Category: DJ Highlights

WKNC DJs share their musical interests, personal anecdotes, etc.

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DJ Highlights

Halloween History with dj mozzie

Howdy y’all! Halloween has some of the best holiday music around, and I wanted to write a bit about the history of the holiday and the music! Halloween originated from the Celtic festival named Samhain, which was celebrated in ancient Britain and Ireland. Ancient Celts believed that November 1st marked a new year, and that the souls of those who had died would revisit their homes the night before. People took part in rituals and practices to try and scare away these spirits, like lighting bonfires or wearing masks to be unrecognizable to the spirits. Today, we still dress up in costume, but it is not to scare spirits away. 

Halloween music has that spine-shivering feeling because of the use of dissonance and minor chords. In the Middle Ages, they referred to this as the “Devil’s interval.” The Devil’s interval was an augmented 4th interval and was banned in Renaissance church music because of its association with evil. This interval can be heard in the opening of Danse Macabre. Part of the reason high-pitched nonlinear noise and dissonance in music is seen as scary is because of the association we’ve given it with scary movies. The other reason is because these sounds remind us of animal distress sounds. In the 20th century, blues was associated with the devil because of the secularity of the lyrics. A lot of blues music reflected the experiences of oppression Black Americans faced. Blues artists were accused of selling their soul for success and talent. Blues music uses the blues scale, which features a flat fifth note. This scale creates a similar interval to that of the devil’s interval.

One of my favorite Halloween songs, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” (1956) was part of this labeling of “the devil’s music.” Halloween specific songs did not come out until the 1950s-1960s. After this, Halloween music moved to the rock realm, with hits like AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” The 1970s and 1980s was the peak for Halloween horror music from films. These years were also when cult classic horror films were being released. 

Now, here is my Halloween playlist to get you ready for the best holiday of the year!

  1. I Put a Spell on You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
  2. Halloween by Phoebe Bridgers 
  3. The Way Some People Die by Yo La Tengo
  4. Strange Things by Marlon Williams
  5. Ghosting by Mother Mother
  6. You’re Dead by Norma Tanega
  7. Hudson by Vampire Weekend
  8. Season of the Witch by Donovan (was mentioned in last week’s blog, but you can’t have a halloween playlist without it!)
  9. House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals 
  10. Dead Man’s Party by Oingo Boingo

<3 dj mozzie

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DJ Highlights

Ride Along with Chancellor Randy Woodson

Friday, October 1 was World College Radio Day. WKNC had a jam-packed 24 hour schedule that included nonstop DJs on HD-1, various sets on HD-2, and a full livestream of the event on our YouTube channel. We’re still processing all the footage from the event, so stay tuned for a video recap.

The climax of the entire event was a special guest appearance by Chancellor Randy Woodson, who appeared as a guest on 3 Bears in a Coat’s show Ride Along at 3 p.m.

Chancellor Woodson split his set into three parts; the Muscle Shoals sound, Southern Rock, and songs he’s enjoying now. Although we can’t share his recorded set due to music copyright law, we can provide the playlist– which we also uploaded to Spotify for you to enjoy.

Below you can find 3 Bears in a Coat’s reflection on the event, a transcript of Randy’s air breaks, as well as some pictures from the event.

Continue reading “Ride Along with Chancellor Randy Woodson”
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DJ Highlights

DJ Profiles: Big Hoss and DJ Lizzo

DJ Names: Big Hoss and DJ Lizzo

Show Name: Girls’ Guide to the Outlaw Spirit

Show Time: Thursdays 9-10am

Show Description: Feelings music – country, rock, Americana, cowpunk, alternative for listeners who enjoy Waylon Jennings, Liz Phair, Guided by Voices, Tom Waits, etc.

Where was the idea for “Girls’ Guide” born?

BIG HOSS: We both had shows originally on our own. And we were like we want to do a show together that would be fun, and the whole concept and the name and our first set pretty much was all conceived on her parents for the porch, one night at the end of summer over that first COVID summer.

DJ LIZZO: Yeah, we were like sitting on the porch, I guess maybe we were making a playlist first. And we were like, and we were trying to think of what to call it. And we spent like an hour just trying to think of a name. And there was this book called girls guide hunting and fishing that Big Hoss introduced me to and we were obsessed with and still are still are. 

