4 years in Radio: Becoming Unc

Another year, another blog...

It's the fall of 2026, and just 3 years ago, in 2023, I was starting out my college career as a bug-eyed freshman, excited to explore a strange, new city full of wonders; new sights, smells, tastes. After living 18 years hopping between Kansas and Texas suburbs that, for lack of a verbal descriptor, looked like this, but with less greenery:

I was ready to stick a straw in the ripe ambrosia of city life and gulp it down like matcha.

Radio was part of my metamorphosis, and through radio I made a slew of new friends who would be foundational to my UIC experience; some I'd know for years. Those first couple GBMs, Battle of the Bands, Sparks... I'll never forget them.

But, I'm a freshman no longer; instead, a grouchy old grad student starting his first year in the MUPP program, and a not insignificant amount of the friends I made in radio have already moved on, either graduating or simply focusing on their studies.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, becoming an Unc & watching your friends move on can kind of suck. However, there are also a lot of benefits to being a veteran of the org; for example, I'm submitting this blog half a day late & (hopefully) won't get in trouble for it.

So, for you underclassmen reading this, heed my words; you too will be an Unc someday, and have a memory of a time in UIC radio that no longer exists. The things that mystify you now will become routine; that city life that felt like magic 3 years ago is simple routine to me now. However, that doesn't mean you stop enjoying it; on the contrary, the small things in life become your favorites.

So go out & enjoy as much of your time in radio as you can: doing your shows, writing your blogs, having to come in on a Saturday for the retreats, and the small things, too; like spending a fall afternoon laying on a cheap red plastic chair at SCE with a bowl of Panda Express.