Editor’s note: The author, Alex Liberman, previously interned at WSLR, the radio station mentioned in this article.
Sophomores Becca Jones and Cece Agrawal are no strangers to the world of indie music and radio broadcasting. Their show, which airs every other Saturday from 5 to 7 PM on WSLR 96.5, is named for a song by pop artist Chappell Roan, “Femininomenon”, which plays at the beginning of each broadcast.
“[The song] was kind of the basis of what started [the show] — [Roan’s] ideals as a person and what she did in the music industry and in pop culture in general,” Jones said.
The two aim to cultivate a female-focused playlist and highlight musicians who aren’t always played. Some of their favorites include Boygenius, MUNA, and Conan Gray. They also do holiday-themed shows and play older music from the 1990s and 2000s at times.
Jones’ mother also has her own show at WSLR, which led to the two starting Femininomenon in fall 2024. They converse in between the songs, usually about the artist, current trends, or anything they’re interested in at the moment.
“We typically don’t necessarily get political…. But if we do, I feel like our views are almost shown through the music we play and the people we highlight,” Agrawal said.
Jones wants listeners to be able to discover new music and artists through the show. Agrawal added that she didn’t want radio to be seen as a “dead art.” Plus, she hopes to inspire other young people to express themselves.
“[The show] has definitely helped me a lot, I feel like, with public speaking as theater has,” Agrawal said. “At first, it’s so nerve-racking, being like, ‘Oh, what if your friends or family are listening?’ or ‘What if random people are listening?”
There are, in fact, familiar faces tuned in.
“Sometimes I have classmates, or acquaintances, for lack of a better word, come up to me and be like, ‘I listen to your show, by the way….’ I’ve had people I don’t really talk to say that they listen to my show,” Agrawal said.
Jones and Agrawal, like all WSLR programmers, are volunteers, but they’re overseen by Leon Kerber, the radio program director at the station.
“I couldn’t be more proud of what they have accomplished and their journey here at WSLR,” he said in a phone interview. “They came in here when I first started and they were part of the International Women’s Takeover Day, where all the programs here at the station were run and programmed and organized by women. And that was the fantastic beginning for them.”
The show, Kerber said, brings enthusiasm to the station, which in turn reinvigorates some of the older programmers.
“It remotivates them and kind of reminds them why they do this in the first place,” he said.
In addition, they have inspired other young people to apply for programs, some of which will start this fall, or become involved in other ways with WSLR.
“Watching the small little action from [Jones and Agrawal] start to ripple out is happening now, and that’s great to see,” Kerber said.
He mentioned that the students, who were the youngest programmers in WSLR history when their program began, haven’t missed any shows since they started. He also said that it is one of the more popular shows and has received more feedback than any other program because listeners are curious about its content.
“I truly couldn’t be more proud of what they’ve done,” Kerber said.
Photos provided by Cece Agrawal