BIG HOSS: And then we spent a long time trying to come up with what it was the “Girls’ Guide” to. I think we were going through colors for a while and listing color names we liked. But then we were looking on Wikipedia pages of music we liked trying to find common description words. And one of them was on the “Outlaw Country” Wikipedia page, it talks about the outlaw spirit. Yeah, so we were like, that’s it. 

How do you go about curating sets, is it a collaborative process or more of a trade off?

DJ LIZZO: Yeah, it’s definitely collaborative. Usually, it’s just like, throughout the week, one of us makes a playlist and then we both add songs. And sometimes it’s like, I don’t know we’ve gone through little “Girls’ Guide”phases… like, when was that, last fall?

BIG HOSS: Yeah, last fall we went through a really big, like, 90s girl phase, where we would play Poe and Garbage and stuff like that every week. We definitely have the phases and sometimes we’ll make the playlists together at night. 

DJ LIZZO: Yeah, that’s really that’s really fun. 

BIG HOSS: Those are some of our favorites. 

Do you guys have any guilty pleasure music, stuff that wouldn’t normally make it on “Girls’ Guide”?

BIG HOSS: Yes, but sometimes I’m like “maybe we should put this on the show.” Yeah, we definitely do. Honestly it’s been really hard for me over the past year to not put Lana Del Rey. I don’t feel guilty about it, but you can’t play her on WKNC because she’s too big. But she is one of my top artists. 

DJ LIZZO: Actually the first night we planned out our name, it was like a week after “folklore” by Taylor Swift came out and we were listening to “mirrorball” all night.

How has your show evolved over time?

DJ LIZZO: I feel like in the beginning we had this specific sound in mind. I think a lot of it was like, both of us brought our music tastes from each of our separate shows. So we had an idea of what our sound would be and how our tastes overlapped. 

BIG HOSS: Yeah, I feel like our first set. We were like, this is the perfect set. And for a little while we thought “this is the formula for every other set” and were like, “we need a song that sounds like this and we need a song that sounds like this” and so on. I think over time, we’ve definitely loosened up the boundaries of our show.

What are the stories behind your DJ names?

BIG HOSS: Big Hoss is a country term of endearment and Waylon Jennings was called  that, people always called him “Hoss.” And it’s just like, what you would say to a country man: “Hey, hoss what’s the deal with this?” But I don’t remember how I came up with it,  it just appeared one day. 

DJ LIZZO: I guess not as many people called me “Lizzo” in college, maybe or something, but it was a nickname I’ve had since preschool and I wanted to carry it on into college. So I thought that like it being my DJ name would be good. But, pretty much everyone just calls me “Lizzo” at the station now. 

When I first saw your DJ name was Lizzo, it did not occur to me that Lizzo could be a nickname for something, so for a little while I thought you named yourself after Lizzo, the pop star. 

DJ LIZZO: I think that a lot of people probably think that. Sometimes I forget there’s an actual famous person who goes by Lizzo so that’s what everyone associates the name with. 

Favorite aspect of being a DJ?

DJ LIZZO: I like that I have an outlet for doing things I love, like making playlists or talking about music and  learning more about music. I’ve been given an amazing outlet to do that. And I get to do that with my best friend, it’s so fun.

BIG HOSS: Yeah, it’s something to focus our energy on. We both just enjoy making and creating things, And it’s nice to have something we can gravitate around and have it be the basis of what we’re doing.

DJ LIZZO: And it’s every week we have this thing that we work on together and create together.

BIG HOSS: I like our show being Thursday mornings. It’s nice to have that thing to wake up to and now Thursday is our favorite day of the week.

Do y’all have a favorite phone call you’ve ever gotten?

BIG HOSS: There have been a couple times where somebody will call and follow up with an email.

DJ LIZZO: When anyone calls, the fact that they had they cared enough to call in and tell us means a lot.

BIG HOSS: Yes, especially because you don’t have to do that, listeners can listen and just not do that. For people to take that extra step is very meaningful and we appreciate it a lot. I just remembered my favorite. Last fall, I played “The Highway Kind” by Townes Van Zandt, which is a soul crushing song and it’s a journey to get through because it’s a super harsh song on the soul. Someone called in and said “That song killed me.” I feel like sometimes when you play a song that you have a lot of emotion with, it can just go out there and you feel like nobody is responding. To me, it was proof that people are having an emotional experience with what I play.

DJ LIZZO: You can be connected to on a very intimate level that you’re having through the air waves, it’s so cool.

