LAUREN SOVISKY
staff writer

“Erie’s Rock Alternative: 90.5 WERG, that was the Red Hot Chili Peppers with ‘Go Robot.’ Coming up next here is Cage the Elephant with ‘Cold Cold Cold.’”
Molly Cooke, 90.5 WERG’s programming director, announces the next song in her air-shift.
Like so many DJs at Gannon University’s student-run radio station, WERG, Cooke recites popular songs in the alternative rock genre with occasional talk breaks about campus events, special holidays and goofy facts.
Coming this week, however, is a new style of music picked specially by WERG’s radio staff.
At the end of a long year, 90.5 WERG’s radio staff produces a “Staff Picks Show” where the station’s disc jockeys choose their favorite songs from the station’s alternative rock playlist.
However, the staff was too anxious to wait until the end of the year to play their top tunes.
An idea came to mind for a weekly mini staff-picks show where WERG DJs could play their own songs not on the alternative rock playlist.
“We wanted to add more individuality to the station,” said Taylor Wolff, senior medical laboraty science major and news director for WERG.
“Don’t get me wrong, we like what the station plays whether it’s a few songs or a few artists, but we just wanted to share our own playlists with the Erie community.”
WERG plans to introduce a new segment called “Radio Roulette” to its programming.
Beginning Friday, station DJs will upload their own song selections to the station’s directory.
“Some of our staff are interested in music we don’t usually play at the station,” said General Manager Tom Barton, a senior theatre communications major.
“We already have some K-pop, rap and more alternative songs lined up for this Friday that I am pumped to tune in for.”
Starting at 9 p.m., listeners can expect a larger array of music outside the alternative rock genre with three hours of music picked by two DJs each week.
“Although we are a rock station, that doesn’t mean we have to just play rock music,” Cooke said.
“We have the opportunity to really personalize WERG by letting our listeners discover new music that isn’t rock alternative.”
Cooke also said that this new show will not interfere with regular programming. WERG will still play alternative rock music as scheduled with an extra chance to hear something different on Friday nights.
Radio Roulette will begin at 9 p.m. Friday, hosted by Cooke and Wolff.
“We always have the support of our university behind us to express ourselves at this station,” Barton said.
“I am excited to see how our listeners respond to the new music. Hopefully this will become a hit and we can keep it going for years to come.”

LAUREN SOVISKY
[email protected]