KSCU satisfies all kinds of musical tastes

By Megan Zehnder

Turn off your iPod for a minute and tune in to some classic local radio, hosted by these DJs.

"Scrawny: Electronic HiJinx"

DJ: Matthew Romero

Sundays, 5-8 p.m.

Electronic HiJinx is a term for electronic underground, or "inditronica," as some enthusiasts of the genre call it. For the first hour or so, Romero will play new music to let people know what's out there, and during the last half of his show he tries to mix other electronic songs together.

"I just really love the music. If I could really be DJing and making money, like playing at the clubs or something, I'd be doing that," said Romero. Instead, he got his engineering degree at Santa Clara back in 1995, and he continues to work for the station.

"As old as I am now, I'm still making friends on the show," he said. "It's a hobby. You might want to call it an obsession."

"PeterLo Show"

DJ: Peter Lo

Mondays, 7-9 p.m.

For Lo, the radio station is a place to practice what he calls his art. Using various DJ software, such as Match-up, Lo layers songs with matching beats to create a unique sound on his radio show.

Lo describes his music repertoire as poppy dance music with a beat similar to Lady Gaga or Madonna. "What I like to do, if I can pull it off, is take a pop beat and layer something like an Asian a cappella over the top of it," said Lo.

Lo will sometimes work on these layers outside of his show and then bring in the recording. Otherwise, he will provide an impromptu mix while he is on the air.

"It's really important the way you juxtapose each piece," he said. "What you listen to changes completely based on what it's paired with."

Lo, who has been a DJ since last spring, said that his goal is to make as clean of a transition as possible from one song to the next, to make it seem as if someone is listening to just one long, extremely intricate song. "It's a challenge that keeps me coming back," he said.

One of Lo's favorite aspects of working at KSCU is discovering new music. No matter how much you think you know about a genre, there is always more that you can discover, he explained.

There are some obstacles, however. "I don't think a lot of people appreciate what it is to DJ, which is I guess my biggest problem -- going places where people don't appreciate it as an art. I mean, maybe I'm giving it more credit than it's worth, but that's the way I feel about it."

"The Set List"

DJ: Will Danse

Tuesdays, 5-7 p.m.

According to Danse, it's hard to limit his show to one particular genre. "I'll play indie, pop, rock, alternative, rock, post-hardcore, metal, electronica. I'll even play rap sometimes," said Danse, who is in his sixth quarter working for KSCU and is also a photographer for The Santa Clara.

Listeners of Danse's show can expect to hear a wide range of music choices. "There are so many CDs it's sometimes tough to decide which one."

Danse tries to make sure that each week he plays different music to maintain a fresh assortment. Beyond his interest in originality and variety within the music portion of his show, Danse loves interacting with his audience, and he dedicates a part of his show to talking with Santa Clara listeners.

"Everyone has slightly different tastes who work on the show. I don't really think any show is the same," Danse said. "There's so much variety."

One obstacle that KSCU faces, explained Danse and other DJs, is on-campus promotion.

If you don't have an actual radio, no problem -- the station streams online. Just go to the Web site, KSCU.org, and press the "listen" button on the bottom left-hand corner.

Contact Megan Zehnder at mzehnder@scu.edu.