Sean Carolan

Throughout college I have been involved in WVAU, American University’s student-run radio station. I worked my way up from having a weekly radio show to being the general manager, and have learned a lot about the music and broadcast industries along the way.

At WVAU I have worn a couple of different hats, from hosting my own radio show to being the Station Manager, to events management and running the whole ship.

I have hosted a weekly radio show for the past eight semesters. When I hosted it alone my freshman year it was called “The Seanshank Redemption”, but once I started hosting a show with my friend Luke it became known as “SNL” (Sean N Luke). We usually play punk rock and emo music, but we occasionally stray into funk, hip-hop, and heavy metal. It’s more of an eclectic taste of what Luke and I have been listening to over the week, interspersed with dialogue about movies we saw or what’s in the news.

At WVAU I also worked as the Station Manager during my sophomore and junior years, handling budgeting and studio access for the entire station while also making improvements to our office space. I was also charged with putting together our compilation of artists who came by for in-studio sessions, and was responsible for drawing up contracts to make sure we had the proper rights to each song on the album. Our compilations, called “Live in the Hive”, can be found on Bandcamp.

In my senior year I held the role of General Manager, and was in charge of running the whole station. As general manager I supervised the programming, web, tech, music, station, art, promo, and events departments of the station. WVAU is one of American University’s largest student organizations, with over 150 active members contributing to the station’s music programming and web content. WVAU also puts on concerts and events for the American University community, and frequently collaborates with other student organizations. During my time as general manager I helped plan, organize, and staff three concerts, multiple open mic nights, a speaking event, and a prom for the WVAU community.

As a part of our “Capitol Punishment” concert series, during the fall 2016 semester WVAU brought Frankie Cosmos, Girlpool, and Big Hush to campus to play a free show for AU students. The event was held in a medium-sized venue on campus and drew around 250  students. You can find the Facebook event here, and below is the poster our art director, Isabella Lucy, made to promote the show on campus and on social media.

During the Spring 2017 semester WVAU brought up-and-coming artists Abhi//Dijon and Rayana Jay to campus as part of our “Capitol Punishment” concert series. The concert was held in a smaller venue than the Frankie Cosmos and Girlpool show, but drew around 90 students. You can find the Facebook event here, and our poster for the show below (Poster created by Art Director Suah Cheong).

Our final event of the semester was our annual prom for members of the WVAU and American University student media community. This year we held a 150-person, 2000’s-themed dance party complete with food, drinks, lighting, and four DJ’s at the Hillyer Art Space in Dupont Circle. We invited guests through Facebook, sold tickets through Eventbrite, and contracted out services for food, drinks, and lights. On the day of the event I was responsible for coordinating the setup, running, and tear-down of the event.

(Poster also created by our Art Director Suah Cheong).