Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Thursday nights have always been a kind of throwaway night, unnecessary in the same way that all-day Wednesday is. Wednesdays have Kickin’ Flicks. Fridays have Karaoke. What has Thursday ever had for a regular event? “The Office” airs on NBC on Thursdays, but does that half-hour slice really count? Running around with backpacks transporting alcohol from dorm to dorm is incredibly lame for “thirsty Thursday.” Luckily for those of you around the Orono area, WMEB aims to change your Thursday night blues.
Every Thursday night, WMEB brings their portable DJ console and DJs to play music on the first floor of the Bear Brew. This is the Bear Brew’s College Night, and it is free to get in for all the music your heart desires. While this event has only been going on for the past two weeks, last year WMEB tried to put on a similar night at Soma 36 on Sundays. Unfortunately, the turnout for those nights was small and the DJ nights on Thursday at the Bear Brew have already gained more of an audience.
“We were doing the Sunday thing for a while, and it was going alright. Then we just decided to cut it after a couple of weeks,” said Tom Grucza, station manager of WMEB. “Then we were approached again to do Thursday nights. So we just hang out at the bottom floor and play music from 10 to 1.”
The turnout has been pleasing up to this point. “It’s been two weeks so it’s hard to tell. But it’s been pretty good so far without us really telling anybody about it,” Grucza said. “We’re hoping that more people stick around downstairs, because we realize that there are people who go to the Bear Brew that don’t necessarily get into what they play at Soma.”
As for music, it is an incredibly eclectic mix. “We have a random mix mash of DJs,” said Patrick Anderson, promotions director at WMEB. As for what they play, Anderson said “progressive, sort of underground music and music that people can relate to and enjoy.”
“Normally Patrick [Anderson] will start off, and play a lot of hip-hop. And then my brother will spin or somebody else, and they will usually do some more dance-like stuff. Then Ethan [Lavendier] will usually wrap the night up around 12:15 or so and play some mellow reggae and stuff,” Grucza said.
The staff at WMEB hopes that Thursday nights at the Bear Brew will gain a larger listening audience for the actual WMEB station. “We’ll get our name out there a little more, show people different types of music that we enjoy and it gives us more freedom to play music that we really like,” said Anderson, with the last comment referring to FCC regulations that the station must abide by, which restrict what can and cannot be played on the radio.
WMEB DJs can be seen every Thursday night spinning a wide variety of music for the citizens of Orono from 10 p.m. until 1 p.m. Admission to this weekly event is, as mentioned earlier, free.
Bangor Daily News