Before the consumerism-ridden Valentine’s Day weekend, Suffolk University’s Free Radio station staff brought their audio expertise to lovebirds across campus.
For just $5, students could deliver the backtrack to their own love stories and heartbreaks to a partner, or for themselves. In the endless sea of dating apps and modern hookup culture tainting a holiday all about love, the retro boombox-on-the-shoulder type of yearning is back thanks to the radio stations e-board and staff.
From song selection, burning the CDs and the case cover and design, the process of making a mixtape for a lover or an ex has been a tall task for the WSFR team. The event has been going on for nearly a whole week, starting with a callout to the Suffolk community offering the service. The finale? A swarm of students finally getting their hands on the CDs Feb. 10.
WSFR’s Vice President and Music Director Charlotte Martin didn’t think it would be hard to have the Suffolk student body to buy in to analog affection. The way record players remain a staple in apartments and dorms when we have a cell phone in hand, or wired headphones stay in fashion, sometimes people just want to pretend the dating scene of 2026 is not our reality.
“I’m such a huge fan of physical media. I have a record player at home. We have DVDs at the apartment,” said Charlotte Martin. “This is kind of transporting us a little bit out of modern day hookup culture and dating apps, and bringing something that’s a little bit more romantic to the situation.”
For President Liv Haydar, the CD is a time machine to the 2000s. It’s the personalization of physical media that makes it an evergreen opportunity.
“I mean, someone actually put in the effort to burn this CD, to go online, find your songs, put it onto the CD,” said Haydar. “Everybody knows, 2016 is kind of coming back. I kind of want to bring it, like 2006 back, you know? I want cassettes, I want CDs.”
This is bigger than the CDs for WSFR though. Radio is inherently an analog way of communicating. Showing up for an event like this isn’t just to reignite a physical media phenomenon, but to remind Suffolk that the club’s presence can last through the current digital renaissance.
“Going back to analog days, I mean, we’re the radio station. We are analog. Even though we are web based, we will always be analog, vinyls, CDs, we just want to kind of bring it back,” said Haydar.
Allie Martin, WSFR’s Public Relations and Web Editor, has seen a shift in music’s communal nature. With headphones and Spotify being the norm, stereo has become a solitary activity. The radio station and these CDs could hopefully be a return to form for analog.
“We want people to be listening to music on more than just on their phone,” said Allie Martin. “You can listen to the radio around other people like you listen to it in the car, and the CD is kind of like the same thing where it’s like A, you can make it for somebody else and B, with like a CD player, that’s a whole communal experience.”
That community is exactly what WSFR wants to cultivate. Anything earned from the CDs will sponsor the club’s spring concert, which is just another way the club is putting music lovers together, as Live Production Manager Nicki Birangi explains.
“I think any music comes from the community. Music brings people together. You go to live shows, you have a great time,” said Birangi. “We are fundraising for a big concert. But I think it is a good way to get our game out there. I feel like nobody else is doing it around here.”
The meaning behind the music on the CDs is what really counts for the Suffolk students who participated. When designing their mixtape covers, freshmen Amelia West shared how far five love songs can go. From first dates to movie nights, songs are a reminder of her Valentine.
“I put ‘Where Is My Mind’ by Pixies because he introduced me to ‘Fight Club.’ Every time I hear the song, I think of watching the movie with him,” said West. “‘See you Again’ by Tyler the Creator, because there’s this lyric that is ‘cupid hit me with precision,’ but we met at our job called Precision Gymnastics. It was kind of a play on words.”
Even platonically, the idea soars. Mixtape made for roommates, or yourself, still have the same sentimental value.
“I just think it’s really cool to own songs that you just love,
and I just want to get into physical media. I wish I did have a CD player and maybe this will get me to buy me one,” said freshman Lily Ammeran.
Anyone who made a donation to WSFR was also entered into the perfect Valentine’s day date drawing. Up for grabs was an AMC gift card, candy and two pairs of WSFR branded sweatpants. The permanence of the CD stands-out, but the club sponsored perfect date night is surely something to be remembered.
And while memories of a date night and a handpicked mixtape are to be cherished forever, Haydar hoped that someone got even more lucky with their CD.
“This thing would probably get you out of a situationship and into a relationship,” said Haydar.
