Last Night and a Thousand Other Nights Before, a DJ Saved My Life

Five Old Photos, Four Reflections On Becoming a KEXP DJ

1.

Last week, our beloved KEXP 90.3 FM announced it’s new show schedule and DJ lineup. In addition to the returning staple shows, there are new shows with new DJs, old shows with new DJs and new shows with old DJs.

It’s still surreal to see or say it: I am one of the new DJs. I’m debuting next week as a fill-in DJ, bringing my extremely eclectic musical palate to KEXP’s menu, popping up all over the schedule in both variety and speciality shows. My schedule changes from week to week as I navigate being a noob on air. I’ve plenty of experience in radio, but mostly sitting opposite the host. This will be an interesting experiment.

Tomorrow, September 13, the new schedule and lineup is a go. Today, my good friend Gabriel Teodros closes out a nearly 7-year run as KEXP DJ and host of Early (5am-7am weekdays). I was a guest on GT’s final Friday morning a few days ago. Click the pic below to listen to the episode (available to stream until September 22):

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The old KEXP music archive (2011)

2.

I’ve written this before somewhere, but I forget, so I’ll re-document it here: I was DJ Geologic before I became MC Geologic. I was a collector who tried to make the best mixtapes with the worst equipment. Along with my boy Randeep, we ran a respectable (for Bremerton) mix tape racket in the mid-90s. Randeep also introduced me to KCMU 90.3 FM, this staticky station that played over a weak signal what I would’ve described then as weirdo shit. Nah, you gotta listen from 6-9pm on Sunday night, he told me. There’s this show called Rap Attack…

Across the Sound in Bremerton, listening on a $60 boombox with a bent antenna, Rap Attack was my crash course in how much more expansive hip-hop was than I had even imagined. I heard Wu-Tang Clan on Rap Attack several months before YO! MTV Raps played their video or GZA got Rhyme of the Month in the Source. Back then those months mattered, like hours do now.

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