This week, Her Campus sat down with one of Auburn’s very own DJs, from WEGL 91.1 FM radio station. Calvin Davis, a senior from Texas, shares his experience working with a local radio station and his passion for music.
HC Auburn: How long have you been a DJ for?
Calvin: I’ve been a DJ since freshman year, so three and a half years. I’m a senior and this is my last semester here.
HC Auburn: What made you interested in DJing?
Calvin: I really like music. I play guitar and the piano, so I am really into and always listening to a lot of music. Someone told me about it and I was definitely interested in it. First time I heard about it I said “I gotta do that!”.
HC Auburn: What kind of music do you play?
Calvin: There’s a good mix. I’d say like every week there will be a cohesive mix of songs like classic rock, cool psychedelic rock or electronic stuff. Either way it’s going to be very related, not just random stuff. It depends on how I’m feeling that week, I guess.
HC Auburn: Do you get to choose all the music you play?
Calvin: Yeah. As long as the music is not some crazy, horrible noise that eventually causes people to call in and complain. Also if the lyrics have a lot of swearing, but other that that you are totally allowed to play whatever you want.
HC Auburn: Who is your favorite artist?
Calvin: I guess I’d say David Byrne, lead singer of Talking Heads. He was a really cool, brilliant guy. He made this new style of music in the 80’s and now he’s still just doing his own art and still being David Byrne.
HC Auburn: Do you like you attend concerts or visit local bands? Which is the most recent one you have been to?
Calvin: Yeah. I go to the bars to see bands and stuff like that but I didn’t start actually going to concerts till last semester. All the close concerts are in Atlanta or Birmingham. I went to a few shows, like My Morning Jacket, and they were awesome. This is going to sound so weird, but the last person I saw was a guy named Shpongle. He’s like an electronic, psychedelic trance artist. Along with his DJ set, he has one of the most ridiculous light shows. Probably one of the most intricate light show set up for any electronic artist. Before that I saw David Byrne and St. Vincent. St. Vincent is a singer/songwriter and they did a collaboration album together.
HC Auburn: For music purposes alone, which era would you want to live in and why?
Calvin: I would say around the late seventies through the early eighties. That’s a great era for music. In the late seventies you’d catch like Led Zeppelin in their prime and you’d catch early Talking Heads through the early eighties.
HC Auburn: What has been the best part about working for WEGL 91.1?
Calvin: The best part is going in every week and doing my thing. My roommate, last year, would schedule his time slot an hour before mine and then we would both be on the radio for two hours telling jokes and whatever. It’s really fun. The best part about WEGL is doing it with your friends. It’s not that great to just get on the radio. It’s cool and all but it’s cooler to be able to share it with your friends.
HC Auburn: Do a lot of your friends call in?
Calvin: Yeah, I usually get a time slot during the day. Since I play 80’s music sometimes, I get a lot of calls from adults saying, “I love David Byrne” and stuff like that.
HC Auburn: Have you ever messed up while on air before?
Calvin: Oh yeah. I’ve never accidently swore. When my roommate and I were doing it together, we would get into some ignorant stuff. I don’t think we ever said anything too offensive or anything like that. So, I guess the worst way I’ve ever messed up was when I was on my computer playing a show off Spotify. I was playing a song and trying to look for another song, just messing around, and I accidently started a new song like in the middle of the other song. I clearly messed up. There’s nothing you can do. Sometimes it’s better to just pretend it didn’t happen and continue on. When people know you messed up there’s not much you can do about it.
HC Auburn: If you could describe the job of DJing in one word, what would it be?
Calvin: I’d say Flow. It’s all about the flow. One song has to go into the other, otherwise people are going to listen in their cars or on Facebook and their going to think that it’s a computer picking random songs.
HC Auburn: Are you involved in anything else on or off campus?
Calvin: I’ve been involved in some other things over the years, but I feel like WEGL is the only one that I’ve been with consistently. I’m a Bio Chemistry major, so I do a lot of clubs for chemistry majors and pre health majors.
HC Auburn: Do you see yourself continuing DJing in the future?
Calvin: Maybe, it would be nice. I would love it, you know, It’s just really hard to do that. I can see myself maybe DJing at parties and stuff like that, if the opportunity comes up. Especially if I have a job and I have the money to buy that kind of equipment. I actually did a study abroad program this past summer where I got an internship with this community center that also happened to have a little, small grassroots radio station. So, I got to do my own show there. It’s fun when the opportunity comes up. I’m totally a DJ at heart because when I have friends over I’m trying to control the music and whenever I’m driving in my car I have to have the music right. The DJing never stops.
Calvin Davis
Artist David Byrne and St. Vincent