WONC 89.1FM

Pure Rock FM89: The Radio Voice of North Central College

Featured Posts

Nick Jonas Gets Personal With Sunday Best

by Sarah Christenson Nick Jonas has been teasing an upcoming solo album with his single “Gut Punch” for a few months. He’d been back with his brothers, performing and making music, releasing their album Greetings From Your Hometown August 8, 2025. Nick hadn’t released any solo albums since Spaceman

Featured

Hamnet: A Story of Love, Loss, and Legacy

by Victoria Camarda The 2025 film Hamnet, directed by Chloe Zhao and co-written by Maggie O’Farrell, is based on the 2020 Hamnet novel written by O’Farrell. Starring Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare and Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare, it dives into the tragic life of Shakespeare, his wife, and

Featured

Marty Supreme is Anything but Ordinary

by Aidan McGuire As a person very involved in academics, I rarely have time in my schedule to go to the movies, much to my own disappointment because I’m a self-proclaimed “film guy.” But when my close friend recently asked me to see a movie about ping pong on

Culture Shock

Preview of The Fall-Off

by Jayden Lawrence On January 14, J. Cole announced he’ll be dropping his presumed final studio album, The Fall-Off on February 6. It’s Cole’s first LP since 2021’s The Off-Season, and he’s been working on it since even before the release of The Off-Season. The album was initially teased

Featured

Who Won the MLB Offseason?

by Dylan Gantz The MLB offseason is nearly done, yet it feels like it’s only been a couple of weeks since the Dodgers won game 7 of the World Series in November. The reason could be the crazy offseason filled with stars on the free agent market; it was

Featured

Love Knows No Bounds in CHUU’s XO, My Cyberlove

by Hailie Balding CHUU is ready to make 2026 another great year with the release of her first studio album, XO, My Cyberlove. The album dropped January 7, and I’ve had it on repeat since. The album is filled with heartfelt tracks from CHUU, and it’s one of her

Featured

Horror Is Starting to Get the Respect It Deserves

by Jesse Hudgins In 2023, I wrote that horror deserved much more respect in the mainstream, especially from the Academy. Three years later, I am happy to say that we are making some progress. Within this year’s Oscars, 27 nominations across all categories are horror-related. Sinners received a record-breaking

Featured

Lola’s Showbiz Studies: Musicals, Musicals, and More Musicals

by Lola Furbee It’s been a hot minute since I’ve gotten around to writing one of these, and it’s been almost a whole year since the first edition of this series, so to reintroduce myself, my name is Lola Furbee, and I really love theatre. I’m currently in my

Featured

My Top Ten Albums of 2025

by Jesse Hudgins 2025 was a stunning year for music, with great albums coming throughout the year across different genres. There wasn’t a time of the year when there wasn’t a good release to jam out to. For me, this was the first year where I actively made sure

Featured

Try Our Exclusive Coffee Roasts

Need a pick-me-up? We have our own coffee roasts! We worked with the North Central College Coffee Lab to create two delicious roasts to pair with our music. You’ll also support WONC with your purchase and help us continue to play the best music on your radio! To keep you

Music

Featured

Scenes from the Saxophone Section: Steve Slagle

by Tyler Schmitz For the final Scenes from the Saxophone Section for the 2025 fall semester, Steve Slagle was up for this Sunday’s setlist. Slagle’s biggest influences were those of Latin jazz, as that’s where his professional career started. Two of his earliest gigs were working for Machito’s Afro-Cuban

Music

You Need to Stop Cheating Your Spotify Wrapped

by Mia Stachura As displayed by the flood of Instagram Stories and TikTok Live discussions, Spotify has officially dropped its annual gift to all its listeners, paid membership or not. This gift, officially known as “Spotify Wrapped,” is a cutesy collection of our yearly music habits presented to us

Music

Mariachi In Mainstream Pop Music

by Isabelle Arroyo The room fills with the sound of trumpets, violins, and the guitarron when all of a sudden you hear “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. This unexpected combination of music occurred during their most recent tour across Mexico where they were joined by mariachi to

Music

Scenes from the Saxophone Section: Von Freeman

by Tyler Schmitz Von Freeman was this week’s featured player for the Scenes from the Saxophone Section, and he’s one of many jazz musicians to be part of a war effort. That’s right, Freeman was old enough to enlist into World War II, but this was more of an

