BY MIMI NORTON MATOS
If you find yourself walking through Loomis late at night, searching for the source of muffled music bumping from behind a door, you’re likely hearing one of Colorado College’s 40 DJs broadcasting their show for the Sounds of Colorado College radio station. This humble room in the Loomis lobby is where students have crafted engaging sets every week for the past five years. PRior to the SOCC’s set-up in Loomis, the station broadcasts from the basement of KRCC, the NPR-affiliate station located on the corner of Weber and Cache.
Today, the SOCC (pronounced “sock”) is entirely student- run. It’s composed of a group of writers who contribute to the online blog and a small team that helps organize Battle of the Bands and brings other artists to campus, but the driving force of the station are its DJs. The ability for experimentation, freedom of speech, and independence is what draws so many music fans to create their own hour-long show, week after week. Plus, since the station only broadcasts online, the DJs have a lot of autonomy over what they can broadcast.
Growing up in Atlanta, I would often listen to Emory, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State’s radio stations, since each of them had impressive programming that I could broadcast from any FM/AM station. When I came to CC, I was very happy to hear they had a radio station established and was eager to get involved.
Last year, I contributed a few pieces to the blog and had a show every Monday night. My show was called “Gold Soundz,” named after a song by one of my favorite bands, Pavement, the kings of 90s indie rock. I would usually play a mix of whatever music I was listening to at the time, making sure to include a diverse mix of genres and eras. Some of my friends at the SOCC chose a different genre each week, and others invited their friends on the show and had more of a conversation about why they liked whichever music they played.
My favorite shows involved playing songs from albums that I knew a lot about, so I could add commentary to give context about the songs I played. Every week, I reminded my high school friends of my show, and even had 14 of them tune in one time. The show was a really cool way wto connect with each other, since we got to experience the same thing for an hour, even though we were spread out all over the U.S.
One DJ, Will Buzzerd ’22, has a show called “Buzz’s Cuts” every Tuesday from 4 p.m — 6 p.m. On his show, he aims to “move across genres and play bands that [he] thinks are doing unique and new things to try and show people stuff that they wouldn’t have found otherwise.”
He also does a weekly recap of upcoming shows in the area to inform his listeners of chances to see live music. On being a DJ, he said, “I like the communication of it. Even if it’s a one-way channel, it still feels personal because I’m projecting my voice out there for people to hear.”
Although the relevance of college radio has significantly declined since its heyday in the 1990s, due to the rise of new ways of sharing and listening to music, it still holds an important role nationwide and on this campus. It brings music lovers together and is one of the only outlets I can think of for such freeform programming with little regulation and such a potentially large audience.
Last week was our first week of streaming, and the station will be up and running for the rest of the year! We are working on the ability to stream music, even when DJs aren’t actively programming, but until then, you can hear us on our website at sites.coloradocollege.edu/socc/ consistently from the hours of 5 p.m. – 11 p.m. on weeknights, starting at 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Check out our website for our weekend programming hours and a more detailed schedule of the DJs. Happy listening!