"Video Killed The Radio Star:" No, Not The MTV Music Video

By Stephanie Weber

Casey Richards-Bradt (they/them), Izzy Astuto (they/he), and Sadie Swayze (he/they) are the hosts of WECB’s “Video Killed The Radio Star,” which airs Fridays at 6pm. To prepare for their show, the hosts squish into a small dormitory and collapse on beanbags to watch one of their favorite movies, to deciding the week’s theme. The hour program combines their love of music and movies, perfect for any film geek. 

Richards-Bradt, Astuto, and Swayze are close friends and have talked about starting a radio show together since freshman year in 2021. Richards-Bradt shared how student radio was a big factor in choosing the right college; fortunately, Emerson was at the top of the list. This semester the three hosts acted on their appreciation for college radio and started the show. 

“Video Killed The Radio Star”Every week, the “Video Killed The Radio Star” hosts pick a favorite movie and generate songs that would or should have been in the film, with the tagline, “We make movies better.” They’ve done Wolf of Wall Street (2013), It (2017), Superbad (2007), Easy A (2010), 21 Jump Street (2012), 22 Jump Street (2014), Titane (2021), and Hereditary (2018). Some future movies are American Psycho (2000) and Elvira: Mistress of The Dark (1988), with the latter just so Richards-Bradt can play exclusively goth music. 

They walked me through one of their shows: It, which remains one of Astuto’s favorite movies of all time. They choose songs that fit the theme, whether it’s in the song or band name, genre, or overall resonance to the film. For It, the first song played was “99 Luftballons” by Nena followed by “Circus” by Britney Spears. Songs by The Garden and clowncore artists were featured on the radio hour. 

Swayze came up with the name for the show, drawing upon the 1980 Buggles classic with the same name, which aired as MTV’s first music video. They explained that by being on the air talking about movies, they are, in a way, radio stars with no expectations of stopping anytime soon. 

Check out “Video Killed The Radio Star” on Instagram @wecb.videokilledtheradiostar for digital graphics every week, and on air Fridays at 6pm.