DJ in training

Sitting In
Just got back from sitting in for the first time with an on-air DJ, "DJ Respect" who with his partner Lisa Luv fills in the afternoons on alternate Saturdays. I got good tips from both of them, as well as from another long-time KMUD DJ, Bob Froehlich. Bob, his wife Barbara, Music Director Kate Klein, myself and a few other volunteers were in the station's library tonight working on the annual cull and re-organization of the thousands of CDs (and some vinyl) that are stored there. KMUD receives about 75 CDs in the mail every week, and processing and labeling those CDs is most of what I've been doing there since October or so.

I was stoked tonight to find buried away in the vinyl collection a Lily Tomlin comedy album that had been in the family when I was growing up, and (despite Bob's advice to limit myself to a single medium, at least for my first show), I'll try to play a skit on my first show that I recall fondly, in which this great comedian extraordinaire simultaneously plays 4 roles: a pissed-off teenager, both her square and very boring parents, and a visiting insurance salesman.

DJ Respect (aka Mark) was awesome, showing me just about all the things that I have to learn, as was Lisa whose show followed his. I saw how to cue up CDs and take phone calls .. Lisa even did an impromptu interview with some hip-hop artists who were going to perform tonight up in Arcata.

Anyway, it's been a long but exciting day, and this DJ-in-training is gonna call it a night. Before signing off, here's a special shout-out to my friend and employer Mike, who is basically subsidizing my growing participation at our community radio station. Muchas, muchas gracias, Miguel!