Off the Record Press • 3 February 2026

The Music of 2016, But Make It 2026 — Off the Record Press

The year is 2016. Vine has announced its ultimate death — which we mourn daily — Musical.ly is TikTok before its rebrand, and Snapchat has us all oscillating between the dog and flower crown filter. Somewhere in the background, “Hotline Bling” by Drake is playing unironically. With the internet collectively digging through their archives and deciding to relive 2016, it’s impossible not to remember the songs that soundtracked those simpler times. These weren’t just chart-toppers of the year — the...

Mustang News • 29 July 2025

New infographic highlights Cal Poly’s students with dependents - Mustang News

For most college students, a canceled class is a rare treat — an unexpected pocket of free time to sleep in or to catch up on assignments. So when Marcos Garcia, a child development and psychology senior at Cal Poly, learned one May morning that his 9 a.m. basketball class the next day was canceled, he let himself imagine a reprieve. He looked forward to a slower start to the day instead of his usual 6:45 a.m. alarm and 40-minute commute to campus.


However, his hope for rest was replaced by t...

Mustang News • 28 May 2025

Soundings: Where dance meets uncertainty and music paints in color - Mustang News

In a softly lit studio, ambient sounds wash over the room like a gentle tide. Eyes closed, minds open, students begin moving their pencils across paper, becoming dancers of their own, sketching not faces, but feelings. A self-portrait filled with abstract shapes, lines, and symbols that represent their essence.


In professor Diana Stanton’s contemporary repertory class, identity becomes movement as each student hands their drawing to a partner, who must now interpret it through dance. What beg...

KCPR • 24 May 2025

Behind the curtain: The hustle that puts together the Spring Dance Concert - KCPR

As dancers strike their final poses and wait for the last flicker of light to fade before dashing off stage to make way for the next piece, Drew Mahecha-Sherrard leans into his headset mic to call the next cue. The show must go on, and he’s there to make sure it does.


In the audience, choreographers and directors track every transition, spacing and flow. It’s only a rehearsal, but the pressure is already at its highest level.


Each spring, Cal Poly’s Theatre and Dance Department mounts one...

KCPR • 8 May 2025

Love in a Hopeless Place: Short films that find romance in the unlikeliest worlds - KCPR

Love rarely comes easy — especially in the worlds imagined by this year’s SLO Film Festival short films. On Sunday night at the Downtown Centre Cinemas, audiences were taken on an emotional journey through stories of longing, loss, and unexpected connections.The evening’s program, titled “Love in a Hopeless Place,” featured short films that reimagined love in the most unlikely settings: a high school romance inside an assisted living facility, a dystopian society where kissing is punishable by d...

KCPR • 7 May 2025

SLO Film Fest welcomes back Surf Nite, a celebration of music, film and community - KCPR

SLO Film Fest’s long-awaited Surf Nite returned to Fremont Theatre on April 25 with anticipation from surf enthusiasts waiting at the door. Spectators lined up in front of the Fremont Theatre in preparation for what has been termed as San Luis Obispo’s “Rocky Horror Picture Show” for surfers, young and old, alike. San Luis Obispo local and surfer Rowan Chase brought down his Volkswagen van with a surfboard mounted atop to join other “surf van” owners in stationing their vehicles in front of the...

Mustang News • 23 April 2025

ChatGPT Edu AI tool to launch at Cal Poly - Mustang News

All students, faculty and staff will receive free access to ChatGPT Edu starting April 28, according to a campuswide email from Cal Poly’s Information Technology Services on Monday.


Unlike the public version of ChatGPT, ChatGPT Edu will prioritize user privacy, ensuring that activity within the platform is confidential and not used to train OpenAI’s public model, according to the email.


The move is part of the Cal State system’s push to promote innovation, digital fluency and ethical AI a...

Mustang News • 8 April 2025

Student Juried Exhibition showcases original student art - Mustang News

Forty-three student-made art pieces, hand-selected from 130 submissions, debuted Thursday at the Student Juried Exhibition in the University Art Gallery. The opening reception highlighted original student artwork across multiple mediums from the Art and Design Department.


Curated by Left Field Gallery Director Nick Wilkinson, the exhibition features award-winning 2-D and 3-D studio art, as well as pieces of graphic design, photography, sculptures and time-based work.


“It was more of a chal...

KCPR • 28 March 2025

Recap: hip-hop stars hit the stage at Rolling Loud 2025 - KCPR

From the early hours of the afternoon to almost midnight, Los Angeles beamed as hip-hop music lovers from all over the world came for a two-day festival filled with music, attractions and culture: this is Rolling Loud. The Rolling Loud festival stages have seen some of the biggest names in the hip-hop industry in addition to rising artists, bringing unforgettable moments and memories for fans. 


Rolling Loud is an international hip-hop music festival taking place in the United States, Australi...

