Zack Free host of Radio Free.
Photo by Amanda Feeney
As you enter the radio station, Zack Free is setting up his laptop to stream the playlist he worked on for hours for his radio show. Zack’s show, Radio Free, plays every Thursday 6-8PM. Zack plays a variety of music throughout his show, even though his first love is Hip Hop. To make his job even more difficult, Zack refuses to play a song twice on his station.
Zack Free is a sophomore at Manhattanville College, majoring in Psychology. When asked why he started his radio program he told me, “I was trying to get involved, and the radio show offered a large community with music, which I love. I wanted to bring the campus together, and I knew if anything could bring people together it would be music.”
“I was ten years old when a musician – T-Pain – caught my ear for the first time,” since then Zack has gained an ear for all sorts of music styles, with a strong love for music created in the 90s. I asked Zack to give out a few recommendations for our readers, and he suggested three albums off the Racks (the suggested CD racks in the station)
1.    Depression Cherry by Beach House
2.    Have You in My Wilderness by Julia Holter
3.    Ugly Cherries by Pwr Bttm
Zack and I then started to discuss music today. “Music doesn’t suck today,” he says as he laughs a little, “You just need to look in the right places.” He started to tell me about musicians today, and how there are many artists that music should be looked at as inspirational. “Kendrick Lamar is the voice of the generation, he’s not afraid to talk about everything, and music is the most powerful tool he uses to get his point across.”Â
But what about those “crazy” artists, whose music is good, but whose image isn’t? “It’s hard to separate music and private life in musicians, people should put aside the private life of a person when their music is good. Chris Brown is a good example; His music is good, and he expresses his opinion, but look at his personal image, especially with everything that went down with Rihanna. And if you want another example, look at Michael Jackson. People judge all these artists and more based on their social lives, but that doesn’t mean their music isn’t good.”
“Music today isn’t all about sex and drugs, it has always been used as a tool to spread a movement and spark a fire. People have used music as a way to protest in a more peaceful manner, and to go back to Kendrick Lamar, he’s had people chant lyrics to his songs at protests to get their meaning across. That’s the power of music.”Â
To end our interview, I asked Zack what his life motto was, and he quoted Mary J. Blige and said, “All I really want is to be happy.”
Tune into Radio Free Thursdays 6-8PM here:
You can also follow Radio Free on Facebook for constant updates on what he’s up to, and check him out on Spotify as well, where he posts each of his playlists for each set!
Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/radiofreemvl/?fref=ts
Spotify:Â https://open.spotify.com/user/124270199
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