Finding a groove with Victoria Adams

If you walk past the University of St. Francis’ (USF) radio station, WCSF, you will most likely find Program Director Victoria Adams hard at work in the production studio. The station is not just a workspace for Adams, it is her life.

“I kind of live here. There is always something that I can think of doing (at the station),” Adams said.

However, the road to this position has been nothing short of a wild ride. When the previous program director of WCSF decided to transfer from USF the summer going into this semester, Adams, who had been interning at the station, was next in line to run the station. 

“By default I was the program director… at the time it was very stressful to think about taking it on… but the beginning anxieties of doing that have subsided,” Adams said. “I think now that I have gotten into a groove and I have learned as much as I have, I love it to the point where I prioritize it a lot.”

Adams’ love for music began when she was just a child. Her first introduction to all things music was through her parents.

“I definitely always loved hearing whatever they were playing,” Adams said. “I listened to both of what they liked and then anything that was on the radio.”

Her passion then came naturally. “I just absorbed music as much as I possibly could as a kid. I became obsessed with music pretty early. I just wanted to know everything about it.”

The obsession with music did not stop there. Since Adams was a child, she would attend record collecting shows. There she met Anthony Musiala, radio professor at USF, a connection she would need later on in her radio career.

What made Adams completely fall in love with radio may be unexpected. 

“At some point in my pre-teen years, my mom showed me ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’, a sitcom from the late 70s. It was the first thing that put the bug in my ear,” Adams explained. 

Alongside the 70s sitcom, listening to “WDRV The Drive” as a kid had a major impact on Adam’s journey through radio. “The Drive’s Sunday Night Star” ran a contest and Adams decided to enter. 

“You could give them a list of an hour's worth of songs that you have chosen that they would play, you could then get picked and go to the station and record the whole show as a DJ,” Adams explained. 

Adams ended up winning that contest and recorded a show in Chicago’s Hancock Building. 

“I got on the radio for the first time when I was 13 years old as a DJ, picking all of my own music” 

After a few years working at a corporate job straight out of high school, Adams decided it was time to make a change. She visited the record show Musiala had been attending and struck up a conversation about her future.

“I mentioned that I have always been interested in radio but I don’t really know how you get into it or how all of that works,” Adams said.

 Musiala would explain to her that he was the radio professor at USF and they were currently taking volunteers from the community for WCSF.

“(He said) ‘would you want to do your own show?’ and I said yes, there’s no way I would say no,” Adams said. “He took me in for a tour and showed me the station and he immediately threw me on air.” 

After volunteering as an on-air talent for WCSF, Adams eventually took a leap of faith and decided to enroll at USF.

“When I came back to school this time, the goal was to give it the real try this time and actually see if I could do this radio thing,” Adams said.

Among many things Adams has done as program director for WCSF, one stands out. 

“Hispanic Heritage Month for sure, that was the coolest project,” Adams explained. The project contained a series of 30-second segments that would air every hour highlighting Hispanic artists. (The project) involved writing and researching and music history, a lot of the things I love about radio already.” 

Aside from projects like this, Adams is eager to grow.

“I constantly have other questions and things that I want to learn about how to do this job better.”

Looking forward, Adams hopes to continue in radio after USF. 

“I want to work at a station as close as possible to (WCSF),” Adams said. “My dream is to work at a public triple A (adult album alternative) station,” Adams explained. “I love the triple A format… I love the fact that public music stations are beholden to the people who want to listen to music.” 

“It’s a very specific dream and I'm not sure if I'm gonna get there, but if we are talking about my dream among dreams, that’s what I would love.” 

Music not only sparked Adam’s love for radio, but swing dancing too. When Adams is not in the WCSF studio, she can be found dancing with her friends at her beloved dance hall.

“My favorite place that I have to mention every time I talk about swing dancing is the Roxy,” Adams said. “My friends run the Lockport Swing Thing which is an incredible club that is a big community within itself, just a huge big family, a mod-podge of all of these people who have found each other and found dancing.” 

For Adams, all her passions connect and morph into one.

“It’s all intertwined. Music and dancing are two of my favorite things in the world,” said Adams. “They connect in their own weird, wonderful ways and my life would not be my life without it.”

Want to know more about this story? Well you can! Watch more about it on the USF Encounter Podcast.