Whether you’re a regular listener, a Georgia Tech student, or one of our very own radio operators, we at WREK Atlanta are excited to share with you the first issue of our brand new monthly newsletter, “tuned in.” This collaborative project is meant to encapsulate all that us operators are getting up to! Let’s get straight to the updates:

New Dummy-Operators

Sixty-six new dummy-operators are in the studio getting hands-on training from experienced operators. We actually capped out on the amount of new people we could take on (only so many hours in a week, only so many operators willing and able to train). These new folks are weekly learning how to run the board, navigate our vast library of music, spin vinyl, announce tracks, and so on. Before they know it, they’ll be ready to run shows on their own! Some students who weren’t able to start training this semester are still contributing to the station by joining one or more of our many sub-teams: Engineering, Music Directing, Operations, News, Live Sound, and the Design Collective.

New Executive Team / Memorial Day Exec Takeover

Not only did we take on a bunch of new members, we also cycled in a brand new set of executives to help keep the station running. On Memorial Day (September 1st), the whole executive team took over the usual broadcast, each member getting to share some of their favorite tunes for half an hour. Did you see a post about it on Insta? That would’ve been the product of our lovely new Publicity Director, Nova! Noticing new promos or any improvements to our automation program? Sally, our new Auto Czar, is making that happen! If you’ve been around the station recently and noticed some new decor on the walls — that effort was spearheaded by Aneesh who is now the Studio Director. I (one of the new Members at Large) could go on and on about this awesome new team, but instead will highlight what all our new Booking Director, Local Music Coordinator and Live Sound Director have accomplished this semester (Marleigh, Nate and Theo, respectively).

Live at WREK — Staff Show / Back on YouTube

Every Tuesday night at 10PM, Live at Wrek (L@W) has had a local or touring act play live from our lobby over the radio waves. They kicked the semester off (August 19th) as usual though with a staff show featuring our very own operators. Five acts performed: Chase sang and played acoustic, Ayan (our new WREK Historian) showed off an acoustic piece composed earlier that day, Christian covered MJ Lenderman with acoustic, Marleigh and Nate covered Wednesday with acoustic and lapsteel, Nate and Joe ended the night with a some wild breakcore using a couple 404s. In the weeks following, L@W has had a variety of performers come in. Here’s a list (more info can be found at wrek.org/shows/live):

-- Evil Beezus played on August 26th,
-- Cheerleader on September 2nd,
-- The Cleaners on the 9th,
-- Charley’s Horse on the 16th,
-- Muelas on the 23rd,

and last but certainly not least, Total Wife (who performed at Wrektacular 2025) came to the station and recorded a set that premiered on the night of the 30th both on air and on YouTube (embedded below). If you didn’t hear it then, definitly go check out the video now (it includes an unreleased track btw)! As we move through the semester, keep an eye on that channel, as we’ll be releasing some past L@Ws, current L@Ws, and maybe some other things too.

Big Thief’s Double Infinity Release Listening Party at Rocky’s

Brooklyn-based folk rock band Big Thief and their label, 4AD, helped us set up a day-of-release listening party of their newest album Double Infinity. On Friday, September 5th, Rocky Mountain Pizza (a frequent WREK and GT Musicians’ Network collaborator) let us host the event on their back patio. The event was also streamed live on air with the help of the Engineering Team's new Mobile Broadcast Rig. We had a great turnout and the album should be joining our regular on-air rotation soon!

Electronic Sound Systems — Back on the decks

Did you know that L@W isn’t the only show to bring local artists into the station? Electronic Sound Systems (ESS), on hiatus for a good minute, is now back on air Saturday Nights at 9PM hosting local Atlanta DJs who spin all kinds of electronic beats. Here’s who they’ve had so far this semester:

-- Like L@W, ESS started off with a staff b2b on August 16th,
-- Pop Up House Headz, our end-of-each-month residents, played on the 23rd alongside Debbie Graham
-- Sugarice came in on the 30th,
-- Samson on September 6th,
-- twofold on the 13th,
-- Don Fairylèon on the 20th,
-- and Pop Up House Headz returned on the 27th.

“Tune in every Saturday night for live DJs from Tech and around Atlanta. 20+ years and counting.” — wrek.org/shows/electronic-soundsystem

Album Speed Dating – Bring an album, find a date

On the last Friday of September, our Operations Team, lead by Tyler, brought back an event we debuted in February of this year, "Album Speed Dating." The premise is simple: participants each bring one of their favorite albums, are paired up with another person, share a song from the album with that person while listening to a song from that person's album, discuss, then the pairs change and participants start over with a new person.

New Music in Rotation

Since the start of the semester, 25 albums have been added to our regular rotation. Of those, 3 joined the Just Jazz soundblock, 17 were added to Rock Rhythm and Roll (RRR), 3 to Electronic, and 2 to our Weekend Programming. Some of my personal favorites include Adult Romantix by Winter, Cutthroat by shame, and SISTER by Frost Children.

Upcoming Events in October

To celebrate today, October 3rd, being College Radio Day, WREK will have a number of events in the first half of the month. We'll be having a picnic in Piedmont Park on Saturday, October 4th from 11AM-2PM with Atlanta's other college radio stations WMRE and WRAS. Then, on Wednesday the 8th, you can find all three stations again tabling around Tech Green to promote the CRD concert that is happening on 8pm Saturday, October 11th at Eyedrum. Looking even further, this month WREK operators will be getting a headstart on planning for our annual music festival, Wrektacular. Don't expect too many public updates for a while, but know that our team will be cooking up something incredible.

THANK YOU! That's all for the first issue of this year's newsletter, but you can always stay tuned in to us on 91.1FM or here on wrek.org