UTA Radio to host Third Annual Vinylthon

The nostalgia of the vinyl record has gained interest among millennials and has made a comeback.

On April 21, UTA Radio will host its third annual Vinylthon, where they will play vinyl records from different genres for 24 hours straight.

“It’s brought about by the College Radio Day people,” station manager Christopher Herrman said. “They’re this organization that helps college radio stations get funding, if they need funding for something.”

For colleges to participate in Vinylthon, they have to play at least five hours of music on vinyl.

“We want to go bigger this year because, you know, go big or go home, right? We’re going to do 24 hours of vinyl, from midnight to 11:59 p.m.,” Herrman said.

UTA Radio will have all of its DJs working two hours shifts, and each one will get to play the vinyls they like with some help from Truth Vinyl, a record store located in downtown Arlington.

“They’re actually donating 25 records to us,” Herrman said.

Truth Vinyl owner Ric Delzell said he thinks vinyls are coming back primarily because millennials rediscovered them.

“For whatever reason, they started listening to it. I think that spurred a lot of other people to get interested again,” Delzell said. “My daughters started listening to it when they were teenagers, and so I got back into it.”

When vinyls are made, they’re stamped out of plastic. There is a master metal stamp that presses the piece of plastic and makes the record.

Delzell said the vinyl sound is superior compared to digital sound, because a vinyl record has a lot more information on it.

“It’s the closest thing to the original performance,” Delzell said.

Broadcast communication junior Angel Pineda says that vinyls are making a comeback because more adolescents are going to thrift stores and going back to what they enjoyed as a kid.

“It kind of motivates them to go back even further, and discover more about vinyls, and I guess reconnect with it,” Pineda said.