The Philadelphia music community has a vital hub just a few blocks from campus, though many Penn students don't know about it.
In the past three months, Counting Crows, Ingrid Michaelson, Feist, Rilo Kiley and Iron and Wine have performed or recorded in-studio interviews at WXPN radio, a professionally run, University-owned radio station located at 30th and Walnut streets.
Because WXPN shares its building with World Cafe Live - a for-profit venue space - the nonprofit station is able to host concerts and events that sometimes feature well-known artists. But students generally don't know about WXPN - whose shows are broadcast nationally - or Y-Rock, an online radio station that partners with WXPN.
According to College freshman Tiffany Ortiz, who works at the station, when people hear about her job, they're surprised at first, but "usually they think it's really cool."
Ortiz and station manager Roger LaMay said they generally don't see a large student presence at events, though LaMay noted that many shows require attendees to be over 21.
While the station's Free at Noon concert series, which features a different group weekly at no cost, is open to all, members of the radio station get first preference for tickets. And though the series attracts well-known artists such as the Counting Crows, 80 percent of shows are not filled to capacity.
College sophomore Chris DeFeliciantonio, a Philadelphia native, went to a concert at World Cafe Live in December and estimated that probably a third of the crowd appeared college-aged.
"It seems like people at Penn don't know it exists," he said, adding that the music would "definitely appeal to students."
The station's relatively unknown status may soon change, though.
According to LaMay, Y-Rock was brought into the fold in order to draw student listeners.
WXPN typically skews to an older listenership, LaMay said.
But Y-Rock, which was originally an online-only radio station, "skews younger" than traditional WXPN shows, because many staff members are between the ages of 18 and 24, Jim McGuinn, program director for Y-Rock, said.
Instead of focusing on traditional advertisements to reach students, WXPN and Y-Rock are trying to reach Penn students in different ways, including a new student-DJing contest called Penn Rocks Y-Rock on WXPN.
Run through a partnership with 34th Street, the contest lets Penn students submit playlists to Y-Rock. Winners will be allowed to DJ their playlists.
And though WXPN is professionally run and managed, it has a long history with Penn and its students.
Though the station was originally operated by students on campus, it lost its license in the late 1970s due to on-air obscenities.
Since then, the University Trustees have held the license and the station has had a staff of mainly professionals.
Still, students have plenty of ways to get involved: The station has about 50 interns or work-study students from Penn. The station also runs a critical writing seminar every fall and has MBA students work on long-term projects related to business aspects of running the station.
"We're glad to have as many Penn students as we've got slots," LaMay said. "We'd like nothing better than to break out the next Penn band."
