Con U air

CJLO host insists that there remains a market
for AM radio in today’s digital world

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Brian Joseph

Age: 26

Occupation: Program director/DJ at CJLO (Radio Loyola)

Bio: This unassuming Snowdon stud was working at a call centre for Home Depot when he landed the program director gig at mighty CJLO, 1690 on the AM dial. An inspired, energetic fellow, after three months of college radio and call centering, Brian’s weight had dropped by a whopping 40 pounds, prompting his doctor to suggest that he quit one of his jobs lest he soon dissolve into nothingness. Able “to make it work” with the salary he earns from the station, Brian is the guy to speak to if you’d like to host a show on CJLO, or if seeking airplay for your musical endeavours. His own show, Phantastiq Cypha, “which focuses on up and coming underground hip hop,” can be heard Fridays from 4–6 p.m. He drives a sporty 1998 Altima and is considering learning Mandarin with the intent of someday maybe hosting a radio program in Asia. “That would be pretty cool, no?”

Why the lowly AM band isn’t quite as lowly as you’d think: “It’s true, some people look down at AM radio, but others are like, ‘That’s so cool, your music must sound amazing through AM filters, so different.’ And it’s true, it does. You listen to electronic, hip hop, metal, where everyone is trying to get it as perfect as possible, it sounds flawless, and then you listen to the same music through these warm AM tube filters and it gives a different side to it—hip hop especially.”

How important is college radio to artists in the age of YouTube, MyFace etc? Do labels even bother sending them promo CDs anymore? “For sure, we get so many CDs sometimes we don’t know what to do. People can get their music out in many ways now but there’s still merit to college radio and people respect it.”

Do these mountains of promo CDs primarily come from the shittiest, most clueless emo-crappola bands from Retardoland? “We get it all, including weird emo stuff that’s not really to my taste, but just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people out there who do, so we try and work with everything. We get a lot of the great stuff too.”

Who the hell, outside of people still driving cars manufactured in the 1970s, is even capable of listening to AM radio anymore? “We rely a lot on our online listenership now. We’ve seen the number of hits on our website go up, like, 70 per cent since September ’08. But ever since we started broadcasting on AM, we’ve been getting letters from Finland and Western Europe from people picking us up on short wave radio, which is kind of interesting.”

How political are the internal workings of CJLO? If the station’s feminist contingent decided that an entire afternoon’s programming should be devoted to the celebration of menstrual blood, would he have to seriously consider it? “We try and get everyone’s opinions and make decisions from there. But you can’t always make everyone happy.”

Last book read: Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman.

Musical preferences: Charlie Tuna, Mos Def, Side C.

Words of wisdom: “Always be patient with people and listen because it helps when you pay attention.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net