College Radio
I'm a college radio DJ on WMTU 91.9FM Houghton. You can tune in to my radio show, Crisco Inferno, every Thursday night from 8-10 PM. While it's not a paid radio gig, it is a lot of fun. My specialty is electronic music from the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly big beat and breakbeat. My tagline is "Awesome Electronic Music From Across the Spectrum," which is about as accurate as it gets. In addition to big beat and breakbeat tracks, I also play a ton of trip hop, some drum 'n' bass, turntablists, early 2000s brit rock, underground hip hop, downtempo, and other related music. It sounds quite varied on paper but works really well in practice.
I started DJing at WMTU from 2007-2010. We had a full schedule my first year which kept me from getting a show. Fortunately, there were far fewer DJs during the summer months so I was able to snag a prime-time slot right off the bat. No graveyard shift for me! Looking back, it's like I was undrafted free agent. Who knew this guy we turned down would wind up DJing forever? Times back then were goofy and loose, with loads of DJs playing all sorts of weird stuff. Metal Mondays were a thing, people still listened to the radio, and new albums were coming in daily to try out. I danced a lot, which made DJing music difficult but definitely boosted my multi-tasking skills faster than those who hit play on their setlist and did their homework instead.
After graduating, I headed off to begin my stint at WCDB Albany from 2010-2012. Radio here was a different animal. We had fewer technological wiz kids and more hyper-passionate music aficionados. If you played anything Top 40 from any year, you'd get a stern talking to. This was the real college radio deal. I upped my game and kept digging for new (old) tunes to throw on my show, broadening my musical horizons and creating a true spectrum of music that would be compatible with Crisco Inferno. While at WCDB, I became their Training Director and completed the longest radio show in their recorded history by a solo DJ. My 2011 Super Show was a 36-hour marathon that ended with me deliriously running through a blizzard of knee-deep snow in shorts and sandals to catch the last bus of the night back to my apartment. It was wild.
I've been back at WMTU since 2012, throwing down my weekly Crisco Inferno radio show nearly without fail ever since. I celebrated my 10-year college radio anniversary in May 2017 and reached my 700th radio show in August 2023. I'm the longest-running DJ at WMTU (727+ shows and counting), and while I hold no official titles anymore I am the guy who knows how to multitask on-air the best of anyone. If ever I move out of the Keweenaw, no doubt I'll be that cool guy who holds down a wacky electronic show on a local independent radio station. For now, I'm a forever pretend college student with the widest selection of electronic music of any DJ on the air.
