We asked UK artist Jake Bugg some questions about his career in our very own Aztec Student Union! Find out what he has to say about his recording experiences, career advice and more.
Sounds of State
Behind the Mic: Arvin Domier, Andrew Kaitcer, Gautham Dixit and Trevor Mass
Known to keep fans on the edge of their seats, sporting events are high energy, competitive and passionate environments that bring all types of people together. KCR’s Arvin Domier, Andrew Kaitcer, Gautham Dixit and Trevor Maas successfully translate these epic moments onto the airwaves through their sports radio show, “Undefeated.”
Every Friday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., this quartet cover topics such as football, basketball and, most recently, baseball. At first, Arvin had no idea KCR existed until his guest interview on Weston Lowe and Ruairi McCann’s show. Following his appearance, he fell in love and proposed creating their own show to his current cohosts/roommates. Soon after, “Undefeated” was born.
In Fall 2017, Arvin, Andrew and Gautham took a more casual approach to their show format during their first semester as DJs. “Thirty minutes before we went on air, we would jot down notes and figure out what we would talk about from there. An example would be discussing our top five players in the NFL. We were still trying to figure everything out so it was very relaxed,” says Arvin. Now, since they’ve gained more listeners and added Trevor Maas as a cohost, more preparation is put into their content.
Each week, this group tackles huge topics covered on big name sources such as ESPN as well as events from SDSU’s intramural teams. In fifteen minute segments, the cohosts share their take on anything and everything sports related. Arvin focuses on football, baseball and basketball, and has even taken a keen interest on hockey. Andrew and Gautham concentrate on basketball and football whereas Trevor is the main man for baseball. Trevor, an economics major, admits, “The only professional sport I follow is baseball so KCR helps me to stay up to date with all of the players.”
One of their favorite segments was their Superbowl preview. Each cohost gave a break down of the coaching side and player side of both teams. In-depth predictions and analyses on team advantages were also brought up. By creating good sports dialogue, it keeps listeners engaged in open-minded opinions and perspectives. Their inspirations include Skip Bayless who is known for his raw and controversial viewpoints. Computer science major Gautham adds that shows like “Undisputed” and “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman are other influences.
In addition, changes in the show include a live-stream on their Facebook page and, according to Arvin, an unwavering hope to interview beloved former men’s basketball coach Steve Fisher. These four have big plans for improvement in order to create awesome content.
What sets them a part from other sports broadcasting shows? “Undefeated” is real and passionate.”My roommates and I decided to follow our love for sports and open up our daily living room talks to an audience,” says marketing major Andrew. One thing is clear: sports hold this dynamic team together.
Besides being DJs, Arvin, Andrew, Gautham and Trevor are third years who play on intramural teams like basketball, bowling, football, volleyball, softball and dodgeball. With their loaded course work, KCR has become a creative escape to unwind and speak their mind on a topic they all love.
Don’t forget to tune in to “Undefeated” every Friday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m on KCR college radio. You can also watch their live-streams on their Facebook page.
Featured image by Arvin Domier
Behind the Mic: Amal Younis & Angie Campos
For this week’s edition of Behind the Mic, I interviewed Amal Younis and Angie Campos, who host the music show, “And They Were Roommates.” Their show is on every Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m.
On their show, Amal and Angie each play their favorite music. They play a lot of different genres because they both have different music tastes. Apart from playing music, they also have themes of discussion. For example, they have spoken about feminism, artists that have shaped who they are, Christmas, finals and dealing with stress. They also try to play songs that relate to the topic of the show. Angie and Amal explained that they try to show a mixture of seriousness and lightheartedness on the air. While they have talked about depression and anxiety, they have also told funny stories in order to keep the mood balanced. They try to make every episode not too silly or too serious.
They are always trying to grow as a show. However as Amal said, they want to make improvements, not changes. They plan on becoming more organized with the show every semester. Also, they want to start putting it on Spotify, and being more active on social media.
Amal is a second year, majoring in Journalism. She has been part of KCR since last semester. After joining KCR, she has become very interested in radio and wants to continue with it in the future. She explained that she likes the platform because it’s not as easy to censor or restrict as other platforms. Angie is also a second year, who is majoring in Communications, and minoring in Art. They have been roommates since their Freshman year. After, appearing on Amal’s show various times last semester, Angie decided to join KCR, and have a show with Amal. After being a part of KCR, she said that it is fun to play her type of music, and to hear that their listeners like their show. They also both enjoy blasting their favorite songs in the studio.
Amal and Angie describe themselves as Vine enthusiasts. On the first KCR meeting of the semester, they came up with the name of their show,“And They Were Roommates.” They were pressured to come up with a name for their show on the spot. Amal jokingly suggested “And They Were Roommates,” referencing the Vine. But it stuck, and actually ended up becoming the name of their show.
They believe that their show is special because they know each other very well and can easily have a flowing conversation on-air. Apart from that, the topics they cover on the show are things that are very important to them and to other people. They like being able to have a voice, relating to people and discussing things that they are incredibly passionate about.
Apart from their music show, Amal and Angie are very involved in KCR. Amal was part of the promotions department in KCR. She has gone to many KCR events. She described an event she went to where she got to DJ and play music. Now, she is in the video department. On the other hand, Angie writes for the KCR blog. She has mostly written about concerts she has attended, as well as other music related topics.
Make sure to continue following KCR’s social media accounts to stay in the loop, on all things KCR. Also, make sure to check out Amal and Angie’s Instagram account for “And They Were Roommates,” for updates on their show.
Behind the Mic: Rebeca Reyes, Ty Strong & Khristine Samson
This week, I interviewed Khristine Samson, Rebeca Reyes and Ty Strong for Behind the Mic. They host a music show in which they each take turns playing their music, hence the name, “Pass the Aux.”
The group didn’t start out together, however. Originally, Khristine, a second year kinesiology major, and Rebeca, a fourth year majoring in journalism, had a show themselves. They met how many KCR co-hosts meet, at the first meeting of the semester. They decided to name their show “KNR” for Khristine and Rebeca. The duo mainly played alternative rock/indie music, and they spoke more on that show than they do now.
Ty is a fourth year majoring in computer science. Before joining Khristine and Rebeca’s show, he was part of another show called, “Bad Music, Bad Vibes,” which he hosted with a friend. There, he mainly played jazz music. After meeting Khristine at an Open Mic Night, while helping at the KCR booth, Ty began to make weekly appearances on “KNR.” Then, Khristine and Rebeca changed the name of their show to “Pass the Aux.” However, Ty did not become an official host of the show until this semester.
Now on their show together, they each play their favorite types of music. Ty described the music he plays on the show as calm R&B. Khristine explained that she usually plays songs that correspond to a theme. For example, this week she played Grammy nominated songs. Rebeca plays pop and indie music. Occasionally, the trio also ventures off into other music genres they enjoy. Rebeca and Khristine described a previous show where Rebeca played K-pop and spoke in Spanish. Khristine said that she played music from the Philippines and spoke in Japanese, for the duration of the show. The group unanimously agreed that the best part about hosting a show is that they have a place to escape and relax.
When I asked them what made them want to join KCR, they all had very different responses. Khristine said that she joined KCR because they had a cool booth, and she wanted to spin the wheel. Rebeca said a girl in her class told her about KCR, so she decided to join. Lastly, Ty said he heard about KCR through a mutual friend on Tinder, who later became his first co-host.
Make sure to catch Khristine, Rebeca and Ty on “Pass the Aux” every Thursday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.