{"id":428805,"date":"2026-10-15T19:38:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/428805\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T19:38:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:38:47","slug":"eckerd-colleges-wecx-is-ranked-the-fourth-best-us-college-radio-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/428805\/","title":{"rendered":"Eckerd College&#8217;s WECX is ranked the fourth best US college radio station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1928\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WECX-djs-Taj-Bergen-Vivian-by-SeanK-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-268387 size-268387 wp-post-image\" alt=\"WECX college radio djs Taj Bergen Vivian\" large=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWECX student leaders Taj Sorensen (l.), Bergen Hembree and Vivian Codiga. By Se\u00e1n Kinane \/ WMNF (Oct. 2026).<\/p>\n<p>Listen:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The student radio station at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eckerd.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Eckerd College<\/a> in St. Petersburg was recently named the fourth best in the country by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.princetonreview.com\/college-rankings\/?rankings=best-college-radio-station\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The Princeton Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I visited the small studio on a rainy October afternoon, I was a bit surprised to hear \u201cDaytripper\u201d by The Beatles on the studio monitors. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy parents in general really did shape the music that I listen to,\u201d said Vivian Codiga, a co-general manager of <a href=\"https:\/\/wecx.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">WECX<\/a> \u2013 pronounced \u201cwex.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Codiga is a senior majoring in business management with minors in interdisciplinary arts and psychology.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"771\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WECX-studio-and-campus-by-SeanK-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"Radio WECX studio and Eckerd College campus\" class=\"wp-image-268386\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3281619906311388;width:559px;height:auto\"  \/>The studio of student radio station WECX looking out over the Eckerd College campus in St. Petersburg, FL. By Se\u00e1n Kinane \/ WMNF News (Oct. 2026).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy dad grew up in the 70s and so I really like \u2014 I love classic rock,\u201d she told me. \u201cAnd that\u2019s also primarily what I play. And I feel like there\u2019s also been a bit of a resurgence in it. And so a lot of Eckerd students also really enjoy classic rock and that like Beatles, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, especially.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The station\u2019s other co-general manager, Taj Sorensen says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wecx99\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">WECX<\/a> has been around since the 1980s, but nobody\u2019s sure of the exact year it started. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She says there are 84 DJs and it\u2019s the biggest club on campus. <\/p>\n<p>Ranked #4 by The Princeton Review<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The number four ranking by The Princeton Review came as a surprise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cApparently a bunch of emails were sent to random students and they all voted on their favorite things about their college and Eckerd really loves WECX.\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cEspecially, last year we redid the entire station and made it more of what it is today, and we got a lot more DJs from that. We got a record-breaking amount of DJs. We had to add Saturday shows. So the number four Princeton Review was a good reflection of that impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"771\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WECX-studio-wall-by-SeanK-771x1024.jpg\" alt=\"WECX radio\" class=\"wp-image-268383\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7529374065370648;width:319px;height:auto\"  \/>The studio of student radio station WECX at Eckerd College. By Se\u00e1n Kinane \/ WMNF News (Oct. 2026).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorensen is a senior majoring in marine science with minors in environmental studies and music. She DJs \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/wecx.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Taj\u2019s Punk Happy Hour<\/a>\u201d on Sunday nights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-punk-is-a-genre-that-s-really-embedded-in-my-family-sorensen-said-my-dad-raised-me-growing-up-on-the-sex-pistols-and-random-different-punk-things-music-connects-my-family-more-than-anything-in-my-family-so-when-coming-to-eckerd-i-went-up-to-our-general-manager-at-that-time-jordan-and-i-was-like-i-really-want-to-do-a-punk-show\">\u201cPunk is a genre that\u2019s really, embedded in my family,\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cMy Dad raised me growing up on the Sex Pistols and random different punk things. Music connects my family more than anything in my family. So when coming to Eckerd, I went up to our general manager at that time, Jordan, and I was like: I really want to do a punk show. And so for four years, I\u2019ve been on the board and doing a punk show on Sundays.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New music on WECX<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WECX programmers also play new music, of course.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bergen Hembree is assistant manager at WECX. She\u2019s a junior anthropology major with a minor in public health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe actually do this fun thing where we follow albums that are going to be released. We have someone on our board and the whole board will watch for new releases. We\u2019ll have a fun listening party with the club, so that That\u2019s something that we do just to kind of keep up with current music,\u201d Hembree said. \u201cBut then, like I said earlier, there are so many styles of music that are played throughout WECX. I think we cover everything. There\u2019s not a genre or style that isn\u2019t coming out of WECX, which is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their most recent listening party was for a new Harry Styles album.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorensen said WECX lost its ability to broadcast over FM when their antenna was destroyed by a hurricane. So Eckerd College students listen on the web at WECX.org. They hope to have an app soon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the same Princeton Review list, the University of South Florida\u2019s student radio station was ranked 25.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"771\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Eckerd-College-by-SeanK-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida\" class=\"wp-image-268384\"  \/>Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL. By Se\u00e1n Kinane \/ WMNF (Oct. 2026).<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WECX student leaders Taj Sorensen (l.), Bergen Hembree and Vivian Codiga. By Se\u00e1n Kinane \/ WMNF (Oct. 2026).&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[46671,1774,113,7290,31684,6142,202,204,203,199,201,200,3384],"class_list":["post-428805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-classic-rock","tag-eckerd-college","tag-education","tag-higher-education","tag-punk","tag-radio","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}