KCPR • 28 March 2025

Recap: hip-hop stars hit the stage at Rolling Loud 2025 - KCPR

From the early hours of the afternoon to almost midnight, Los Angeles beamed as hip-hop music lovers from all over the world came for a two-day festival filled with music, attractions and culture: this is Rolling Loud. The Rolling Loud festival stages have seen some of the biggest names in the hip-hop industry in addition to rising artists, bringing unforgettable moments and memories for fans. Rolling Loud is an international hip-hop music festival taking place in the United States, Australia, A...

KCPR • 24 January 2025

Rolling Loud gives back to Los Angeles communities affected by wildfires - KCPR

Rolling Loud is known to deliver a yearly experience in Los Angeles, highlighting established artists and nurturing the next generation of hip-hop stars. The festival has become a bridge for up-and-coming hip-hop artists, providing a space for underground musicians to become more visible and get a foot closer to headlining status. The music festival is now roughly two months away, but tension remains as the Palisades wildfires have been deeply affecting the Los Angeles communities.In response to...

KCPR • 1 January 2025

Spinning through 2024: KCPR reflects on this year’s top station artists and sounds - KCPR

Whether you’re an Apple Music or Spotify user, music lovers everywhere eagerly anticipate their annual dose of personal listening statistics every early December. At KCPR, we have a tradition of celebrating the broadcasting journey throughout the year: the 2024 Station Wrapped.Reflecting on the music spun through our airwaves in 2024, KCPR’s DJ schedule was a whirlwind of creativity, featuring a massive lineup of 50 new and returning disk jockeys from the crack of dawn at 6:00 a.m. to intimately...

KCPR • 28 November 2024

Pharrell Williams is beyond “Happy” - KCPR

Adilene Gomez Santiago is a content writer, photographer, videographer and disc jockey for KCPR. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.“Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg, “Milkshake” by Kelis and “Pink + White” by Frank Ocean are all well-known songs. You recognize the lyrics, the beats and the artists, however, what often goes unnoticed is the person behind the production of each track. Chances are, the song you currently can’t get out...

KCPR • 26 October 2024

Los Osos’ Music on the Green wraps up season with final concert this weekend - KCPR

With the sun settled high and a light breeze drifting about, families and friends gathered at the Sea Pines Golf Resort in Los Osos on Oct. 19. The hum of music filtered through the chatter, with local band “Cuesta Ridge” inviting guests to let the rhythm move through them. People young and old danced barefoot, as children and their pets rolled down the hills of green, illustrating that Music on the Green was in full effect for another Saturday of live music. Mandolinist Dan Keller said performi...

KCPR • 19 August 2024

San Francisco celebrates the Winter of Love at Outside Lands, the city’s festival of the summer - KCPR

In 2008, Radiohead, Tom Petty and Jack Johnson headlined the first Outside Lands (OSL), San Francisco’s annual music and food festival that has since become a staple. The festival grounds take up the 1,017 acres of land at the Golden Gate Park, boasting in meadows nestled among acacias, oak, eucalyptus and redwood trees.The festival returns to celebrate its sweet 16 with nearly 50 performers, bringing attendees to a location that captures the essence of the Bay Area. The OSL experience goes beyo...

KCPR • 18 August 2024

An insight to Wisp’s first EP and relationship with shoegaze - KCPR

As the sound of ethereal music flows across the Sutro stage at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival (OSL), the spacey telephonic words “I’d bleed for you, if you held me close,” blend with the atmosphere, creating a mystical and dreamy setting. The 20-year-old shoegaze artist Natalie Lu, also known as Wisp, took the stage on Aug. 11 where she opened the set with the first track from her latest EP “Pandora.” Minutes before her performance, Lu observed the growing crowd from the sidelines, prepa...

KCPR • 11 June 2024

The Bunker SLO's Pride gallery explores self-identity - KCPR

What used to be an old warehouse is now home to one of San Luis Obispo’s art galleries and coffee houses, The Bunker SLO, birthed out of Missy Reitner-Camerons’ love for art and community. Gala Pride and Diversity Center’s Laura Albers and Reitner-Cameron have collaborated to hold a gallery for the duration of Pride Month, themed “Who Am I?”


June 7 was the grand opening for the “Who Am I?” art gallery during Art After Dark hours. The gallery consists of 30 art pieces from queer artists in dif...

KCPR • 20 May 2024

How one student is transforming makeup artistry on campus - KCPR

Brushes, palettes, pencils and sponges scatter around interdisciplinary studies sophomore Sasha Hopewell’s desk, where she spends her time sitting and concentrating on making the perfect diagonal line. The slightest smudge ruins the entire art and forces her to wipe everything off and start over. Her face is a canvas where she can portray a concept through the look of her eyes.


Hopewell is this year’s makeup director for the annual fashion show held by partnering clubs Fashion Student Innovat...