Do you hope to do radio after college?

DJ LIZZO: I definitely think working at KNC has given me an idea of what sort of job I would want to have post-college. I don’t know that it would necessarily be being on the radio but maybe something where I’m somehow involved with music. It would be cool to do radio as a side-thing still. I know a few people in the workforce that are able to do radio as a hobby and I would love to do that.

BIG HOSS: I’m not going into a career related to radio, but if there are ways I can do it outside of my career I would like to keep doing it, it’s just fun.

DJ Lizzo and Big Hoss have been creating a lot of content recently, including their Instagram for their show @girlsguidetotheoutlawspirit. They also recently attended MerleFest, and posted a few videos to the Youtube Channel as well as created a blog about their experience. Be sure to check that all out, and to listen to Girls’ Guide to the Outlaw Spirit every Thursday at 9am. 

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DJ Highlights

Set Overview: 9/28 “passing by”

As I’ve written about previously, “passing by” is my show on WKNC where I put a soundtrack to life’s big and small moments using the best of indie and rock that airs every Tuesday from 1-2pm this semester. This past Tuesday, I curated a set I really loved, and wanted to share it here on the blog in case you didn’t get to catch it through the airwaves.

The set was centered around Elliott Smith. The show was divided into four themes: his inspirations, Elliott Smith himself, covers, and artists who are inspired by him.

His Inspirations

  • “Summer’s Gone” — The Kinks
  • “Rocky Raccoon” — Charlie Parr, Nicholas Mrozinski1
  • “Bob Dylan’s Dream” — Bob Dylan
  • “No One Is There” — Nico
  • “Parasite” — Nick Drake2

Elliott Smith Himself

“Everything Means Nothing to Me” — Elliott Smith

Covers

“The Biggest Lie” — Bright Eyes
“Ballad of Big Nothing” — Julien Baker
“Clementine” — The Decemberists

Artists Inspired By Him

“Ceilings” — beabadoobee
“How Long” — Palehound
“Big Surprise” — Prateek Kuhad
“Deep Sea” — Snail Mail
“Stranger Things” — Yuck
“It Just Is” — Rilo Kiley3
“Punisher” — Phoebe Bridgers4

  • 1: This is a cover of a song by The Beatles, off their self titled album (known commonly as “The White Album”). Smith cited this song as a huge inspiration for him.
  • 2: Although Smith never explicitly cited Nick Drake as an inspiration, people often draw comparisons and parallels between the two.
  • 3: This song is about Smith’s tragic death, as Rilo Kiley were close to him and opened up for his final shows prior to his passing.
  • 4: Bridgers has stated that this track is about Elliott Smith, and how if she got to meet him, she would have made a fool of herself by being such a big fan.

If you want to listen to my set in its exact order, you can queue the songs based on their appearance on my Spinitron page, or if you’re a Spotify user like myself, you can stream it via the playlist.

Until next time,
Caitlin (a.k.a carbon copy)

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DJ Profile: T-Time

Gradient black and gray background. Text that reads "Dj Profiles T-Time"

DJ Name: T-Time

Show Name: In The Garage

Show Time: Saturdays from 4-6 p.m.

Show Description: The best of garage rock, DIY, and emo.

How did you find out about WKNC?

I knew about WKNC when I came to NC State in 2018. I didn’t end up joining until Fall 2020 just because I was lazy. Then 2020 came around and I needed some human interaction. So I decided to join the radio station. And I guess over the pandemic, I had broadened my music taste quite a bit, so I felt that I was worthy. 

Where did the idea for “In The Garage” originate?

So, the name of the show is a Weezer reference. It’s a song off of the blue album, “In The Garage.” I just thought it was a funny name, and that it was hilarious to have a Weezer reference that most people will probably look past. But the idea of it came just because I had just started getting into like, emo and punk over the like pandemic because before that I had only really listened to Gorillaz, classic rock, and Weezer. So when I decided to just broaden my musical horizon, emo was the genre that I stuck to.

Do your sets generally have specific themes, or are you just going by the general parameters you already have set for yourself?

I didn’t start doing themes until I got on HD-1. The thing with emo is that there’s a lot of discourse in the genre about whether we should classify different waves of emo. I personally like the wave system, you know, First and Second Wave are more like punk and raw kind of stuff. Third Wave is more like commercialized pop punk, you know, the emo that everybody knows. Fourth wave is more harkening back to the First and Second Wave and the Fifth wave is current emo. I like to do themes around different waves. Sometimes I’ll just make a theme based on how I was feeling that week. There’s also a few sub genres there’s, you know, Midwest Emo, Screamo, Math Rock fits in there somewhere. Yeah, but I just loosely base my shows around one of those things.

