Category: DJ Features

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? 

What is your name and DJ name?

My DJ name is The High Priestess. My government name is Alina.

What is the name of your show and when is it on?

I do Office Hours with The High Priestess, every Monday noon to 2.

Please describe your show. What is its format?

The format is a playlist of whatever I feel like playing that week, of music and sometimes words. 

An organizing theme that I think about is using the metaphor of the Priestess as a channel for a consciousness that’s out there and I like how that ties in with the way that broadcast and live radio works – it’s like a tangible material thing, but contained in the immaterial waves. I’ve really just been thinking a lot about how powerful information is this past year, and so I really want to use my energy to find the most healing and beautiful parts of expression and information. 

What drew you to participate in KMRD?

I was always interested in radio, live radio, and I wanted a community to plug into, to feel like I was part of something creative. I moved out here a couple years ago, and it took me a minute to get acquainted with everything in town, in the local scene. 

What is the appeal of doing a radio show? How does it fit into the rest of your life?

It’s a really nice structure to have. I think that this year – this past year – it’s been a really positive space for me to come into every week, and it keeps me interested in all the new music that’s always coming out. And it keeps me interested in old music too, and just finding things that I’ve never heard before, because there’s always more stuff that I haven’t heard.

What difference has being a DJ made in your life?

It’s given me more experience in public speaking. It’s been helping me keep my tech skills sharp, which is something I appreciate since I’m not doing making any money off of those skills right now. And I think it’s helped me get more comfortable with myself in my own voice. I feel like it’s helped me grow some parts of myself that are kind of shy, and to kind of get a feel for what it’s like to be presenting. 

What are your hopes for your show?

I hope to just keep getting better, and I’m always working on making my transitions smoother. I hope to keep engaging with the local community – because that’s the coolest part about it for me, is getting to amplify friends, or bands that don’t have a big studio behind them, a big company behind them. My hopes are just to keep improving at the skill – I feel like the overall skill is creating a wavelength, not a brand, but like a recognizable tone or recognizable voice, and like keeping that consistent and making it a space that people can tune into consistently. 

What are your hopes for the station?

I just really appreciate being part of a group, a community, and I hope that I get to keep making new friendships and getting closer to the other DJs. And I hope that if we can do live music again, that I’ll be able to be an audience and participate in that, because that’s the best thing in the world. 

What is your name and DJ name?

My name is Stephen, and my DJ name is DJ Subdude.

What is the name of your show and when is it on?

I am DJ Subdude, and I am on whenever anybody needs me.

[Subdude also helped with construction at the KMRD building, and designed both t-shirts that are currently for sale.]

Please describe your show. What is its format?

I’ve been learning as I go along what I want to do. The first show I did, I covered for a country show – that was all country stuff. I thought that was good, but I started to explore a little bit and I thought I’d do like what Peter and Scott do. They draw an arc, it travels from one place to another, it’s kind of thematic. What I grew up listening to was 60s pop radio, where you had “The Israelites” followed by “A Boy Named Sue” followed by “Revolution” followed by… and they would just throw in anything, each song you had to take on its own. I try to keep the pace going a certain way, but I like throwing one song after the next so that it’s not a thematic thing, it’s like the eclectic radio of the 60s. I will do themes if somebody dies, or if there’s a special occasion or something like that. 

What drew you to participate in KMRD?

I had just moved here, I was up on the hill when you guys opened, the first night. I had my Subaru out, opened both doors and just cranked it. And the music drew me – the radio station drew me. I heard you the first night, and I was just taken.

What is the appeal of doing a radio show? How does it fit into the rest of your life?

I love to stand there and listen to the music cranked really loud. I like the fact that there are going to be people around that are listening. It’s a dear thing. It’s something shared. I love the music, and I love the way the station came together, and I love the town. 

I play music, and I listen to music, and I like to share it.

What difference has being a DJ made in your life?

It’s brought me a lot of enjoyment. It’s fed my soul. It’s just made me happy.

What are your hopes for your show?

To show up on time, not be drunk. Do all the things right, and have people enjoy it. Get more phone calls!

What are your hopes for the station?

To live long and prosper.

The station, the way that it’s going, I couldn’t have directed it or thought better for how it’s going, so I just want it to continue on as long as anybody’s in this town. 

All the people who originated it have done such a great job, and I think it’s one of the best things I’ve seen anybody do. It’s just a great effort, I’m so impressed by what it is.

What is your name and DJ name?

My name is Serafina, and my DJ name is DJ Fina.

What is the name of your show and when is it on?

The name of my show is Desert Rose and All That Chit Chat and it’s on every other Thursday, 7-9pm.

Please describe your show. What is its format?

I think before all of this, my show was prominently based on the potential of interacting with live music from locals and traveling bands, to play that on the air, and also recorded. Having worlds of different demographics come on the air live and digitally: that was the format. That’s still happening – I’m still having a lot of local bands on the air, and then friends from different areas – which is kind of why I love the radio station, because it’s still interacting people globally. But right now the format is a little more up in the air.

What drew you to participate in KMRD?

I think that moving from the Pacific Northwest to here, I was so much more involved and at house shows and all this live action, and coming here the music seems a little slower. Just the connection, the connection to the community, to other DJs. And yeah, meeting actual local musicians has really brought me closer to music in general, and why people like to perform, and share communal interests.

What is the appeal of doing a radio show? How does it fit into the rest of your life?

I think the connection of being around live music or even listening through the airwaves – there’s just like this sense of oneness. Regardless of if you’re live, or you heard a new song that’s like really awesome, you can connect to someone else who knows that band or knows that song and there’s just like a communal oneness, and I really like that.