Music

The Best Day of My Life: Seeing Pierce the Veil Live

by Itzel Nunez As a big music lover, going to concerts is one of the best experiences. Instead of saving up to go on vacation or buy myself something expensive, I would much rather buy concert tickets and get to hear my favorite musicians live. This year was the

Music

Music Tells a Story

by Holly Salazar Ramirez The beauty of music is that there’s no right or wrong way to interpret a song. Music has become one of the most impactful forms of storytelling, so powerful that it can surpass language barriers and cultural differences. It evokes emotions using vivid words and

Music

Scenes from the Saxophone Section: Allen Eager

by Tyler Schmitz For this week’s edition of Sunday Standards, I was in a bit of a bebop mood. So for the Scenes From the Saxophone Section, I decided to spotlight a hard bop specialist, Allen Eager. Now, Eager was a bit of a prodigy, I mean the guy

WONC Sports

Featured

Who Won the MLB Offseason?

Sports

An Ode to Medieval Cage Fighting

By Paloma Mena Saturday, October 25, marked a shift in my relationship with sports. Never in my life had I cheered so loudly, nor been so invested, as when I was watching two people in knight’s armor battle for glory in a cage fight. If you’re confused, I was,

Morgan Piontek

The Championship 4 is set for the NASCAR Cup Series

by Morgan Piontek The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series finale is upon us with a champion set to be crowned in Phoenix this Sunday, November 2nd. With the current playoff format, four drivers will be racing for a championship, while the rest of the field will be racing for their

Sports

Chicago Bears Hope to Continue Their Hot Streak

by Anthony Licata The Chicago Bears have gotten off to a hot start in the new season. They’re 4-2 and hope to continue their hot streak this week against the Baltimore Ravens. This will be a test for the Bears to prove to the league that they have a

Sports

What We’ve Seen and What to Expect from the Blackhawks Gen-Z Stars

by Cassie Schneider As of October 19, the Chicago Blackhawks are entering their 7th game of the 2025-2026 season. During the preseason, they played quite sloppy, winning only two of six games. There’s always the excuse of “having young talent,” or it being “a building year,” but how long can

Specialty Shows

Jesse Hudgins

Joker: Folie A Deux Trailer Finally Debuts

by Jesse Hudgins After years of anticipation and speculation on whether the movie would even be happening, the sequel to the 2019 movie Joker has gotten its first trailer. Dropping on April 9, the trailer gives us our first look at what to expect from what’s said to be a

Jesse Hudgins

The Crow Needs to Be Left Alone

by Jesse Hudgins This year, we’ll be getting a new adaptation of The Crow, the first in 19 years. It’ll star Bill Skarsgard as Eric Draven (The Crow) as he takes revenge on the group that killed him and his fiancé Shelly, played by FKA Twigs. This is a project that

Alternage

Contemplative Pop Punk: Neck Deep at The Salt Shed

by Chloe Kallberg After four months across the pond and on the road, Neck Deep’s second American tour came to a close in Chicago on February 25. Tucked into a tiny and expensive parking spot, my friends and I emptied our pockets, flashed our tickets, and permeated the Salt Shed

Jesse Hudgins

The Time Has Come for Sony to Sell Spider-Man

by Jesse Hudgins For nearly 25 years, Sony has owned the rights to Spider-Man and the characters connected to him. In that time, we’ve had 11 films using the Spider-Man characters under the Sony banner, nine live-action and two animated, with the latest being Madame Web with Kraven the

Alternage

2024 Music Predictions

by Jesse Hudgins and Chloe Kallberg Alternage is approaching its third birthday, which means we’ve been closely following release schedules of our favorite punk, pop punk, emo, and alternative genres since we began college. Meshed with our own personal wish lists, here are three predictions we have for what’s in

Jesse Hudgins

FX Deserves Their Flowers

Over the years there have been TV channels that have reigned supreme as those with the best original content. Whether it be AMC with Breaking Bad and Walking Dead or HBO with Game of Thrones and The Sopranos, each channel had their time at the top. There’s been one channel,

Alternage

Alternage Retrospective: Milo Goes to College

“I want to be stereotyped; I want to be classified.” These are lyrics that can apply to any generation of music listener. They were written by California punks Descendents and were released on the 1982 album Milo Goes to College. Descendents are a California punk band that formed in 1977

