WORT-FM: Hundreds tune in at once

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: Around Town: Hundreds tune in for Boombox the Wasteland : A few hundred Madison neighbors synchronized battery-powered radios Sunday for a neighborhood party called Boombox the Wasteland on a tree-shaded patch of grass next to the site of one of the city�s most prominent failed development projects. : On folding chairs and blankets, they tuned their bulky, retro radios to community radio station WORT-FM (89.9). The station�s disc jockeys mixed shout-outs to the partygoers with a prearranged playlist to accompany groups who performed an eclectic variety of dances, including break, belly and Indian classical. : �This is pretty spectacular,� said Tom Taagen, surveying the brat-munching crowd after he and other members of the Forward! Marching Band kicked off the entertainment by playing New Orleans-style music. They marched around a little-used traffic roundabout that was paved as part of the 11.4-acre Union Corners development, which fell through in 2007. : In December, the city bought the former industrial site near East Washington Avenue and Milwaukee Street and has been using it to store road construction material. : The party came from a simple idea, said Wendy Schneider, a local music producer best known as singer-guitarist with the defunct rock band Bugatti Type 35. : �I just thought it would be really fun to do a party with boomboxes,� Schneider said. The Union Corners site became part of her inspiration after she heard friends talking about it as �the wasteland.� : Schneider sent emails inviting arts groups, and a new neighborhood festival was born. : In addition to the dancing and music, the party featured areas for mural painting, sidewalk chalk, T-shirt stenciling and hula hoops, along with a few lemonade stands and grills. : Notably absent were commercial vendors and tables for political causes, although Schneider said many of those present had spent the previous night camping at the Walkerville protest campsite Downtown. : �Everybody at this party knows what�s going on,� Schneider said. �Nobody needs any more buttons.� : And the old boomboxes scattered throughout the crowd worked perfectly, much better than the high-volume, amplified speakers used at most community concerts. : �They don�t stick out,� Schneider said of the portable radios. �You can talk over it.�

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