By Preston Wittwer
- New Internet radio station provides platform for local Utah musicians, podcasts
- Launch of the new program will be celebrated with a free concert at Velour Live Music Gallery
- Creators Jordan Huey and Eric Collyer started with the podcast “Love Bytes” and sought a larger audience
There is an endless supply of podcasts and new music that can’t seem to find an audience or recognition from a large audience. Two students have come up with a simple solution — create your own radio station to play your content.
Jordan Huey and Eric Collyer are the founders of This University Life, an Internet radio station created to provide a place for local musicians and podcasters to express themselves. Huey, 24, from San Francisco, studies mechanical engineering while Collyer, 23, from La Canada, Calif., studies environmental science.
The duo helped create a podcast last year called “Love Bytes,” which addressed the pitfalls and difficulties of dating, and wanted to make their podcast available to a larger audience. After struggling to find an outlet for their podcast, they decided to create their own radio station and invite musicians and podcasters in similar situations to provide the content.
“That’s exactly what we have,” Collyer said. “Local artists, local podcasters — and we just put everything together and made a radio station.”
The radio station’s official launch and accompanying kick-off concert is Thursday, but the station is already available online at thisuniversitylife.com. Huey and Collyer only began working on the station a few months ago, but it didn’t take long to find volunteers to provide material. As news of the radio station spread among Utah Valley musicians, the support of the bands and artists quickly followed.
“When we started we only had 10 bands,” Huey said. “Now we’ve almost tripled that in about a month. Word is starting to get around, at least around the bands. We just need to get listeners going to create the perfect symmetry.”
Deciding to celebrate the launch in style with a free concert, they found a sponsor with Kalood.com, a venue at Velour Live Music Gallery, and local artists The Young Electric, j.wride, The Baldwin Games and Jenna Baker to provide the musical entertainment.
Jenna Baker, 20, from Washington D.C., has been involved in the Provo music scene for years and was hand picked by the concert organizers to open the show. She said she is excited for the unique opportunity to share her music with everyone who comes out to offer their support.
“First of all, its free, so who wouldn’t want to come to a free show,” Baker said. “Second of all, because this is going to be some of the best bands around Utah and it’s going to be a rare opportunity to see them all perform in one night. And it’s my birthday. My actual birthday.”
The concert starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Velour Live Music Gallery, on 135 N. University Avenue.
