The College of New Jersey’s Alternative Radio station, WTSR, hosted their biannual music event, Underground, on September 21 and 22 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Underground, in collaboration with TCNJ’s Lions Television Network, invites ten local bands to the university’s TV studio to perform three songs live for the alternative rock music station.
Originally intended as a space for WTSR to film the bands, Underground recently opened to the public.
Andre Paras, the Music Director at WTSR, says, “These events are kind of like designed for us to film the bands, but I kind of wanted to start bringing in more people to these, so we’ve been trying to advertise more.”
They had a full sign up sheet this semester, suggesting the efforts have been successful.
Babe City, a New York-based shoegaze/indie pop five-piece, had the largest audience by far, with roughly ten people attending their performance. Babe City, directed by TCNJ senior Chrissy Cinque, performed their songs “Two Tabs,” “Vodka Soda,” “Lucky,” and “Kiss Me Again.”
Babe City is not Cinque’s first venture in directing, as she’s been doing it for three years.
Cinque says, “I find it fun. It’s like playing… it’s like treasure hunt, almost. You’re trying to find what parts of the song are gonna work best with which angles.”
Assisted Living, an alternative rock band from Philadelphia, performed directly after Babe City was finished.
On playing at the event, vocalist Shane Moore said, “We could tell it was a long weekend for the students… but the excitement and energy was still high. And infectious.”
Assisted Living itself is actually familiar with the radio and film industry, as three of the four members work within the aforementioned industries, and Moore used to have a radio show during his time at Emerson College.
Moore says, “To see young folks engaged, excited, and getting practical experience brought me back to when I was just starting out. It was rad.”
WTSR’s Underground will return during TCNJ’s spring semester, and the radio team hopes to attract a larger audience this time around.
Underground information is posted on the station’s Instagram account, @wtsr913fm.
Paras says, “We definitely want more people to swing by. We think there is a lot of awesome talent here that is definitely worth seeing.”
