Good morning, listeners!
At long last, we are proud to present another exciting update in our ongoing public awareness campaign Hear ‘em While They’re Hot, where we sit down with the DJs who have made our station tick/tock over the years and hear what they have to say before they make their grand departure from our airwaves at the end of the semester (in just a few weeks!!!). This time we met with Emma Jacobs ’15 (aka DJ Deadly Nightshade) to talk about her show supreme of Riot grrrl and feminist female-fronted rock, Foxes N’ Fuzzboxes.
WVKR: Great to have you with us, DJ Deadly Nightshade! So, first off, the listeners want to know: how did it all begin for you and Foxes N’ Fuzzboxes? And what are some of your favorite moments from the show?
Emma: I applied for a radio show my very first semester at Vassar in Fall 2011. I had always felt that the music I was into in high school was starkly different from that which my friends listened to, so I thought it would be cool to see if people at Vassar liked the same stuff I did. And they did! At least the Exec Board liked riot grrrl at the time, apparently, and thought it was worth putting on the air. I think WVKR did a lot for me: gave me an opportunity to share the stuff I loved with other people who also liked weird stuff; made me realize that no matter what musical niche you think you’ve cornered the market on, there’s someone who has a more niche interest than you do; allowed me an avenue to talk about what I loved about what I listened to in a low-key but public environment, etc. Plus, WVKR always had cool new stuff in the studio to check out and listen to, so it provided a ton of new interests for me. As for my favorite show moments, a friend of mine once came on to co-DJ and read some of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex in French on air to inject some sweet, old-school feminist theory into the riot grrrl atmosphere, so that was pretty chill. (wow sorry that was way too long).
WVKR: (not long at all!) This one’s a bit smaller anyway: what’s some of your favorite grub?
Emma: Definitely pizza and mac and cheese. My love for these classics has only grown during my Vassar years.
WVKR: What’s some of your favorite music at the moment?
Emma: Laura Marling, Bowie, Mica Levi’s score for Under the Skin, Speedy Ortiz, a thousand other things.
WVKR: If you had any advice for your fellow DJs (or just for life, in general), what would it be?
Emma: “Don’t forget to play it loudddddd.”
WVKR: Agreedddddd. Finally, is there anything you would like to say to the listeners?
Emma: Thanks so much for listening even though women screaming at 1 am is not always super appealing when you’re driving late at night and are looking for something relaxing to listen to!
WVKR: If I may speak for myself here: nothing quite hits the spot at 1 am like Foxes N’ Fuzzboxes. Thank you for meeting with us!
Be sure to tune in and rock out every Monday night / Tuesday morning at 1 am – 2 am for “women screaming” through the (unfortunately) final, Riot grrrl shows of Foxes N’ Fuzzboxes! From all of us at WVKR, we will miss you, DJ Deadly Nightshade.
Peace, Love, & Independent Radio,
WVKR