Radio rebel — Corey Bridges ’21 leads the College’s music scene as WCWM station manager

Corey Bridges ‘21 is a member the Williamsburg-based band Ms. Lonely, which will be performing for the first time in over a year Apr. 7. at WCWM Mini-Fest. Courtesy Photo / Corey Bridges

If you were to visit the basement of Campus Center, you would likely find Corey Bridges ’21 working as the station manager for the College of William and Mary’s campus radio station, WCWM 90.9 FM. Bridges is an economics major and music minor originally from Herndon, Virginia who has been involved with WCWM since the fall of his freshman year. Now, as a senior, Bridges has become a notable presence in the music community at the College.    

“I had no idea that the college had a radio station until I went to the activities fair my freshman year,” Bridges said in an email.  “I was immediately drawn to it because the idea of having my own radio show was something I found really unique and something I probably wouldn’t have the opportunity to do outside of college.”

“I had no idea that the college had a radio station until I went to the activities fair my freshman year,” Bridges said in an email.  “I was immediately drawn to it because the idea of having my own radio show was something I found really unique and something I probably wouldn’t have the opportunity to do outside of college.”

 

By October of his freshman year, Corey and several of his hallmates were fully trained to be DJs at the station. Four years later, he and many of these same friends share the responsibility of running the station. Along with being the station’s manager, Bridges co-hosts a radio show entitled the “Corey/Tori Story” with a friend from his freshman hall, Tori McCaffrey ’21, which revolves around a variety of themes every week. 

“Some of our themes this semester have included love songs, letters of the alphabet, internet viral music, and teenage angst.” Bridges added. “I’d say we’re also pretty funny when we’re not playing music since the things we talk about aren’t really planned and we’re just speaking from the dome.”

As station manager, Bridges has a multitude of responsibilities, including communicating with DJs to help troubleshoot equipment, planning the stations annual music festival, WCWM Fest and preparing WCWM’s vinyl collection to be moved to the Sadler West expansion, which is where WCWM will reside upon the completion of construction.  

Bridges has also been able to help with the 60th anniversary of WCWM during his sophomore year, which he described as his proudest achievement with radio.

“I was one of the historians my sophomore year and I did a lot to put together this binder of assorted items I felt were relevant to the station’s history like the original broadcast permit for example,” Bridges explained. This evolved into greater discussions with Special Collections in Swem Library about possible donations from the station which then merged with an idea to celebrate our 60th anniversary.”

Outside of the radio station, Bridges works the desk at the Reeder Media Center in Earl Gregg Swem Library and is also heavily involved in the music performance scene on campus. His favorite instrument to play is the guitar, due to its versatile nature, which makes it able to be used with various genres and playing styles. Bridges also listens to numerous genres of music, but recently has been getting more into ska — a Jamaican genre which has influences from Caribbean music and American jazz. 

Bridges originally played guitar and sang at the Meridian Coffeehouse’s cover nights, either alone or with friends he claimed could sing better than him. However in fall 2019, he formed a band with some of his friends called Ms. Lonely. According to a story on WCWM’s Instagram account, the first song the group performed was a cover of a song by Mitski, and they have been “absolutely shredding ever since.”

Ms. Lonely has been greatly affected by the pandemic, since they were formed only a few months before the first COVID-19 lockdowns were put into place in March 2020. 

“We’ve only played a few shows as a group because we first formed in Fall 2019 and the pandemic has made doing any practices/performances extremely difficult,” Bridges said. “However, we are playing at WCWM Mini-Fest on April 7, so we’re really excited to get back together!”  

Courtesy Photo / Corey Bridges

This will be Ms. Lonely’s first performance in over a year, as their last performance was at the Meridian Coffeehouse in February 2020.  

In addition to performing at this year’s WCWM Mini-Fest, Bridges has also been involved with organizing the fest through his role as station manager. 

“The station manager has always been pretty involved with the production of WCWM Fest,” Bridges said. “In a normal year, they would get a list of acts available to perform at colleges in a given semester and pick one after discussion with the events team. Much of it after that is emailing all sorts of people that help with setting up the performance contract, securing lighting/sound equipment, and reserving the space where we hold the event. All this while working with student volunteers to put together a staff of people that will make the promotional material and be in attendance the day of the event to help set up the stage and break it down at the end of the day.”

After his graduation this spring, Bridges shared how he hopes to combine his interests in finance and music. He is currently in the process of applying for virtual internships at record labels this summer. He is particularly excited about interviewing for an accounting and finance internship with 300 Entertainment, which is the label for Grammy award winner Meghan Thee Stallion. 

Although he has had quite a large involvement with music and radio at the College, he is unsure of what kind of legacy he will leave behind after graduation. 

“I don’t think my legacy will be all that grand because I’m a pretty ‘to-myself’ kind of person, but that’s okay,” Bridges said. “As long as the younger generation in radio knows that I gave it my all, I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think my legacy will be all that grand because I’m a pretty ‘to-myself’ kind of person, but that’s okay,” Bridges said. “As long as the younger generation in radio knows that I gave it my all, I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think my legacy will be all that grand because I’m a pretty ‘to-myself’ kind of person, but that’s okay,” Bridges said. “As long as the younger generation in radio knows that I gave it my all, I’ll be fine.”

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