Crushing Categories
An interview with Deejay Junior
Words: Taj Reid
Forget
about these annoying categories and one-dimensional boxes that exist in
today’s mainstream. There are people who defy the boundaries. Albeit
rare, a redefinition of the expected is underway. The unexpected is launching
a comeback and quiet power has always been its greatest asset. If you
had any doubts, meeting Deejay Junior is a reassurance that it can happen.
People are working everyday to crush the idea of static categories. To
be honest, when I heard about his work and different projects, I didn’t
know where he got the energy, but after our interview it was clear that
this cat bleeds inspiration. And, that’s the difference.
Deejay Junior co-hosts a radio show called Eavesdrop in Philadelphia, possesses a Doctorate in Education Leadership and Learning Technologies, teaches at Temple University and evaluates after-school programs in his spare time. The man is sick. On his radio show he’s had guest appearances from the likes of King Britt, Ursula Rucker, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Rich Medina. With such a busy schedule, Dork Magazine luckily caught up with him right before the New Year...
Dork: I wanted to ask you about how it all started. You have quite a presence here in Philadelphia. It seems like I can’t go anywhere without seeing you or your partner’s name on a flyer. So, how’d you meet Dave, land the radio spot, and spawn your Philadelphia presence?
Junior: I was doing an event at October gallery with another partner. We’d do it once a month – live performances – and we’d deejay – just bringing something different to the mix, but to progress now to WKDU… Both Dave and I went to Drexel. Dave went there for undergrad and I went there for my Doctorate. He had his show for a very long time. I had my show for a couple years, not as long as he had and what ended up happening was we both were having problems covering our shows. It’s a three-hour time slot and my show was early in the morning, like Friday from 9 ‘til noon. Dave’s show was on Sunday’s late at night. I started getting a lot more work with my other job and Dave started getting a lot more deejay gigs. So, we decided to combine forces. We’re of the same mind frames. I had the name Eavesdrop before, and we just kept that name. Actually, we’re coming up on our one-year anniversary as partners.
As for the show, we’re very interested in these local artists and our listeners. We like to say our show is anything with soul. One day you could tune in and we might be playing rock, for example. I’ve been playing a lot of Martin Luther but people might not consider that neo-soul. Everyone has their own little category, but it really is anything with soul and we never know what we’re going to play that day. That’s how we approach it.
We play so much different stuff every week. Actually, we’re at the point where people are contacting us about stuff and saying, “I’d like to come on the show,” and labels are saying, “do you think you could get this artist on” and they’re sending us records. For me, it’s like sure – but we’re not limited to musical artist [on the show]. Some of the guests I’ve had on before include authors, organizers and anyone who is a forward thinker. That’s what we’re interested in. The only problem is that we don’t have the time to get everyone that we want on. But that’s what we do and it’s refreshing.
It’s also refreshing to hear from callers. We get callers all the time (locally) but people would call from London and from Germany and it’s 4 or 5 am for them. They’d say, “We’re listening to your show and we don’t know if this is an American station…” and then they’d give us our kudos or whatever. It hit me afterward because I know people listen to the show around the world, but it’s not like someone from Philly calling, this person had to make a long distance call to the states just to tell someone that they were doing something that they liked [at four in the morning].
Dork: You and Dave push the categorical envelop and introduce so many new artists. Would you ever consider moving into the mainstream radio market and pushing the envelope there, or do you enjoy the natural radio freedoms of college radio?
Junior: I’m on both sides of that – sometimes I really wish I could. People have said that there’s an opening on WDAS or an opening on Power 99 but the problem with that is it’s Clear Channel and they control everything that they’re playing. For example if you look at a show like Inner City (an “alternative” music show on urban radio). That show was three hours long and [has been reduced] to one-hour now.
Dork: I know. It’s tough for those shows to last on mainstream radio. In regard to radio interviews, what has been your favorite or most interesting experience?
Junior: There are only two people that I can think of that were not what I expected. One person was really controlling. Most of the time I tell artists before hand I’m going to ask them whatever comes to mind. I have a few questions that I ask everyone, but I really don’t have a set list. One artist was totally against everything I would ask and all they wanted to do was talk about their album and concert dates. I asked them a question like, what was their favorite top five records, and it was their album, their demo etc. It’s like all right.
Another interesting interview occurred when I was trying to interview a group – from Philly – but I won’t mention any names. There were two people in the group and one of them - I guess their manager set up the interview - did not want to go at all and never showed up. So the manager and the other member showed up. It was great. People love them here, but they’re not getting the exposure like they should – I just thought that an attitude like that is not helping you. Of course I’m not going to say that on the air but it was sort of weird.
Everyone else, big name people and not so big name people – everyone has just been beautiful. I have to say the nicest person in the whole music industry that I’ve ever had the privilege to interview twice was King Britt. He’s quiet, but he’s got to be the nicest most honest caring individual in the industry. Or Ursula Rucker was very nice – very smart and people know that already from her work but to sit there and talk with her...
Dork: So what are your big plans for the future? Do you have plans outside of the show?
Junior: Dave and I are looking to do more live shows. I don’t deejay as much, because this is not my day job. Dave is part of a crew – the illvibe collective. They all have their own sort of elements of what they do in terms of music, but I know that Dave in addition to deejaying also produces. People don’t know, but he has some really good beats. So we want to do some production stuff, but I’ve also been looking at the other end of it – I want to do some promoting and planning shows. The big part of that is getting funded, but we’re working on it.
Dork: We’re looking forward to seeing what you have in store. Your show has left an indelible mark on the city. Keep pushing the envelope – whether your breaking artists that haven’t been heard, or giving our favorite artists who may not fit the choice trend a place to voice their expression.