Favorite phone call you’ve ever gotten during a set?

I didn’t start getting phone calls until maybe about a month ago. And I mean, it’s still, you know, not as frequent as I expected it to be. But it still surprises me when I do get a phone call. I got a phone call once and it was an old man looking for a guy named Aidan. That was really funny. But, I think my favorite phone call was when I gave away Phoebe Bridgers tickets. And the person who called me was super excited. What I did to give them away was I said “Call the station and tell me your favorite emo band and you win Phoebe Bridgers tickets,” and they called in and they were like, “Pierce The Veil! Pierce The Veil!” And I got to be like, “You got the tickets.”

Do you have any guilty pleasure music or any music that you secretly like?

I don’t think there’s any music that I secretly like. Yeah, but I do have music that most people will be embarrassed to listen to. And those would be Weird Al, They Might Be Giants… I absolutely love the VeggieTales silly songs. Like, I’m not embarrassed to say that. But, um, if there was a way to, like, somehow sneak those into my set, I probably would. But yeah, I think I would lose a lot of listeners on that. I guess another guilty pleasure of mine would be like one hit wonders. Especially like from the 80s and 90s. I just think they’re fun.

Do you have a favorite one hit wonder?

I think my favorite one hit wonder would be “She Blinded Me With Science” by Thomas Dolby.

So before this interview I took a look at your Spotify account, could you explain the “Emo Playlist But It’s Only Never Meant” to me? Can you walk me through that?

So I just got bored at work one day, and I was like, okay, “Never Meant” by American Football is kind of a meme in the emo community because it’s… the riff for “Never Meant” is iconic, in my opinion. It’s also kind of been made as a joke. Because I guess it’s very emo and emo is just so melodramatic. This song is very melodramatic. It’s gotten to the point where the band even knows it’s a meme. And I knew that there were a few covers of “Never Meant,”  but I didn’t realize there were that many covers. And some of them are kind of facetious. I think my favorite one off that playlist is the lofi hip hop cover… it’s just so funny to me.

Is there a story behind your DJ name?

Okay, so there was this guy in high school who was kind of a jerk. And he always, like, picked on me or whatever. And he would call me T-Time. He played a lot of golf, so I assume that it was supposed to be a pun or whatever. I didn’t really care at the time. But then when I started my DJ training sessions here, Laura jokingly called me T-Time without any sort of prior knowledge. And I was just like, okay, sure, I’ll go with that.

Favorite aspect of being a DJ?

I like when I’m doing my shows, I become a more exaggerated version of myself. Because I don’t really have a radio persona, per se. I just like putting my personality out there. I like being extremely self aware with the music I play because I know emo is cheesy. I want people to like, know that. I know that emo is cheesy. So I’ll make little jokes and comments about, you know, how cheesy some of what I’m playing is.

Do you hope to do radio after college?

If there’s a way I could, and if the right opportunity arose I would absolutely love to, you know, keep doing stuff like this.

Preferred method of listening to music (vinyl, CD, streaming platforms)?

I mainly listen to Spotify and Bandcamp. Occasionally, I’ll go to the record store, go to the used bin, and find something that looks interesting. And I’ll just get it and listen to it. And see if it’s good. There’s a lot more misses than hits. But I think it’s fun. Because you don’t know what you’re getting. Sometimes record stores will have like these mystery bags of seven inch singles. And I absolutely love those because sometimes you’ll find like, you find like one hit wonders in them and you’re like, oh, I love this. But mainly, I just listen to streaming services. I also have a whole little subsection in my collection of records that probably shouldn’t be on vinyl, but they are. Like there’s one I have, and it’s this lecture by this old dude. It’s like from the 60s I think and it’s him giving a lecture about sex education. There’s another record I have and it’s a seven inch single called “Sounds Of The American Fast Food Restaurants,” and it’s like an ambient album of fast food restaurant noises.

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“passing by” with carbon copy

As I’ve written about before, along with being a blog content creator, I am also a DJ at WKNC. This semester, I decided to start fresh with a new show titled “passing by.” The premise? To put a soundtrack to life’s big and little moments with the best of indie and rock.

