Alabama State Holds ‘Yard Sale’ for Campus Radio Station

Article courtesy of Montgomery Advertiser:

It was a vinyl revival this weekend as Alabama State University hosted a two-day “yard sale” to raise donations for its campus radio station.

The event came at the end of a weeklong membership drive, in which people could pledge donations to the station and become members. WVAS-FM station manager Candy Capel said more than $10,000 was raised in pledges and more than $2,000 was raised from the yard sale, which included CDs and artwork as well as records.

“The yard sale has been awesome. We are very pleased,” she said. “It gave us the chance to meet people face to

face.”

Billed as a yard sale, the event resembled more of a block party with food on the grill and music in the air, courtesy of the radio station. Dozens of crates filled with records in genres such as blues and jazz took up residence underneath a tent on the ASU band field.

Music from artists such as Bobby Womack, Duke Ellington and Barbra Streisand could be found after shifting through the hundreds of records available. Shoppers could take home a record for a $3 donation, with a discount for multiple purchases. Capel said they had to provide shopping bags to some shoppers because they purchased so many.

Scott Missildine drove out to ASU from his home in Prattville, where he listens to the radio station on 90.7 FM. He said he listens to a lot of different music, but when he gets off work he likes to relax while listening to jazz.

“I listen to the station, and I heard it on the news about the sale and I wanted to come over,” Missildine said. “You don’t really have too many places around here where you can get records.”

He said he listened to vinyl as a kid and recently found a record player and got back into it. “I know a lot of people say this, but I just like the sound of it,” Missildine said.

Montgomery resident and jazz fan Randy Scott said while he didn’t come to look for any specific artist, there have been a couple that caught his eye.

“I am just browsing around, but I’ve seen a couple artists such as Lena Horne and Karyn White,” said Scott. “I figured since it’s a jazz station that it would have a lot of jazz available, so it piqued my curiosity.”

Scott said his parents introduced him to records, and he has been around them all his life. He was happy to find a good selection at the yard sale.

“The new formats have made it rough for records, but it seems to be coming back,” Scott said.

The selection also featured genres such as reggae, R&B, gospel and classical. Capel said anyone who missed the yard sale can call the radio station to make an appointment to come and browse what is left of the inventory.

She said whatever is left will stay in the studio until they decide what to do with it, but chances are they will have another yard sale next year.

Although after spending two days out in the June weather, Capel said she might make one adjustment.

“If we do it next year, we will probably move it to the spring,” she said.