This year, WLTL’s annual fundraiser, Rock-A-Thon, will be held Feb. 14-16. The yearly tradition, which started in 1983, will consist of live radio shows nonstop throughout the weekend.

“The part that’s the most fun for me is that as the managers, we get to do overnights,” Operations Director Katie Beyer ‘25 said. “So from midnight to 6 a.m., we’re at the station doing a radio show. And, I think that’s just a really unique experience, especially in high school, to be at your school at like 2 a.m.”

The goal for this year is to reach $30,000, which will be put toward operations costs, as well as reorganizing the learning space of the WLTL room, Beyer said. 

“It’s like a lounge, it’s fun and chill to hang out there, but it’s also where we do all of our work,” Beyer said. “So we want to make it more of a collaborative learning environment with tables and desks.”

Ultimately, the ever changing and advancing technology means that a lot of the money raised must account for replacing and updating equipment, WLTL Advisor Christopher Thomas said. 

“Unfortunately, in the world of media, computers go out of date, microphones stop working, so we have to replace a lot of that, which is what a lot of the money goes toward,” Thomas said.

Preparation for the event as early as October, including choosing the theme, which is the 1980s this year, Thomas said. Roughly a month in advance, is when students began prepping for their shows. Unlike normal scheduling, which has WLTL students each doing two-hour shows once a week, the students will have four to six-hour shifts over the course of the weekend. 

“You get a longer stretch of time that you’re trying to be entertaining for and trying to plan out and connect with an audience for,” Thomas said.

On top of donations, which can be sent in through the WLTL website, wltl.net, students raise money through silent auctions and by reaching out and connecting with local businesses, Beyer said. 

“It is fully student-run,” Beyer said. “It’s almost like a business deal because when businesses give us money, we have certain sponsorship packages, so I think it teaches a lot of valuable lessons about sales.”

Despite all the work that goes into producing the event, it’s something students of WLTL look forward to each year.

“It’s really stressful as a supervisor, but it’s just a lot of fun to watch the kids getting into it,” Thomas said. “This is the weekend they really look forward to. When I talk to alumni and ask them ‘what’d you like about WLTL’ and ‘what were your favorite memories?’ they always inevitably say Rock-A-thon.”

To listen to WLTL, tune into 88.1 FM. A Rock-A-Thon live stream will also be available on Twitch.