My first set’s premise was art pop, noise pop, and big all-encompassing feelings. It featured songs from artists such as Broadcast, Spellling, Cocteau Twins and Life Without Buildings.

My second set was a bit more specific in its parameters. As I explained in my first air break, the theme was what might have been playing over the speakers in a department store in the 90s. In this set I featured Belly, Tanya Donelly, Belle & Sebastian and (my favorite) Rilo Kiley.

I adore the process of curating these mini-soundtracks and I would love it if you tuned in. “passing by” airs every Tuesday from 1-2 p.m. on WKNC 88.1 HD-1. You never know what moment I may be trying to capture. If you are unable to tune in, I make my playlists public on my Spotify after the set has been aired, and you can always check out my Spinitron as well.

Be sure to tune in,
Caitlin (a.k.a carbon copy)

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New Show Alert: The Mellow Yellow Marsh

WKNC 88.1 blog

New semester, new show, new DJ name! What better way to kick off being officially halfway done with college than to do a classic WKNC rebrand?

The Tangerine Hour with DJ Butter was by far my most successful show. I had call-ins all the time and found that it was so rewarding to give some classic rock to the station. One day, I got a call from a fellow DJ at WQDR 94.7. I forgot his name but his enthusiasm for music and WKNC will live in my heart forever. He mentioned to me how Shaw University used to have a Funk Friday show on WSHA 88.9, and he wished that there was some more of that groove on the college radio stations around Raleigh. Well, WQDR-DJ-whose-name-I-don’t-remember, your wish has been granted.

As toad maiden (my new DJ persona because DJ Butter was starting to annoy me), I decided to bring back the Tangerine Hour but with a funky twist. The ’60s and ’70s were such a prime era for fantastic music from all genres, and the influence that blues and funk had on popular rock was so important. In The Mellow Yellow Marsh, I want to highlight songs from those groovy decades that are entirely based in soul, funk and the blues. Whether they be from well-known artists like Jimi Hendrix that completely shook up conventional rock ‘n roll, or underground acts like Shinki Chen, The Mellow Yellow Marsh will include both familiar favorites and rare gems.

Intrigued? Tune into HD-1 every Friday from 1-2pm to hear me spin the funkiest tracks from the funkiest era. Here’s a sneak peek at my first setlist if you missed it:

1. One Room Country Shack – Shuggie Otis
2. I Need You So Bad – Magic Sam
3. What A Way to Die – The Pleasure Seekers
4. One of These Days – Ten Years After
5. Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake – Small Faces
6. I Want You – The Troggs
7. Flying Bird – The Doves
8. Physical Love – Eddie Hazel
9. Buzzsaw – The Turtles
10. Eddie’s Rush – Ultimate Spinach
11. I Wanna Know If It’s Good to You – Funkadelic
12. Pali Gap – Jimi Hendrix
13. Let Me Ride – Ginger Baker’s Air Force
14. The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair – Led Zeppelin

Happy listening,

toad maiden

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DJ Mothball’s July Set: Wash

DJ Mothball in studio

Molly DuBois, a.k.a. WKNC Program Director and DJ Mothball, is one of my favorite DJs and people around. Last night, I was lucky enough to join her in the studio for her weekly set. This week’s show, titled “Wash”, featured tracks from Stereolab, Cocteau Twins and Primal Scream. The set started at 8 p.m. and ran for about an hour with 12 songs and two air breaks. Molly set the in-studio atmosphere by changing the lights from blue to purple and giving me time to look at the various whiteboards, bulletin boards, and images that covered the walls. Doodles, notes, quotes and band posters surrounded us throughout the night. There’s nothing quite as simultaneously exciting and calming as being inside a WKNC studio during a set, especially if you get to go with DJ Mothball. Thanks again, Molly, for letting me join you. If you missed her set, check it out below and make sure you tune in to 88.1 every Wednesday at 8 p.m.:

1. “Golden Ball” by Stereolab
2. “Peaked” by Sd Laika
3. “A Dance By Any Other Name” by Mice Parade
4. “Another Routine Day Breaks” by Brokeback
5. “Trying to Reach You” by Mojave 3
6. “Taglieben” by Guther
7. “Constants Are Changing” by Boards of Canada
8. “Schöne Hände” by Cluster, Eno
9. “Why Do You Love Me?” by Cocteau Twins, Harold Budd
10. “Mary” by Jessica Bailiff
11. “Higher Than the Sun – A Dub Symphony in Two Parts” by Primal Scream
12. “Sado-Masochism Is A Must” by A.R. Kane

