The first time Jon Meyers, CAS/BA ’89, listened to a Kiss record as an 11-year-old growing up on the Jersey Shore, “it was like a door swinging open to limitless possibilities—girls, money, this whole rock ’n’ roll lifestyle.” 

A few decades later, he had to pinch himself when he interviewed glam metal frontman Paul Stanley for the Vinyl District, the website Meyers launched in 2007 as a resource for record lovers across DC and around the world. 

Meyers started the Vinyl District as a tribute to his late father, who would take him to a local chain store as a kid to buy 89-cent 45s. The site—which began “just as a way to share new music”—has grown along with the renewed interest in vinyl. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, record sales hit $1.2 billion in 2022—up from an all-time low of $10.6 million in 1993.

“It’s probably the best time to start a collection,” says Meyers, whose own numbers around 5,000 records. “You can get a nice starter turntable for $125, and records are everywhere: Urban Outfitters, Target, Walmart”—and at the annual DC Record Fair, hosted every spring by the Vinyl District. 

Music has always helped Meyers find his community—including at AU. 

During his first year, he and his roommate were recruited to host a weeknight reggae show on WVAU, the student radio station. Meyers soon landed his own time slot on Tuesdays just before Tavern Nights, a weekly dance party that ran from 8 p.m. to midnight in Mary Graydon Center, which then sold alcohol.

“I would hype people up on my show and then just keep spinning at the Tavern,” Meyer says. “It was a lot of fun, a lot of Bartles and Jaymes—and a lot of hangovers.”

Put the needle on the record—here are Meyers’s 10 favorites from his days as a WVAU DJ:

• Friends, The Bolshoi My first interview as a WVAU correspondent was with this London band. The record was in heavy rotation among a group of friends.
• Steps in Time, King This new wave act was the first band I saw at the old 9:30 Club two weeks after coming to DC. The record doesn’t hold up, but the memory is wonderful.
• Steve McQueen, Prefab Sprout This was a seminal UK release from the early ’80s. Paddy McAloon is one of the most underrated, unheralded songwriters of any generation. 
• Del Amitri, Del Amitri I remember walking across the quad in the fall with a Walkman listening to this Scottish band—who’s still around, by the way.
• Body and Soul, Joe Jackson Every night in Leonard Hall, my roommate and I played side two of this record and just crashed. That’s another great memory from my first semester at AU.
• True Democracy, Steel Pulse My roommate turned me on to the Birmingham, England, band when we were doing our reggae show. There’s a clarity to the recording, and the arrangements and musicianship are incredible.
• Songs, Fra Lippo Lippi This was in heavy rotation in the two-bedroom I shared with three guys when I moved off campus. Now, I’m like, “What did we like about this?” But it was the zeitgeist for our listening habits. 
• A Walk Across the Rooftops, Blue Nile This record is a sublime experience—it’s great late-night music. Vocalist Paul Buchanan is on another level.
• Tim, The Replacements This record was always spinning at Record World at Georgetown Park Mall, where I worked in college. I could’ve picked the band’s follow-up, Pleased to Meet Me, but there are too many good memories associated with Tim.
• Gone to Earth, David Sylvain This double album is the third studio release from the evocative English singer-songwriter. The first record has vocals, and the second is all instrumentals. It’s great moo