{"id":44920,"date":"2020-02-18T11:11:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T16:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=44920"},"modified":"2020-02-19T16:29:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T21:29:17","slug":"wbtx-southern-gospel-archive-grows-thanks-to-re-discovered-wemc-gems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/wbtx-southern-gospel-archive-grows-thanks-to-re-discovered-wemc-gems\/","title":{"rendered":"WBTX southern gospel archive grows thanks to re-discovered WEMC gems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earthly runners may be healthy, but a better race is on \u2013 won\u2019t you come and join the runners, Maranatha Marathon \u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe upbeat, jazzy melodies of this 1979 Honeytree track recently graced the airwaves of WBTX, a southern gospel radio station just down the road from Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Broadway. That song was played directly from an old vinyl record, thanks to the archival efforts of EMU digital media <\/em>major Chris Runion<\/strong>, who works part-time at the radio station. The record itself is one of about 60 that he reclaimed from the archives of WEMC \u2013 the radio station<\/a> formerly run by EMU students and staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reclaimed albums are all southern gospel and early contemporary Christian music that fits with WBTX\u2019s repertoire. One of Runion\u2019s responsibilities is running the hour-long Retro Countdown every week, showcasing southern gospel tracks from the past 50 years. But the nature of the program presents specific challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have discovered that, unfortunately, southern gospel is a genre that is not very well archived. Most of the music from the sixties, seventies, and eighties exists only on vinyl record \u2013 many albums were never released to cassette or CD unlike practically all other genres,\u201d Runion explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chris Runion (right) with Jim Snavely, WBTX’s program director, holding a few of the records salvaged from EMU’s Astral Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of my biggest fears is that if this music, this southern gospel history, is not preserved nor introduced to new generations of listeners, it will be lost entirely,\u201d said Runion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last summer, Runion began a quest to expand WBTX\u2019s southern gospel archives, starting with just about 100 records. Today, they have close to 700, thanks to donations from private collections, purchases, and thrift store finds. He came across the WEMC records during an audio production class in the station\u2019s former broadcasting home, Astral Hall,<\/a> the original planetarium and astronomy society building on the top of the Hill overlooking campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Runion got in contact with Matt Bingay<\/strong>, the executive director and general manager at WMRA, which manages WEMC as a classical music station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just wanted to offer perhaps a way that these records could see new life and be of use again, if they\u2019re currently not in use,\u201d Runion wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am thrilled that WBTX is interested in preserving and using them. Please proceed with my enthusiastic support,\u201d Bingay responded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Runion has since catalogued the records and added them to WBTX\u2019s collection, to play directly from the vinyl and dub, or transfer, tracks over to CDs for future use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe records themselves are in great condition,\u201d Runion said. \u201cThe few records that I have played from the WEMC collection sound amazing.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earthly runners may be healthy, but a better race is on \u2013 won\u2019t you come and join the runners, Maranatha Marathon \u2026  The upbeat, jazzy melodies of this 1979 Honeytree ... read more about WBTX southern gospel archive grows thanks to re-discovered WEMC gems<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":44923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,7931,17562,12507],"tags":[5944],"feature":[17427,17426,17422],"class_list":["post-44920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-arts","category-digest","category-vaca","tag-giving","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nWBTX southern gospel archive grows thanks to re-discovered WEMC gems - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/wbtx-southern-gospel-archive-grows-thanks-to-re-discovered-wemc-gems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WBTX southern gospel archive grows thanks to re-discovered WEMC gems - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earthly runners may be healthy, but a better race is on \u2013 won\u2019t you come and join the runners, Maranatha Marathon \u2026  The upbeat, jazzy melodies of this 1979 Honeytree\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/wbtx-southern-gospel-archive-grows-thanks-to-re-discovered-wemc-gems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-18T16:11:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-19T21:29:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/02\/DSC_0237-1000px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Randi B. 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