Wanna Be A DJ?

Yes, you too can join the ranks of the elite, unpaid, unloved host of KTRU DJs who spin strange, intriguing music at all hours of the day and night on H-town’s/Rice University’s wonderful KTRU 91.7 FM. Since most of the DJ kids are headed home for the summer, KTRU lets non-Rice students apply every year to be summer DJs and fill in the gaps left by out-of-school student types. It’s not all glamour and glory, mind you — post-graduation, yours truly was a DJ for a summer (or two? can’t remember…), and it was a near-midnight slot on a weeknight, which meant that, yes, I’d get home around 1AM or so and then have to wake up a few hours later to go to work.

But hey, if you love music and have always wondered what it’d be like to be a real-live DJ — and no, we’re not talking Dean & Rog, here — then, by all means, fill out an application. Believe it or not, they do take all types; an unqualified love of Japanoise isn’t mandatory. Hell, they let me DJ, even when I think I put Rush and Pearl Jam down as two of my favorite bands. (And no, I have no regrets. Nope, none.)