Despite cast members being locked out of the studio, the radio show “Trash Talk” is entering its third semester on WINR Eagle Air, Winthrop’s radio station run through the department of mass communication.
The two-hour long student-run talk show covers topics such as politics, pop culture, music, fashion and on-campus issues through the lens of six Winthrop students. Cast members Ryen Cohen, Evan Santiago, Sadie Glaze and Spencer Langston are returning members, along with newcomers Tate Walden and Grace Johnson.
Junior mass communication major Evan Santiago says the first episode of the semester was delayed by 50 minutes due to the studio door being locked. “It was really crazy. The content was great, the episode went smoothly except for the fact that we got locked out of the studio. We arrived at the studio probably 15 minutes early to find nobody there, so that was challenging having to overcome that. But we’re constantly put in the position where we have to overcome challenges in order to get an episode out,” Santiago said.
According to Santiago, the cast members then went live on Instagram to engage with their audience members, delivering “Trash Talk” content even though they did not have access to the studio. “We’re hoping that our listeners kind of transferred from Instagram live onto the TuneIn app to listen to us go live on air,” Santiago said. “But we’re never provided statistics on how many listeners we get for a show, so there’s not really any way to know.”
New cast members Grace Johnson and Tate Walden were split between the two hours in order to place them with “veteran” members. “We’re fairly confident that they are already fitting in very nicely,” Santiago said.
“We separated the two new on-air talents just so they could both kind-of ease in more comfortably, and so we had veterans sort-of leading the conversation,” said junior mass communication major Spencer Langston. “But they both did very well, and I think they more than proved themselves to be very good on-air.”
Johnson, a sophomore theatre major, also felt that she and Walden fit in effectively with the rest of the cast. “I think it went really well. I was really proud of myself because I feel like I was very nervous, and I had a lot happening beforehand,” Johnson said. “Being able to still put out such good content, I think it went really well. All of us as a group did really awesome, especially for the first episode.”
In this season of the show, cast members will reportedly be introducing more opinion and debate-based content. “I think last season we kind-of held back from major controversial topics,” Santiago said. “And whenever we would talk about controversial topics, we would place ourselves with other on-air talents that agreed with us, and there was never any sort of friction on–air. We think it’s important to present both sides of any important topic.”
The first episode included a debate between Santiago and Langston about diversity during homecoming. “Spencer and I didn’t necessarily agree on [the] topic, and although we’re still great friends and colleagues outside of the studio, it was refreshing for us and our listeners for us to butt heads a little bit and present two sides to a situation,” Santiago said.
Johnson said she and Walden will also bring unique experiences and viewpoints to future debates. “We have a lot of interesting topics coming and I think especially with myself and Tate being added onto the crew, we bring in different perspectives,” Johnson said. “I’m a member of the LGBTQ community, and we both have different perspectives on different things. I would expect more perspective-based conversations and tea. We’re going to be spilling some tea.”
Langston says listeners can expect “more trashiness, more hilarity, and less censorship” from the upcoming season, and also says the show will feature segments based around the individual cast members’ personalities.
According to Santiago, the show will also become more accessible for listeners. “We are also working on going digital, which means that our listeners will soon be able to stream us from our own personal website instead of having to go to the TuneIn app. They can stream previous episodes instead of having to catch us live on air,” Santiago said.
“Trash Talk” is on Eagle Air from 8-10 p.m. on Monday nights. Students can listen using the TuneIn app, or by visiting @WUEagleAir on Twitter and using the link in the bio.