You can catch Junior every Friday from 6-9pm on WKDU 91.7 FM in Philly or perhaps he’ll be your teacher next semester at Temple.
Check out www.recordbreakin.com
Check out www.illvibe.net
Listen to WKDU online at www.wkdu.org
Deejay Junior co-hosts a radio show called Eavesdrop in Philadelphia, possesses a Doctorate in Education Leadership and Learning Technologies, teaches at Temple University and evaluates after-school programs in his spare time. The man is sick. On his radio show he’s had guest appearances from the likes of King Britt, Ursula Rucker, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Rich Medina. With such a busy schedule, Dork Magazine luckily caught up with him right before the New Year...
Dork: I wanted to ask you about how it all started. You have quite a presence here in Philadelphia. It seems like I can’t go anywhere without seeing you or your partner’s name on a flyer. So, how’d you meet Dave, land the radio spot, and spawn your Philadelphia presence?
Junior: I was doing an event at October gallery with another partner. We’d do it once a month – live performances – and we’d deejay – just bringing something different to the mix, but to progress now to WKDU… Both Dave and I went to Drexel. Dave went there for undergrad and I went there for my Doctorate. He had his show for a very long time. I had my show for a couple years, not as long as he had and what ended up happening was we both were having problems covering our shows. It’s a three-hour time slot and my show was early in the morning, like Friday from 9 ‘til noon. Dave’s show was on Sunday’s late at night. I started getting a lot more work with my other job and Dave started getting a lot more deejay gigs. So, we decided to combine forces. We’re of the same mind frames. I had the name Eavesdrop before, and we just kept that name. Actually, we’re coming up on our one-year anniversary as partners.
As for the show, we’re very interested in these local artists and our listeners. We like to say our show is anything with soul. One day you could tune in and we might be playing rock, for example. I’ve been playing a lot of Martin Luther but people might not consider that neo-soul. Everyone has their own little category, but it really is anything with soul and we never know what we’re going to play that day. That’s how we approach it.
We play so much different stuff every week. Actually, we’re at the point where people are contacting us about stuff and saying, “I’d like to come on the show,” and labels are saying, “do you think you could get this artist on” and they’re sending us records. For me, it’s like sure – but we’re not limited to musical artist [on the show]. Some of the guests I’ve had on before include authors, organizers and anyone who is a forward thinker. That’s what we’re interested in. The only problem is that we don’t have the time to get everyone that we want on. But that’s what we do and it’s refreshing.
It’s also refreshing to hear from callers. We get callers all the time (locally) but people would call from London and from Germany and it’s 4 or 5 am for them. They’d say, “We’re listening to your show and we don’t know if this is an American station…” and then they’d give us our kudos or whatever. It hit me afterward because I know people listen to the show around the world, but it’s not like someone from Philly calling, this person had to make a long distance call to the states just to tell someone that they were doing something that they liked [at four in the morning].
Dork: You and Dave push the categorical envelop and introduce so many new artists. Would you ever consider moving into the mainstream radio market and pushing the envelope there, or do you enjoy the natural radio freedoms of college radio?
Junior: I’m on both sides of that – sometimes I really wish I could. People have said that there’s an opening on WDAS or an opening on Power 99 but the problem with that is it’s Clear Channel and they control everything that they’re playing. For example if you look at a show like Inner City (an “alternative” music show on urban radio). That show was three hours long and [has been reduced] to one-hour now.
Dork: I know. It’s tough for those shows to last on mainstream radio. In regard to radio interviews, what has been your favorite or most interesting experience?
Junior: There are only two people that I can think of that were not what I expected. One person was really controlling. Most of the time I tell artists before hand I’m going to ask them whatever comes to mind. I have a few questions that I ask everyone, but I really don’t have a set list. One artist was totally against everything I would ask and all they wanted to do was talk about their album and concert dates. I asked them a question like, what was their favorite top five records, and it was their album, their demo etc. It’s like all right.
Another interesting interview occurred when I was trying to interview a group – from Philly – but I won’t mention any names. There were two people in the group and one of them - I guess their manager set up the interview - did not want to go at all and never showed up. So the manager and the other member showed up. It was great. People love them here, but they’re not getting the exposure like they should – I just thought that an attitude like that is not helping you. Of course I’m not going to say that on the air but it was sort of weird.
Everyone else, big name people and not so big name people – everyone has just been beautiful. I have to say the nicest person in the whole music industry that I’ve ever had the privilege to interview twice was King Britt. He’s quiet, but he’s got to be the nicest most honest caring individual in the industry. Or Ursula Rucker was very nice – very smart and people know that already from her work but to sit there and talk with her...
Dork: So what are your big plans for the future? Do you have plans outside of the show?
Junior: Dave and I are looking to do more live shows. I don’t deejay as much, because this is not my day job. Dave is part of a crew – the illvibe collective. They all have their own sort of elements of what they do in terms of music, but I know that Dave in addition to deejaying also produces. People don’t know, but he has some really good beats. So we want to do some production stuff, but I’ve also been looking at the other end of it – I want to do some promoting and planning shows. The big part of that is getting funded, but we’re working on it.
Dork: We’re looking forward to seeing what you have in store. Your show has left an indelible mark on the city. Keep pushing the envelope – whether your breaking artists that haven’t been heard, or giving our favorite artists who may not fit the choice trend a place to voice their expression.
You can catch Junior every Friday from 6-9pm on WKDU 91.7 FM in Philly or perhaps he’ll be your teacher next semester at Temple.
Check out www.recordbreakin.com
Check out www.illvibe.net
Listen to WKDU online at www.wkdu.org