Here’s to Mothballs and Music,
Silya Bennai

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DJ Profile: Rainbow Riot

DJ profiles: Rainbow Riot

DJ Name: Rainbow Riot

Show Name: The Riot Hours

Show Description: The Riot Hours with Rainbow Riot airs every Wednesday morning only on WKNC 88.1 FM. Playing you the very best in music from all decades, including all the hits, back catalogue tracks, and forgotten tunes your speakers can handle. Tune in from 7 to 10 every Wednesday morning to experience The Riot Hours.

Without ruining the magic of it all– can you walk me through the process of how you curate your sets?

Sure, oh my gosh, it’s so much listening to radio. It really is. It’s a very organic process. For me, if I hear something that really catches my ear, I’m like, “oh, that’ll be in the set.” …At any given time, I’m working on three or four sets at a time, just because I hear so many different songs, because I’m always kind of looking. And I think that’s maybe part of the process, is the insanity of it. I would say each set is curated, based off of one singular, fleeting, I guess we’ll use the word “magical” moment when you hear a song. And it’s like, that’s what that song is.

From the Beatles to Lily Allen, a lot of different types of music live within the Riot Hours Realm, how do you determine if a song is up to par to be included in a set?

I am really bad about this… because I have a third hour that’s solely for requests in my show. The first two hours, I kind of make those sets without anyone else in mind. So it’s, it’s very, very selfish and very narcissistic. But it’s all kind of it really is a joy to make every playlist because that’s me in it and so it just kind of feels like almost like character development in a really weird like way. Like for a writer, that’s kind of what it is for me. So I guess it does just kind of click and I figure it’s almost like the, like Marie Kondo method of like, does it spark joy? And if it does not, it does not go in the set. 

Is there a story behind your DJ name and show name?

I really wanted to do a drive-time show. […] My DJ name I got from a Herbie Hancock song. And I loved it. I was like, this is amazing, because I think one of the songs is called “Rainbow Riot,” I was like– wait, not Herbie Hancock, I’m so sorry, BB King. It’s a BB King song. And it’s got a big fat cake on the cover of the album and I just thought that was so lush and so cool and very, like, almost Sofia Coppola’s Maria Antoinette. Like I just love the lusciousness of it all. It’s kind of both of these things where it’s like really chaotic and crazy, and kind of runs off the rails sometimes and is also a burst of joy and color. That’s where Rainbow Riot comes from. And I just thought it fit, I felt like Rainbow Riot. So it’s pretty natural and The Riot Hours kind of transcended from The Riot Hour because I was originally doing one hour but I didn’t want to do anything too complex or abstract. Because my DJ name was already a little bit weird so I figured I’d just make it you know be the blank hours and riot fit in. 

What is your aspect of being a DJ?

I love becoming a completely different person. It’s second-best only to talking to listeners which is so fun. Because the best to hear that kind of be back. I feel like you have a really solid degree of narcissism to be a DJ because it’s just kind of like constant reinforcement. But I am normally pretty introverted, unless I really know the people by which I’m surrounded. It’s difficult to love performing, but hate performing in front of other people. Which is something that I definitely struggle with. Yeah it’s the worst combination. And so to just shut the door, have that light turn on on the outside and be like, I’m going to be this person for two hours, and they have jack sh** idea that I’m not this person. And that’s so funny to me. So it’s an element of transformation that I really get a kick out of.

Were you expecting such a dedicated listenership?

This is so nuts because I didn’t realize they were there, literally. […] And so I was kind of chugging along, you know, I was doing my show, and then out of nowhere, like maybe my 16th or 17th set, I got a bunch of calls. And it was like, I don’t know why this is happening. But up until that point, I mean, I’d get like one or two calls during my other sets, like my mom, being like, “What do you want for dinner?” You know? I mean, and it wasn’t even, it was like 10 calls. And I was like, “Oh, I really like that.” It’s really good to hear people being like, this reminds me of that memory, or this person or whatever. And so it just kind of hit all of a sudden, and it just kept climbing and climbing and I form bonds with people and you start to recognize people’s voices who call? It’s easy. Yeah, that’s kind of how that happened. And I completely did not see it coming.

Do you hope to do radio after college?

