MD of the Month :
Ozzie Zakusilo
RLC-WVPH 90.3 The Core
Who is an artist or band that you’ve discovered in the past year or so that has become one of your favorites? What is it about their music that you love? How did you first hear about RLC? How long have you been involved there and when did you become music director?
I heard about RLC during this large fair that Rutgers holds at the start of the fall semester! During this fair all the different clubs and organizations table to try and get freshmen to join! I totally stumbled upon the table by chance and ended up joining in the fall semester of my freshman year and I’ve been involved since! So I have been at the station for close to 4 years at this point. I became my station’s Rock director about a month after I finished my DJs training, I was Rock Director for about 2 years and got elected to be Head Music Director during my Junior year! I have been Head Music Director since!
Describe your job duties. What part of your job do you love the most and what do you find to be the most challenging?
My job as Head Music Director is to work closely with my wonderful amazing awesome team of Genre Directors who are a part of my Music Staff! Each genre director is in charge of adding music of that particular genre, and reach represents a different genre at the station! This helps us make sure we get a balance and representation from each genre coming in and we always have a little bit of everything! I oversee this team and I also help add a large bulk of the music that is coming in as well! I truly would not be able to do what I do without the Music Staff and I consider myself very lucky to be able to work so closely with them! I absolutely adore finding all the new music and sharing that music with everyone else! I think it is so rewarding whenever a DJ at the station finds a new artist that they’re absolutely in love with. Sharing music and helping the Djs at my station find their new favorite artists has been so rewarding and I absolutely love it! I think the challenging part sometimes has been time management and budgeting out enough time to get everything done, i’ve kinda had to become a pro at google calenders to make sure I have all my commitments in order.
What is the process for reviewing new music and what sort of commitment does the station have to exposing your listeners to new releases?
I have an amazing team of Genre Directors at the station who add a lot of the music we get from promoters! Each Genre Director represents the different genres that we have at RLC! Each genre director adds a new incoming album to our system and then any DJ is able to claim that album for review! It becomes the DJs responsibility to review the album for FCC compliance – though of course the Music Staff is encouraged to review a good majority of the incoming albums – and once that album has been reviewed it gets added more officially into our library! This way we have a new batch of incoming albums on a weekly basis! In terms of exposing listeners to new releases, we have something called “The Playlist” which is composed of new albums that have been released within the year. Each DJ is required to play at least six songs off of Playlist! This helps expose our listeners to new music and also encourages DJs to check out newer releases!
Who is an artist or band that you’ve discovered in the past year or so that has become one of your favorites? What is it about their music that you love?
It has got to be Febuary! I’ve probably been listening to them for a little over a year at this point but I think I absolutely fell in love with them after getting to see them perform live! I saw them at their first show in New Jersey and the energy they had was absolutely insane! Im a big fan of screamo and skramz in general but I think they’re definitely getting a lot of attention right now – especially since they JUST played Coachella which is so crazy to think about! I personally really love their sound and a lot of the raw emotional vocals that they have – I also really love their messaging about female empowerment and uplifting female musicians especially in the hardcore scene that is pretty male dominated a lot of the time. I think they’re
totally awesome!
Do you have an all-time favorite artist or album you never get tired of listening to and find yourself always going back to?
Maybe it’s a little bit cheesy but it is a tie between three or so albums, Floral Green By Title Fight, You’d Prefer an Astronaut by Hum and Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest! I feel like I’m always looping these three albums and each are super important to me! Each feels kinda sorta nostalgic for a different reason.
What upcoming 2026 release(s) are you most anticipating?
Its gotta be the new American Football album, I love American Football and ive absolutely adored the singles so far! I can’t wait for the full album!
Who is an artist or band (or perhaps a few) you first heard as a kid or young adult that may have sparked your love of music and made you want to somehow be part of the music industry?
I think if I named every single artist or band that may have influenced me we’d probably be here all day, some of the big ones definitely have to be My Chemical Romance, Title Fight, Cap’n Jazz, Strictly Ballroom, Dystopia, Sprain, Car Seat Headrest and probably also Radiohead! I’m almost always listening to music and whenever I find a new band I really love I kinda feel like I fall in love with music all over again. Getting people to listen to some of my favorite artists and share that love of music has been very meaningful to me, and really fueled my desire to want to participate in the music industry and especially in radio!
If you had the power to instantly change one thing going on in the world at the moment, what would it be?
There’s a lot wrong in the world, but I would want to see more empathy and less hate. I wish people were more willing to support and understand one another instead of leaning into division.
What event in your life would you say has shaped you the most as a person?
The most recent one probably would be joining RLC. I really would not be the same person without this station, i’ve met some of my closest friends through here and made some of my most meaningful college memories, I really am who I am because of being in college radio.
If you could choose, what time period in the past would you most want to travel back to visit and why?
Maybe the prehistoric era? I’ve always really liked Dinosaurs, if it was guaranteed a Dinosaur would not eat me then i’d probably do that.
Do you have a favorite restaurant in town that you’d recommend people try if they are ever there?
It has got to be the Cinco De Mayo in New Brunswick, I think they have amazing food over there! Its a pretty nice local place and really great community spot!
What in your life brings you the most joy?
Absolutely music, I truly cannot express enough how much music means to me and just how important it has been. I find such freedom and understanding in music, its just such a big part of my life that it brings me such joy!
Lightning Round:
Dog or Cat? Can I say both? I have Both! I have a German Shepherd named Priscilla and a cat named Barsik!
Morning Person or Night Owl? Night Owl absolutelyyyyyy, I love staying up late. I am absolutely not functional in the mornings unless I can get a ton of coffee or energy drinks.
City or Country? City for sure! I love being out and about and exploring new places! This does not combine well with my lack of navigation skills buuuut oh well!.
Beach or Mountains? I like the beach! I love swimming!
Watch TV or Read A Book? Probably watch TV, I have so many shows i’ve been meaning to check out.
Sunny or Rainy? I like when its sunny but not too hot! But I do find the rain to be really refreshing.
Restaurant or Home Cooking? Home Cooking for sure! I am really not the best cook or anything like that, but it’s still fun enough!
Pants or Shorts? Pants! I like super big and baggy pants with massive pockets.
Warm or Cold drinks? Cold! I love iced coffees.
Do you have any current favorite shows you’re enjoying/binging? How about a movie (new or old) that you’ve watched recently that you loved?
I really like Its Always Sunny in Philidelphia or Futurama! I’ve been watching that pretty often!
Finally, If you could have a lifetime supply of anything, what would it be?
Maybe Vinyl records or CDs, I absolutely love collecting them but boy am I tired of paying for them.
