COMMUNITY

“I have been at Radio Free Fargo 95.9 FM KRFF-LP for 11 years. One thing lead to another. I began as a DJ, then specialty program director. Then, I became one of 4 official directors listed with the state of North Dakota for the station. Other duties fell on me such as webmaster, music director, minor repairs, sales, PR/ community outreach, etc. I am the first female in any of these positions at Radio Free Fargo. It is a non-profit. Its mentality/ mindset was set in stone before I arrived. And, I am a woman over almost entirely men.”

“Being exposed to so much music that I otherwise wouldn’t have found is such a unique experience. Every week, I always look forward to getting our mail since we still accept physical CD and vinyl submissions. It’s like Christmas every week! The challenging part is staying on top of all the emails from the promoters. It’s important to set time aside to stay connected with them. Still, it’s been so wonderful getting to know them and check out all the music they send.”

“Keeping new tunes on our station is important to us. In addition to myself, we have a student studio staff member that occasionally helps out with the screening of music submissions. The screening process usually starts on Monday, with new tunes being added to rotation on Friday. The criteria for an added song comes down to three basic things: is it FCC clean, does it fit our station’s current rotation, does it fit one of our radio shows?”

“For the most part, the [process for reviewing new music] is going through all the music sent to me and checking the MusicMeeting.Directory every week. I also have Ferndale Radio DJs send me their playlists of any new music they feature on their shows. Ferndale Radio is strongly committed to sharing new music with our listeners. Our rotation of currents is probably larger than many commercial stations’ entire music library.”

“I recently got into the work of the Detroit rapper Bruiser Wolf. I dug his feature on Danny Brown’s Quaranta but his spot on Billy Woods’ last record inspired me to check out his solo work. Lately, I’ve had his album Dope Game Stupid on repeat. He has a super unique flow, unlike anything I’d heard before. Sometimes it seems more like spoken word than rap. The record is filled with hilarious wordplay and earworm hooks. I like the way his brain works.”

“What I love the most about this job is, of course, the music and having my finger on the pulse of what’s new. Discovering new sounds is so much fun.”

“In 2019 SiriusXM opened up its new Los Angeles studios and I jumped on the opportunity to move to LA from DC. Once in LA, I became the assigned Assistant Music Programmer for SiriusXMU and The Loft – two of my favorite channels on the platform – and in that position I was mentored in programming strategy and philosophy by Chris Muckley, a radio legend in his own right. After a few years of mentorship and Assistant Programming I became a Program Director and took over programming The Loft.”