#SaveWRAS Movement

Many Atlantans remember “Album 88,” or WRAS Atlanta, Georgia State University’s student-run radio station. You may also remember its demise as we knew it in 2014, when Georgia Public Broadcasting (GBP) strategically stole the airwaves from the student DJs.

The public was outraged. Station supporters went to social media with the hashtag #SaveWRAS and waged war with peaceful protests, a press conference and a benefit concert named WRAS-stravaganza. I was involved in many of these efforts, as well the designs that accompanied them. Sadly, on June 2, 2014, the contract with GPB went into effect.

WRAS was once widely regarded as an Atlanta staple, where many artists got their first big exposure — a list spanning four decades that includes the B-52s, REM, Deerhunter, Outkast, Collective Soul, and the Indigo Girls. Broadcasting at 100,000 watts, it was the most powerful student-run radio station in the nation.

I was the last music director before the GPB takeover. For three years, I selected the songs heard in the station’s album-based regular rotation. I also hosted Soul Kitchen, a Saturday night soul and funk show, as DJ Freight Train. I met many close friends and made some of my fondest college memories while working at Album 88.