The Applied Learning Remix
Written by Karl Hennen
Mic check, mic check, mic…
If life is a mix-tape, then camaraderie, growth, musical and personal discoveries, and unforgettable memories are surely on repeat for University Radio Hilo (URH) student DJ’s Cameron Atsumi, Blake Honda, and Angie Nakamura. The DJ’s have encountered opportunities through URH to enrich their understandings about broadcasting and themselves. Evolving with the station, Atsumi, Honda, and Nakamura have remixed applied learning, emerging as assured, community-conscious individuals on the air and everywhere in between.
A non-profit organization, University Radio Hilo began over the Web in 2002. Hitting the AM airwaves four years later, the studio initially featured a small crew whose numbers could have been counted on both hands. Atsumi, a URH DJ since his freshman year, has observed the station’s recent development to span forty to fifty contributors.
“It took a lot of effort to get URH to be more of a happening kind of thing … being part of events, being more connected with students, and getting that image out there”, he remarks on the station’s humbler origins. “Back then, hardly anyone knew there was a college radio.”
Now preparing for a long-awaited FM certification, University Radio Hilo has enjoyed success courtesy of DJs like Atsumi, Honda, and Nakamura. According to its official Facebook page, the inclusive station maintains its open doors, “[providing] the opportunity for UHH and HAWCC students to gain experience, education and training in radio broadcasting”. DJ’s volunteering at the student-run station receive knowledge of how communication-related, music, or news dissemination operates from its in-house training.
All volunteers benefit from chances to directly apply learning of professional work in radio, regardless of their level of familiarity with DJ’ing and speaking on air. URH encourages anyone interested to let their voice be heard— literally.
Atsumi, Honda, and Nakamura began their URH adventures in different ways. For Atsumi, a senior majoring in Environmental Science, he never really thought about going into radio until his mother – rather forcefully – encouraged him to sign up for a URH gig during Orientation Week his freshman year.
Cameron Atsumi- CamSynth/BroCam of "2 Hour Electronic" (Tuesdays 2-4 p.m.), "2 Hour Jazz" (Thursdays 2-4 p.m.), and "BroTime" (Thursdays 8-10 p.m.)
“I wouldn’t say I found URH, the opportunity found me,” he opines. Already into music and public outreach, he found the prospect to dovetail perfectly with his sensibilities, promoting his development as an individual beside student-community involvement. Honda and Nakamura stumbled on their future positions as DJs organically as well.
“I had a lot of friends that were DJs,” Nakamura explains of the URH members she knew who pushed her to consider to their work. “When I was in high school I had several friends that were during shows in college. … I think the four people that really got on me [were] Apollo (Harris), Tim (Lui), Theo (O’Neal), and Bill (Sabato).” A History major and Political Science minor, the junior was inspired by their like-minded desires of bringing obscure music to other people through radio.
Honda, pursuing degrees in Communication and Psychology, cultivated a musical appetite ranging from underground hip-hop to electronica, including dubstep, during his spare time. Meeting O’Neal and Sabado during UH Hilo’s Orientation Week, he was told DJs or the college radio he could play anything he wanted. The sold freshman was soon taken under the wing of URH member Kyle Douglas. Honda then invested himself fully into his new learning experiences – buying a mixer to learn its various functions – and the application to use it at his Orientation Dance. The power to actively participate in thrilling a crowd was a revelation for Honda.
“These days, electronic dance music is one of the biggest genres of music and I was part of it,” he muses, thoughtfully. “That’s what gave me this passion for being a member of URH.”
That shared passion has seen Atsumi, Honda, and Nakamura consistently involved at URH in fulfilling undertakings. Honda, under aliases DJ Wet Blanket and CornBlakes, now simply Mxpl808, regularly attends campus events requiring a live DJ. In fact, over the past year, Honda has contributed to every activity needing a URH member, regardless of the organization in charge. For his volunteerism Honda was bestowed a pair of customized headphones by the very station he proudly mixes for. Atsumi’s tasks at URH have been no less rewarding; Nakamura feels exactly the same way about hers.