I do plan on it. I won’t lie. Right now I’m applying for my doctorate. But I would really love to, I think a part of me that loves neuroscience, which is what I’m applying to, is also really communication inclined. So yeah, I could definitely see myself continuing this. And I feel like it’d be such a waste. Because two years ago, Rainbow Riot did not exist. So I don’t want to throw her to the wind and be like, “Okay, I graduated and so I’m done. So, you know, there goes all that.” So yeah, I definitely want to continue this.

How has your show evolved over time?

It was a hot mess. [During my first set] … I was red in the face and so, so nervous. I had stayed up all night writing this script. And I remember I played “Custard Pie” by Led Zeppelin and was like “this is going to be the very first song of my set.”  And I wrote out this huge dribbling monologue about who wrote it, and you know, the different studio versions. And so I went in the studio…and I just started talking and then I hit play. And then Jamie came in the room. And she’s like, “Are you okay?” And I’m like, “Yeah, I’m fine.” I had just delivered the best friggin opening of my set. She’s like, it was two minutes of dead air. I never turned my mic on.  I looked at my phone and I had texts from my parents who were like, all the sudden worrying if I was dead or passed out. And I was like, “No!” It just felt like such a waste. […] I think it’s all kind of the part of the humiliating learning curve that you go through, when everybody kind of starts out not fantastic…but it’s kind of just transformed, based off of experience, and really finding a niche that I love making kind of kind of similar linked playlists that aren’t all the same, but have kind of the same idea.

Do you have any guilty pleasure music?

I had to make a promise to Jamie that I would never play Wham! I love George Michael and really love Wham!  And I also really, really loved bachata and Selena Quintanilla. I’m a massive Selena fan. I don’t even feel embarrassed about her. But I just don’t know where I would even fit that in my set. Yeah. But yeah, Wham! is a really big one. I really do enjoy some early 80s synth-y bubblegum pop.

Categories
DJ Highlights

Review of My First DJ Set

WKNC 88.1 blog

This post is inspired by DJ Psyched’s post “DJ Psyched’s First Set Review.”

As I’ve written about before, along with being a blog content creator, I am also a DJ for WKNC. I DJ during the “Daytime” genre, which is essentially indie and/or rock. The Indie Inbox (my show) is supposed to be “an eclectic mix of the best of indie pop, indie rock, math rock and more.” Since I started making my sets, I’ve definitely nailed down the process and familiarized myself with the genre enough so that I can create unique sets that flow together well.

With all of that being said, let’s dive into the pros and cons of my very first edition of The Indie Inbox, circa March 23, 2021. The set can be found on my Spotify and Spinitron.

PROS

– The songs are all bangers. Of course, in every set, I try to put in songs that I enjoy, and that I think the audience will enjoy, but this first set really takes the cake for how many of my favorite songs are in it. My personal favorites that made the list include “Steamboat” by Adrianne Lenker, “The Execution of All Things” by Rilo Kiley and “Let’s Get Out” by Life Without Buildings.

– I follow all of the rules. There are rules as to what is and isn’t acceptable on the radio in general and at WKNC. Again, I do this in every set, but it’s good to see that I had a handle on that from the get-go.

– Everything more or less fits within the parameters of my show. This is important, and I try to always do this (are you sensing a theme?) but sometimes I do venture outside the lines. While that is okay to do on occasion, I like to keep things consistent for any recurrent listeners I might have. I did a great job of picking great songs by relatively small artists and touching on indie pop, indie rock, and math rock. 

CONS

– It’s a little all over the place. Although everything fits into the genre and the set has an alright flow, it still feels like I’m going in a lot of different directions. 

– I used too many good songs in my first set. Okay, I know I said that the songs all being bangers was a pro, but I used so many of my favorite songs in the first set. I know looking back that this is because I was still exploring the genre and didn’t have a great hold on what I wanted to do for my sets yet. I really try to keep my artists as diverse as possible and have only once ever repeated a song, so seeing that I used a lot of prime picks in just my first time around saddens me just a tad.

– It’s just a bit too long. The set totals in at 59 minutes and 13 seconds, which would be great for an hour-long show if I didn’t have to do air-breaks. Every DJ is different with when and how they like to do theirs, but nowadays I like to reserve at least 2 minutes for my air breaks throughout the set. 

Overall, my first set is something I cringe at just a little, but am ultimately very proud of. I love learning and growing as a DJ.