What difference has being a DJ made in your life?

There’s this meditative process when I sit down to make a show, or I’m sitting down to interview a band, that just kind of shuts the rest of the world out for a second, and I can focus in on new music, or a new genre, or new origin of where music comes from, and I really like that process. Outside and inside the studio… definitely when I’m in there, it’s just like me and the music, and it seems very meditative. Especially traveling from Santa Fe to Madrid, it’s like this pilgrimage of “I’m going to go listen to music.” That feels really nice.

What are your hopes for your show?

When music is back to being a thing… I don’t know if I’m supposed to be saying pre- or post-Covid, but it has a lot do do with my show. I really do love live music, and people creating that: it changes a room and it changes an evening. I would love to have more people on the air and interview people from New Mexico and around the country, specifically the Northwest, to intertwine people, and intertwine music and shows and performance. I guess more live music! But people just kind of making community even if it’s far away.

I think radio in general is just a community act, regardless of if I’m in there by myself. Getting feedback from people, and then also sharing my feedback with other people, is prominently what will keep things happy and going and respectful. 

What are your hopes for the station?

I hope the station keeps poppin’! That it can be eventually this more involved, people in and out, place, safe space for a lot of people, to feel inclusive. But also that people are just so intrigued to tune in every week, and every time at different times of day, because there’s always variety going on, and so that it can appeal to different demographics at any given time. And that being spread constantly, and the knowledge of that going on and continuing would be so awesome. 

What is your name and DJ name?

Zach Maloof, OG Willikers. I perform as OG Willikers, that’s my emcee name, or hiphop name, or stage name, or alter ego – whatever you want to call it.

What is the name of your show and when is it on?

Rhyme Schemes with OG Willikers, 7-8pm on Tuesdays.

Please describe your show. What is its format?

The tagline I came up with organically: “Underground hiphop from the Southwest and beyond.”

Underground hiphop is the underground network of independent artists that either don’t do it full time, or have done it lifelong but have never made a career out of it. It’s a network of DJs, and emcees, and promoters and club owners, and a lot of those people are kind of the same thing. So collaboration is a huge element, and that’s kind of what this show is – it’s me playing musicians I know, have worked with, or are part of this underground network.

What drew you to participate in KMRD?

I’ve been DIY since Warehouse 21 days in Santa Fe, when I was a 14 year old kid and I was learning how to promote and book concerts. I’m 34 now, so that’s 20 years  now that I’ve been involved in DIY, underground. Back then it was punk rock, I didn’t really do the hiphop thing til my twenties. I was a promoter, event organizer, did tour booking, and that all went away, but I have this thriving network of awesome people I’ve met and I loved growing it. It was just so fun to meet new people, and put all the dots together. So when that ended, I was drawn to this, because it’s like a pivot during COVID – this was my way of still being able to give these people a platform, and be heard. 

What drew me to participate was also wanting to be more involved in this community. Instead of just being someone who lives here and takes up space, I wanted to contribute and share and get to know people, and it’s helped build a sense of camaraderie with, “Oh, what do you play on your show?” “How do you do that?” “Do you need me to edit that track for you? I’ll do that for you.” It’s just a fun thing for everyone to talk about, and have in common. One friend plays Texas country music (Dirt Devil, Fridays 11am-noon) but we still chill and talk about the radio shows, and it’s fun. I don’t listen to that music, I don’t really want to, but because it’s her show I enjoy it. I imagine as much as I get out of it – I can express myself – I can imagine other people feel the same way. So that’s what I think is so cool, that we can all kind of share ourselves in this community, get to know each other in a fun way.

What is the appeal of doing a radio show? How does it fit into the rest of your life?

I have this network of artists I was booking and working with and building with, and my monthly event, which is kind of the biggest thing I’ve ever done, a culmination of all my skills. It was this awesome thing – that’s the thing that still makes me really sad with COVID and everything, that one really still stings. But I was booking around five artists, once a month, from all over the country. Now, with this show, I play seventeen artists a week. So that’s really cool, how that’s exponentially grown. And it’s really showing in my social media feeds, and even now when I’m releasing music, I have all these people who are like, “Hey, he played my track! That’s cool, I’ll check out his music.” We’re all kind of sharing, and in a way that’s been really cool, how this has actually helped me with my platform as well. 

What difference has being a DJ made in your life?

I’ve been a big fan of music for so many years, and I’ve always enjoyed all these other artists. I’ve seen everyone live so many times, but this has been an experience where I’m sitting there and paying very close attention to their recorded works. Their records, their discographies… I can see their strategies even: that person released that single, and then they released another one this month, and then they released an album. Just seeing how everyone moves. I feel like a lot of underground artists in my position, we’re just so busy working on our own craft that we’re not really as aware of how other people even in our own bubbles are really doing things. So for me, I’m getting so many insights. I’ll be digging through artists I know very well’s music and I’ll see someone they worked with, click on that and realize that that person worked with this other person I know, and the network just gets more woven. I discover more and more music that way. I’m digging – I was never a sample-digger, but this – I definitely relate to digging because I’m like, “I gotta find that hot track for my playlist this week, I need something fresh!” It’s been very enriching to me.

What are your hopes for your show?

It’s what I hoped for, I like it as it is, I like that it’s growing, I like meeting new artists. I hope that when the world opens up I get to meet a lot of the newer artists I’ve discovered through this show, that I get to actually work with them, and grow.

What are your hopes for the station?

I hope that COVID goes away soon and that we can start doing more activities, and grow on another level: grow physically, not just over the airwaves.