“I’m the Promotions Director and I’ve been that for the past three years and a half,” describes Atsumi. It’s a paid internship position. … What I do and what I’ve been doing is promoting. I promote shows by taking pictures of the DJs, making posters for them, and pretty much just getting it (information). That also goes with events. … I’m in charge of the (URH) Facebook page, a bit of the website, and … getting promotion material (give-aways for events).”
He has, furthermore, used his URH experiences to be engaged in helping promote other groups— from the Office of Applied Learning Experiences (ALEX) to the Student Activities Council (SAC). “I’ve slowly been making posters for everybody” Atsumi says. “URH is very interwoven with a lot of student organizations. So when you’re a staff member of URH it’s not uncommon to be a staff member for a lot of other things, too.”
Meanwhile, Nakamura has used her URH membership to better connect with peers and help fellow DJs with distribution of recordings. “I am a DJ but I am also the Music Director”, she affirms. “Typically it means any of the new music that we get sent by artists and recording companies I put on our computer (to check for profanity). Since we record all of our shows, if any of the DJs want a recording of their show … they can come grab it from me and I can just to put it on a thumb-drive to give to them.”
Atsumi, as Camsynth or BroCam, has a Tuesday show, “Two Hour Electronics”, featuring electronic music from 2-4 p.m. His jazz program “Two Hour Jazz” at the same time on Thursday precedes his newest segment “BroTime” reserved for so-called “bro gossip” from 8 to 10 p.m.
Honda’s – or, more appropriately, Mxpl808’s – show, The “REM Hour”, is from 10 p.m. to midnight every Tuesday. It concentrates on such subgenres of electronic dance music as drum and bass, dubstep, house, and trap music. Though collaborations betweens URH DJs are not unheard of (Atsumi credits Honda for sharing numerous material from his personal collection), Nakamura’s approach to programming is decidedly her own.
“What separates my shows from other people’s is something that’s slowly gaining some semblance of popularity called Terrible Karaoke: singing along to songs on air,” she relates. “I will play a song on air with pre-existing vocals on it. We (Nakamura and other URH DJs) then just sing along to it and butcher the songs.”
Angie Nakamura-MarauderVerity/The Loose Cannon of "Explicit Mox Violence" (Wednesdays 10 p.m. - 12 a.m.) and "The Spirit of Vizzy" (Fridays 6-8 p.m.)
Nakamura has two shows. During one, she becomes The Loose Cannon, overseeing an uncensored hip hop/rap program entitled “Explicit Mox Violence” Wednesdays from 10 p.m. to midnight. Her second show and self-proclaimed “baby”, “The Spirit of Vizzy”, is between 6 to 8 p.m. on Fridays. As Marauder Verity, she plays wizard rock and independent music around “nerdy” themes during her program. Both programs feature Terrible Karaoke. With songs for karaoke chosen randomly or from a collection of emo bands, depending on the day (a segment of “Explicit Mox Violence” is “Emo Wednesdays”), Nakamura believes her Terrible Karaoke enables bonding between herself, other URH members, and the listening community.
Where Nakamura’s humor accompanies her musical outreach, Atsumi employs the power of instruction. He elaborates how his show utilizes its medium to provide information-giving opportunities about its featured jazz, played from its earliest incarnations to more contemporary artists. His position as a DJ enables him to learn how others gain knowledge of music while he provides commentary on what he plays.
“On Tuesday afternoons I do my two hours of electronics but I do it in a way that I’m not just randomly playing my favorite electronic songs,” details Atsumi. “It’s kind of educational because each week I tour the listeners through a different subgenre of music and how they relate to each other historically [and] culturally. On Thursdays I do my two hours of jazz and that’s more [like I am] playing my favorite songs, but I still try putting some education into it.”
