It's almost, but not quite, embarrassing to admit how much time I spent as a kid playing "Radio DJ" in my room. I had a Fisher Price turntable along with a cassette deck hooked into a surprisingly advanced "be your own DJ" toy mixing device, and I would spin tunes for hours, paying particular attention the cross fades, the track notes announced in between songs, and faux news and weather reports to my non-existent listeners. You create art for yourself regardless of whether someone else gets to view/hear it, right?
I think my excitement about recording and broadcasting forms of creativity has continued since. I was always working to produce video and audio recordings for fun in high school, I had a radio show and was a news reader and the training director on my college's station, and I've since dived head first into the world of podcasting (though that's paused right now).
This summer I've had the pleasure of taking on a new show at that same college radio station, WECI 91.5 FM here in Richmond, thanks to the initiative of friend and co-worker Nate. It's one of Richmond's great but under-utilized and under-supported public media assets, and despite being a little rough around the edges sometimes, it's still a neat place to work in radio.
I'm currently on from 10 PM-midnight on Wednesdays, and the show is called "Mix Tape" - it's a pretty random collection of music meant to evoke the thought processes and amalgamating that goes into creating mix tapes or CDs. (The reality is probably that very few people listen, which makes it much easier to wax poetic on the air, knowing that big rig drivers passing through in the night are my likely primary audience.)
You can listen online if you're not local, and while I can't promise anything, you're welcome to make requests and give feedback by phone or via Twitter. Thanks to everyone who's tuned in thus far!
I’m a journalist, publisher, software developer and entrepreneur with experience as a founder and organizational leader. Work with me or learn more about me.
The show is great. Only suggestion is to include the timezone of your show so we out-of-towners can make sure to listen in...
A post-mortem and playlist from tonight's show, for those who listened:
It didn't quite go as planned, in that with about 45 minutes remaining the next show DJ came in and brought about 27 kids with him who promptly sat themselves down in the broadcast studio and stared at me while I finished the show. They were pleasant, but I wasn't exactly prepared for the physically proximate audience. There were also problems with the single computer in the studio with Internet access, and various other small glitches - hopefully you didn't notice. Except for the part where, flustered, I recommended that everyone break up with everyone else at the first sign of unhappiness. Ooops.
The upside was that there was such a great listenership that I didn't even realize at the time - folks streaming online and locally...childhood friends, friends from far away, co-workers, family - WOW! That's really heartening. Someone said they bought some music tonight because of the show - nice.
Here's a playlist from the Breakup edition of Mix Tape:
The playlist is a nice addition. May we expect that on future weeks?