I caught up with Mercedes Whitman, also known as DJ Cummerbund, to talk about her show “The Nessy Forage,” which you can catch Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on SOCC.
With hundreds of DJs on the SOCC radio station, which originally started in the basement of KRCC, it is amazing to see how this station has grown and DJs have helped to make it their own. Currently a senior, Whitman started like most freshman: by signing up and receiving information at a table during Campus Activities Fair at the beginning of her freshman year.
Along with her evolution at Colorado College, her show has also changed over the years. Nessy Forage “is the continual quest for the Lochness Monster. I’ve always really liked Nessy’s idea,” she said. But it hasn’t always been that way. Her freshman and sophomore years, the show was called Humpday Helpings, as it was on Wednesdays. Ultimately, she ended up scrapping that name.
For many radio DJs, the struggle begins when it comes to developing your show content and deciding what you are actually going to do on air. Many people develop their own style, while some completely wing it on the spot and others tediously plan it in advance and follow a loose-knit script. Mercedes will sometimes pick artists from a certain record label and play only from that label, but often she will do a completely vinyl show.
“Searching to play the right song and put the needle in the right mark becomes a challenge, especially when you only have one good turntable to use,” said Whitman. “It is dark in the studio, and you have to keep up a continuous flow.”
What keeps her motivated is the fact that people listen, especially when the station is streaming in Rastall and Benjis during the school year. In her early career as DJ, she received many of compliments and comments on her music, which gave her a lot more motivation. This response is similar to what most of the DJs cite as a motivating factor: being able to broadcast their own content and stream to the community is something that makes them want to try harder and continue on with their shows.
What drives DJ Cummerbund to do her show? It all started in middle school when she used to make a bunch of mixed CDs.
These songs had to “flow really well,” she said, “I guess kind of going along with that. I’ve always loved sharing music with people and talking about music and getting an excuse to listen to music for an hour especially when I’m completely winging it. Sometimes I just going to play this song that came out today so I can get a chance to listen to it or I’ll Wikipedia an artist I don’t know too much about.”
Not only does she have the opportunity to continue and develop her music library and music exposure, but she can delve further and apply these skills elsewhere. Venturing into the avenues of DJing at parties, Mercedes has invested in turntables. She DJed her first party first block and, although she thinks it was a disaster, she isn’t giving up yet.
“I just brought a bunch of records with me. I still don’t really know what I’m doing,” said Whitman. “I made it a point to not really look at video tutorials and kind of practice and develop my own technique. It’s really fun but when it comes to actually doing that in front of people, it’s a little nerve-wracking.”
Although this is only the beginning, it’s nice to see SOCC DJs taking it one step forward and spinning some funky tunes to help engage a crowd on the dancefloor. If you’re looking for five more albums to listen to, check out these current top five albums picked by Whitman:
Brian Eno – Here Come the Warm Jets
Bill Withers – +’Justments
Erykah Badu – Baduizm (Live)
Kashif – Who Loves you?
Last Poets – This is Madness
Eboni Statham
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