What is your name and DJ name?
My name is Gaby, my DJ name is DJ Raindrop.
What is the name of your show and when is it on?
Foggy Morning Portals, it’s on Sundays from 9 to 10 in the morning.
Please describe your show. What is its format?
My show is – I wake up really early in the morning, and I try to absorb whatever the vibes I’m feeling or I feel like the community might be feeling, and I kind of let that resonate for me. I wake up at like 5 and I do that all the way until like 10 sometimes, if I have the opportunity. And then usually that’s how my playlist looks. That’s why it can look anywhere from pop music to psychedelic to all kinds of stuff. It’s been really fun to take those quiet hours and transmute it into something.
What drew you to participate in KMRD?
I loved it and was really impressed with it and the format and the history of it. We moved here five years ago now, and I just really wanted to get my talons into a little and feel it, and I’m so happy I did.
What is the appeal of doing a radio show? How does it fit into the rest of your life?
It really has gotten me back into music, in ways that I didn’t know was missing until I was doing it again. The communal love note that music and art and spoken word transcends, I really appreciate that. It’s been a really good destressor to a lot of parts of my life, and then a really good creative source to other parts of my life.
What difference has being a DJ made in your life?
It’s reminded me of a voice that I thought I didn’t have any more, but it’s given me that voice again. And then given me a voice to kind of say things to people, when I probably don’t put myself in a situation to say them. I’m awkward, and very grateful of my awkwardness, but the DJ show has kind of given me a place to be like, “I just want to hug you all!”
What are your hopes for your show?
My hope is to get more spoken word poetry in there, to amplify artists that I’m really impressed by and that I think would resonate with the culture and community that’s around. And maybe bring a good shift to my world and maybe, in a cool way, someone else’s.
What are your hopes for the station?
My hope for the station is that it grows – or stays exactly the same. It does what it wants. I hope the station stays, and does what it wants. Which is a radical notion in itself these days, no?