Ellen Schneider and Halley Freger (both ’17) claim to have always wanted to have a radio show in college, but the theme of their current show originated from their idea of a hypothetical cover band.

“The name started out as an idea for an all-Grinnellian Blink 182 cover band,” Schneider explained.

Exit 182, which is also the exit from I-80 to the city of Grinnell, airs every Friday at 12 a.m. The duo specialize in punk and alternative, but they can be found to play a little bit of everything, including pop rock staples from the original Blink 182.

“Halley still goes to bed every night saying a prayer to Tom DeLonge,” Schneider jibbed.

Freger and Schneider connected very early during orientation in their first year at Grinnell, and said that music was always an integral part of their friendship. And while the two have slightly different musical tastes, when they discovered that they share a love for rebellious music, they knew that a radio show was in order.

“If you think of our tastes on a Venn diagram, the middle part would include ’90s alternative and punk,” Freger said.

The two DJs put together their radio show together every week, and each tries to include material from their own music library, as well as some that they both love. Freger is regarded by both to have more expansive tastes, while Schneider tends to focus on ’80s and ’90s Midwestern punk.

“Sometimes I feel I was born 20 years too late and 500 miles to the Southeast,” said Schneider. She explained her love for the punk scene in Minneapolis during the time period, which was home to some of her favorite bands, such as Hüsker Dü and The Replacements.

While the show is a platform for their own music tastes, the pair makes each episode interesting by picking a theme every week and selecting songs that coincide with it.

“I think my favorite show we had was about hands,” Schneider said. “We just played songs that were about hands or had parts of the hand in their title.”

The themes of the show are rather eclectic, and range from being whimsical one week and quite somber the next. Past semesters have included shows both on communism and friendship. But no matter what the subject, the pair makes sure to have a good time.

“Even when we’re covering serious topics, like female desire or communism, we still like to have fun and goof off,” Schneider said.

“With lots of dancing!” Freger added.

As it begins its third semester, the show has developed a following amongst their friends, and has even started to gain listeners from outside the campus. A summer co-worker of Schneider’s found the show online, and soon became an avid listener.

“He approached me quite shyly, and said that he had listened to our radio show through a link I had posted on Facebook. After that we started talking about music and became good friends,” Schneider explained.

Both Schneider and Freger anticipate the show running for the entirety of their four years at Grinnell, but expect to make a couple of changes in the coming semesters.

“I’m going abroad next year, so I have picked Luke Jarzyna ’18, to become my replacement,” Freger said.

The pair are very excited about the addition of Jarzyna to the show and said that his fascination with the side projects of musicians will provide an interesting twist to their usual content.

Immediately ahead, however, is the next semester and next round of radio shows. The two already have several ideas about what themes to feature, from feminism to driving. Whatever topic they’re exploring, you can count on Exit 182 to be quirky, witty and fun, just like their imaginary Blink 182 cover band would be.