Crossroads

The Crossroads Artist Highlight: Bryan Martin

by Sam Corbett The Crossroads is one of the newest shows on FM89, meaning a whole new batch of genres, artists, and songs. Outlaw country rock, southern rock, shadow country, and delta blues are just some of the genres that the show will highlight. While I’m excited to bring new

Jordan Mark

Pop Stop: Have We Lost Our Minds?

by Jordan Mark A pop show on a rock station. The same station that’s dedicated itself to keeping the rock spirit alive and running for decades. The station that prides itself on playing the classics to the cutting edge. FM89 is that sanction to keep you moving in the world,

Crossroads

The Crossroads: Embrace Your Inner Outlaw

by Sam Corbett We all have an inner outlaw. The voice in your head and in your heart that wants to strut around town with a swagger. That feeling that you don’t always have to listen to others; that you can blaze your own trail. A badass vibe that always

Reviews

Featured

Hamnet: A Story of Love, Loss, and Legacy

Featured

Marty Supreme is Anything but Ordinary

Featured

Love Knows No Bounds in CHUU’s XO, My Cyberlove

Featured

Horror Is Starting to Get the Respect It Deserves

Featured

Lola’s Showbiz Studies: Musicals, Musicals, and More Musicals

Reviews

Stranger Things 5: Will the Finale Disappoint?

by Victoria Camarda Volume 1 of Stranger Things 5 was released on November 26, 2025, and it’s just the beginning of the big three-part finale of the popular show on Netflix. The horror series is written and directed by Matt and Ross Duffer and was first released in 2016.

Reviews

Chicago Museums You’re Missing Out On

by Ricardy Herard Though I haven’t been to Chicago for a long time, I believe the museums the city has to offer have gone underappreciated for a long time. While they may not interest everybody, museums can always be a fun and educational way to spend your time, which

Reviews

Retro Review: The Commitments

by Emma Herder I’ve always had an appreciation for film because of my father. He continuously recommends films for me to watch with him or on my own. As I was taking a History of Ireland class, we watched many different films based on the history of Ireland. I

Reviews

Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave: Less Exciting Than I Hoped

by Preston Rizzo About two weeks ago, Nintendo revealed the newest game in the Fire Emblem franchise. The game is called Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave, and frankly, I’m not too excited about it. I’ve been a fan of the series for about 10 years and played some amount of

Reviews

KPop Demon Hunters Hits All the Right Notes

by Bri Eloiza Unless you’ve been living under a rock, don’t have small children, or don’t have a Netflix account, you’ve most likely heard of a movie called KPop Demon Hunters (a.k.a, the animated movie of the summer, a.a.k.a Netflix’s most streamed movie ever). The story follows a KPop

Alumni Spotlight

Brian Iossi

Years at WONC : 2006-2009 In his time at WONC, Brian hosted one of the longer-running specialty shows, Precious Metal, with a number of people. He also spent time hosting Vintage Rock, and called baseball, softball, and basketball games. After graduating from NCC, Brian began a career in teaching and

Alumni Spotlight

Bob King

Years at WONC: 1977-1981 In his time at WONC, Bob wore many hats. He was an on-air DJ, specialty show host, newscaster, and occasional color commentator for sports broadcasts. He also served as the News Director from 1977-1978, and was the Station Manager from 1980-1981. In 1981, he was named

Alumni Spotlight

Greg Williams

Years at WONC: 2017-2021 In his time at WONC, Greg was a force in the WONC Sports Department. Starting as a color commentator for football, he soon took on the role of play-by-play for almost all NCC football games, and covered baseball, softball, and men’s and women’s basketball games.In December

Alumni Spotlight

Megann Horstead

Years at WONC : 2014-2015 During her short stretch at WONC, Megann made the most of her time, hosting various DJ shifts, as well as frequently covering news, sports, and traffic reporting duties. She used her experience at WONC to earn a programming internship at WDCB Public Radio. After graduating

Alumni Spotlight

Lucas Burris

Years at WONC: 2019-2022 Lucas began his time at WONC doing only newscasts and sports, but his involvement in the sports department was quite heavy. He called many baseball and softball games his first year, even earning Best Play-By-Play (Baseball) at the 2020 Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Awards. His sophomore year,

Concert Photos

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