Each URH DJ attributes the maturation of who they are to the radio station they consider a second family. They have acquired technological knowledge regarding broadcasting and sound equipment. In addition, Atsumi, Honda, and Nakamura argue they have obtained better communication skills while experiencing the rewards of presenting listeners with lesser-known music. More profoundly, they have understood the person they want to show to the rest of the world.
“‘How do you want to be portrayed?’” Atsumi succinctly quips on an issue within radio causing more discoveries about himself for his professional advantage. “I learned how to really transform my self-image.”
“I think URH helped me develop a sense of confidence and a sense of hard work,” ventures Honda. “Even though I’m not a higher-up at URH, I have spent hours just to prepare for my two hour slot, but doing that has applied to real-life.” He cites roles as an intern, student worker, and researcher’s assistant as contributions partly motivated by a sense of dedication fostered by his involvement with college radio, especially in contrast to his past behavior. “Back in high school, I feel I was an extremely lazy person,” he admits. “Before URH, I would just go home, sleep, watch anime, and sleep again. I was a classic otaku. But then URH helped me develop a work ethic and also confidence to use in the work ethic later on. It helped me develop skills that would help me in the long-term.”
Nakamura’s benefits are no less positive.
“I think I’m probably more sociable since you kind of have to be,” she posits. “I feel like it’s gotten me to be a lot more … flexible in the sense that it’s gotten me to be friends with a lot more people and see past their [different tastes in music] because we are pretty much here for all the same reason. … [It’s] given me a grasp of different perspectives or opinions and how to acknowledge them.”
Oftentimes that acknowledged change from a previously withdrawn personality to more articulate, confident one has been an impetus to have their peers consider giving DJ’ing a shot. As URH’s transition from Internet broadcasting to a full certification at 101.1 FM. approaches, the professional applications for student DJs at UH Hilo are as diverse as any playlist. Since their initial years at URH, Atsumi, Honda, and Nakamura have enjoyed the station’s rise in popularity. Its growth is not unlike their futures and broadened perceptions of community.
“I will forever be a different person because I went into URH,” contends Atsumi. “You know, a lot of the things I’ve been able to do because of URH and it’s like a domino effect. … I’m definitely always going to be part of some radio program because of URH. Whatever city I live in, I’ll find a radio station and be a part of it. That’s my primary future outlook: to always be active and always be part of the community.” His fellow DJ’s agree.
“It’s definitely gotten me more interested in participating in school events because it’s made me realize how hard these organizations work at organizing them,” Nakamura submits. “They all try very hard to make fun experiences for people or make something informative, and that’s something I think is very important.” She considers the scope of her position in relation to URH platform as a platform for outreach. “Honestly, now that we have alumni shows I hope that I never stop doing URH. [Doing URH is] fun and I definitely think it’s very much a therapeutic experience for people.”
Honda, speculating on a potential career as psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, or counseling psychologist, sees his work in radio and its relationship with the community. “One thing I can pick up on (about URH and its professional relevance) is the interactions between people and talking to [future] clients and using my sociability skills and applying it to talking with [them],” he beams. “Being a part of URH has been a blast and hopefully I can be a part of the organization as long as possible. You never know. I might have my own talk show and talk about psychology. [Laughs]”
Blake Honda- MxPl808 of "The REM Hour" (Tuesdays 10 p.m. - 12 a.m.)
The flourishing of the University Radio Hilo has, in many respects, mirrored the seeds it has cultivated in its committed staff members. As every song carries the potential for a remix, so ways of applying broadcasting knowledge can be invented, rearranged, and shuffled among the University DJ’s old and new. Every song aired on URH may prove what Jules Combarieu said about music: “[It] is the art of thinking with sounds”. If that statement is any indication, Atsumi, Honda, and Nakamura – along with several other DJ’s like them – have a lifelong soundtrack of positive learning experiences ahead.
