” broadcasts 24/7 with a mix of jazz, gospel, pop and talk. In St. Augustine, WFCF 88.5 FM at Flagler College blends student and community programs from morning rock blocks to classical and specialty shows. And in Jacksonville, Spinnaker Radio at the University of North Florida broadcasts on 95.5 FM, proving that even in the streaming era, college radios across the region continue to thrive.
Still, college radio isn’t about the numbers, it’s all about presence. Students physically show up. They hang out. They decorate the walls. They wait for time slots to open.
Much of that energy reflects Eckerd itself. With roughly 1,900 students, the liberal arts college draws heavily from out of state, resulting in a music selection that reflects a mash-up of backgrounds, tastes and influences.
There’s also an unmistakable Eckerd aesthetic that influences the station. One Sorensen—rocking blue hair, scuffed converse and friendship bracelets—describes as barefoot, beachy and deeply unconcerned with outside judgment.
“If I picture an Eckerd student, it’s someone in a bikini with no shoes on in the hallway,” she said. “We’re laid back until we’re not—and we can definitely fight.”
Grateful Dead, Sublime, Jack Johnson and sun-soaked indie bands dominate the station’s cultural shorthand–but no two programs are alike. Sorensen’s Taj’s “Punk Happy Hour,” a themed 60-minute block that explores punk history, protest music and women in the genre every Sunday from 8 p.m.-9 p.m.
Other shows like “We Talk Too Much” and “MC^2” lean talk-heavy, casual or completely unplanned. That candor is what separates radio from streaming and podcasts, she added.
“You can’t cut anything here. It’s live. There’s no curtain.”
Looking ahead, Sorensen hopes college radio continues to exist, not only thriving on Eckerd’s campus, but everywhere.
“I just want it to live,” she said. “I want people to keep being themselves in this space. Music needs to go back to the people.”
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This article appears in Mar. 26 – Apr. 1.
