WHEELING — No one else wanted to stay awake this long, according to Walker Polivka, a student disc jockey at West Liberty University’s student radio station.

The freshman volunteered to DJ a 24-hour shift at the school’s college radio station in honor of National College Radio Day. At about 1 p.m. on a Friday, he was knee-deep, 20 hours into this commitment, yet he still exuded enthusiasm.

“I just grew up listening to radio,” he said. “I feel like a good voice has more to offer than any picture can show.”

All day, Polivka rotated between the station’s Top 40 music format, brief stop sets to announce prize winners from a thin, clear tube of raffle tickets and interviews with notable figures, familiar to most of the Ohio Valley.

Soon after 1 p.m., he introduced former Wheeling Mayor Andy McKenzie, inquiring about his political career, means of employment and his thoughts on the Friendly City. Other guests included West Virginia University Basketball Coach Bob Huggins and State Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall.

Notable for him, Polivka interviewed DJ Johnny O of Kool 105.5, a childhood hero for the Shadyside native. He said the two talked shop. While radio has suffered and shrunk in a changing media market, he said Johnny O was encouraging about the form’s future, claiming it will adapt.

Polivka said he’d consider a broadcast career upon graduation.

Polivka typically hosts a weekly show on WLU’s radio station. He’s enrolled in WLU’s radio production class, and has found himself turning a basic opportunity it into something more. Other students have often accompanied him in this 24-hour marathon, but Polivka said there were certain stretches where it was only him and the studio’s pulsing strobe lights — mostly between midnight and daybreak.

He found this somewhat entertaining, finding ways to match the rhythm of the lights to the beats of specific songs, but said a general sense of dedication made sure he carried through these wee hours.

That, and the coffee.