DJ of the Month

DJ MC

Introducing WRUV’s September DJ of the Month: DJ MC! Max brings a playful and imaginative spirit to the airwaves with Synonyms, a show built around a different theme each week, from Frankenstein and birds to boats and the changing seasons. As our lovely Program Director, Max has found inspiration in the station’s many community DJs and continues to bring that same enthusiasm and curiosity to their own show. When they’re not on air or training the next generation of WRUV DJs, you can find Max revisiting beloved albums from their childhood and dreaming up new ways to bring more art and creativity into the station!

Cam: I’m here with Max, who is the DJ of the month. Max, tell me, what’s your DJ name, your show name?

Max: Yeah, so hi, I’m Max. My DJ name is DJ MC and my show name is Synonyms because DJ and MC are very vaguely synonyms of one another.

Cam: That’s fire. Do you have any particular show theme or like things you like to play?

Max: Yeah, I have a theme It’s something that like changes every week. So I’ve done, I’ve done a theme around Frankenstein, the book. Um, I did a birds show this morning. I had like a changing of the seasons show. Last week was about boats.

Cam: That’s very nice. I like that. It’s interpretive. What does a Frankenstein show look like? Spooky music?

Max: it was quite fun. I went through the plot of Frankenstein. I felt were reminiscent of each of the, like, plot points in Frankenstein.

Cam: I love that book.

Max: Yeah, it’s so good

Cam: It’s so good

Max: Yeah, I’m thinking of doing a Dracula one at some point

Cam: That’s a great concept for a show, I will say. In terms of music, what do you listen to? What’s your thing? Or what are you enjoying right now?

Max: Some names are like Death Cab for Cutie, MJ Lenderman. I’m a really big fan of Superchunk and anyone off of like Merge Records sort of thing. Destroyer, the Mountain Goats. I’ve been listening this fall to a lot of stuff that I’m re-encountering from when I was younger. I think a lot of fun albums that I listen to like when I was cooking at whom with my family, I’ve been listening to while I’m cooking with my friends, which has been really fun.

Cam: What albums come to mind?

Max: First of all, the Decemberists keep popping up a lot, also the Long Winters have an album Putting the Days to Bed and there’s a bunch of songs on there that like when I’m listening to it, smells like garlic and onions in a pot because it was just constantly playing in my kitchen.

Cam: Max is also the program director as of last semester, taking over for Anna. How has that been starting up, and with training going on?

Max: It’s been really great. All the trainees are super enthusiastic which is just the best. We’ve had 3 tours of the station so far, and a lot of folks coming by. I think there are like 90 people training this semester, so it’s really great to meet the next batch of new DJs, and I’m having a blast.

Cam: What has been your favorite part of being part of the station over the past few semesters? And what’s a goal or aspiration that you have? And it can be anything from like fixing the website or local music or…

Max: Oh boy, tall task. I’d say one thing that I really enjoyed has been getting to know a lot of our community DJs, especially when I was shadowing. I shadowed a whole bunch of community DJs who I’ve like kept in touch with since having my own show at the station and learning a lot from them, especially with physical media and how to navigate our library has been great. And then one thing I’m really hoping for is to bring back all of our like cool designs on stuff.

Cam: Wow, that’s a great one.

Max: Like the schedules and signage in the station, and it’s good to have some more artwork around, even if it’s just your schedule.

Cam: Totally. And marketing and aesthetics are important, you know?

Max: So true. Yeah.

Cam: But I also agree with the community DJ thing. They have so much knowledge, and a lot of them have had shows forever.