GBS Radio (WGBK) is going to hold a 30-hour radio broadcast to celebrate their 30th anniversary starting this evening, Dec. 16, at 6 p.m.

According to Faith Savaiano, WGBK public relations director, each hour of the broadcast will correspond to a different year of WGBK’s history.

“For the first hour of Radiothon, we’ll be playing music from 1981, and then so on,” Savaiano said. “And at the end of every ‘decade’, every ten hours, our sports directors […] will be doing highlights of that […] decade.”

Co-sports director Ben Kraus is especially excited for the sports highlight.

“It’s going to be like a history lesson,” Kraus said. “We’re going to make an attempt to relate it back to sports going on now, news going on now. It’s going to be a lot of fun mixing in talking about sports from [that specific] decade […] and [with] sports going on now.”

There are several preparations going into Radiothon. According to Savaiano, only the juniors and seniors who have been “the most dedicated” to the WGBK station will be invited to participate in Radiothon.

“Right now, what we’re in the process of doing is assigning people their hours, and they have to come up with their playlist,” Savaiano said.

Co-station manager Zach Van Epps will also be broadcasting during Radiothon.

“The station managers are doing the first hour to do an intro, start things off, play some music, and then I’m going to do the last hour,” Van Epps said. “2010 was an awesome year for indie rock, so a lot of my favorite [music] is from last year, so that will be a fun year for me [to broadcast].”

WGBK directors also have been looking for different companies to sponsor the 30-hour show by providing food throughout the entire broadcast.

“We’ve been trying to get publicity […] underwriting from certain corporations around here,” Lanphere said. “[We’ve contacted] local places so they can give us food, and we’ll give them a spot on the air saying that this is brought to you by [that company].”

According to Van Epps, even though the WGBK station managers will lead the broadcasts, all members of WGBK have certain responsibilities for Radiothon.

“[The station managers] just make sure that the station runs smoothly,” Van Epps said. “We make sure everyone’s doing their job, we make sure the directors are getting things done, we help out where we need to. We basically make sure that the station isn’t burning.”

According to Lanphere, Savaiano is mostly in charge of the paperwork, specifically the proposal about the details of Radiothon.

“I wrote up the [details regarding Radiothon to submit to South’s Student Activities Center], I wrote the list of people who are [attending Radiothon], in conjunction with the other directors, of course,” Savaiano said. “I’m in charge of the scheduling for it, the underwriting for it.”

According to Dan Oswald, radio teacher and WGBK supervisor, both the Radiothon preparations and the actual broadcasting for the Radiothon are completely student-run.

“I know there are events for teachers to get involved […] and that’s nice, but to be honest, I was a student,” Oswald said. “I had my opportunity to participate and be the star, and now it’s the students’ opportunity.”

Regardless of the outcome of Radiothon, Lanphere said he will have a fun experience with his fellow WGBK members.

“I feel like I’m not going to sleep at all,” Lanphere said. “My goal is to be on every single show.”