By: Tiffany Boggs
Communication major Emma Redden (class of 2025) joined WGMU Radio during her freshman year at Mason and stayed involved all four years of her undergraduate career. Her popular Retro Rewind radio show featured music from the 1960s to the 1990s alongside trivia and background information about her favorite songs and artists. In addition to her role as DJ, Emma developed her leadership skills during her sophomore year when she was promoted to the role of program director, overseeing staff training, scheduling on-air content, and assisting the general manager with day-to-day operations. Redden also wrote album reviews for wgmuradio.com and worked behind-the-scenes to produce WGMU’s audio broadcasts of men’s and women’s basketball games (she even returned as an alumni in spring 2026 to assist with basketball production).
All that experience across different areas of radio paid off post-graduation when Redden landed a full-time job at Audacy, the second-largest radio company in the United States with over 200 million monthly listeners and 220 stations (including D.C.’s 106.7 The Fan).
Redden credits Student Media and WGMU as an important part of her life as a Mason student and a vital training ground that prepared her for career success in her chosen field: “WGMU gave me everything in terms of radio, not just on-air, but [also insight into] different revenues of radio to prepare me for this position. I was able to go in and say, ‘Hey, anything you need I can pretty much do.’”
In her current role as a sales assistant at Audacy, Redden is applying and extending the knowledge she gained at Student Media. In the D.C. market, where Audacy, Inc. owns six music and sports stations, Redden assists account executives with clients who purchased radio time, specialty programming, and audio commercials. “I help make sure that content is created that it’s put into the system correctly,” she said. Redden shared that, on occasion, she’ll get to work with on-air programming during live broadcasts and promotion to advertise the station. “So, I get to do a little bit of everything, which I love.”
Reflecting on her WGMU experience brought back fond memories for Redden, notably the station’s annual “Name That Song” event where students correctly guess the name of a song to win prizes. Redden recalls how in spring 2024, the team “put the pedals to the medals” to make sure that event was amplified across campus by passing out flyers around campus, advertising on Instagram, and even painting a pillar outside on Wilkins Plaza. Some of her proudest moments were when people came up to her afterwards saying that it was WGMU’s best event since COVID-19.
Redden is thankful for her time at Student Media and called it “the heartbeat of campus.” She misses being on-air at Mason but is proud of the legacy she left behind: “It is time for me to pass the baton to the new generation. It is now their time.”
Photos provided by: Emma Redden