The Shuffle Show is a specialist Dance Music show on Xpress Radio, airing 12am – 1am Sundays (late Saturday night).
XPress Radio is the award-winning Cardiff University radio station. I have recently gone back to my studies as a full-time Translation student at Cardiff. I thought that while I was there that I would try to keep the music at a minimum but I couldn’t resist going along to check out a few societies. I went to the Xpress radio meeting and couldn’t believe that there were about 150 people in attendance. I’ve worked in radio for many years, in particular with KryKey (web radio), and I felt that traditional radio was dying or dead, a forgotten medium in the world of podcasts and technology. When I originally went to UCL about twenty years ago, their radio station, Rare FM, was far more rudimentary…. I felt filled with hope about Xpress and, with my new partner-in-crime, Brummie Todd, we decided to put plans into place for a new show.
I’ve been dabbling around recently with the Wez G Sessions. This was a ‘traditional style’ radio broadcast, with talking (a broadcast skill I am really no good at!). I aimed, with the Wez G sessions, just to raise my basic skill levels, work with Ableton in a set format, and to provide decent content in bulk for the KryKey network and also for the Caldicot Community Radio station which I was in talks with the council about resurrecting. The Wez G sessions was never a really serious project, though I have enjoyed making it so far, and love listening myself… I haven’t gone hell-for-leather on promoting it (just yet!) and am hoping that people will eventually start tuning in of their own, natural, accord. The Wez G Sessions have been good practice for a potential Xpress show so I thought I would kick on and try and grab a primetime slot, and bring my music to a new, youthful student audience.
Todd and I went in for an interview and I rather arrogantly expected us to be given a show as a matter of formality. At the initial session, when they were showing us how to use decks, I was the only person with actual DJ experience. In January 2015 it will be twenty years of my professional DJ career. Surely a show on Xpress would be a breeze? Unfortunately for Todd and I, my views on how DJs and Xpress employees should receive at least minimum wage and not be entirely voluntary workers, really upset the young girls interviewing us. It was blasphemy in this new age of music in the digital revolution to imagine a DJ should receive financial recompensation. The lack of financial stability in the music industry is one of the main reasons I am back in university retraining for a different career…. Anyway, my views on fair pay for DJs meant that the Thursday primetime Xpress slot that Todd and I had in mind was allocated elsewhere. Initially I was given no slot on the airwaves at all. No show, whatsoever. I had a mini-artistic crisis, realised how this young generation had no respect for experience and I felt that I was over-the-hill and done for…. It was a real wakeup call. I started a big whinge, threw all my toys out of the pram, and luckily managed to blag a one hour slot late on Saturday night / Sunday morning – Midnight – 1am. Not particularly enthralled about this slot as I can’t see many tuning into Xpress at that time on the weekend. Most dance music listeners would, I imagine be on the dancefloor somewhere at this hour. But I have to be grateful for the opportunity.
The format of the new “Shuffle Show’ will be dance music based. House Chillout, Techno, Drum & Bass, across the board… I’ll be mixing tunes and inviting guest DJs to do the same. I aim to give as much coverage as possible to the students of the Welsh clubscene and digging through my contacts to try to interview key people across the university, Cardiff and Wales who are involved in dance music. I’m excited by the content of the show and feel that, with the right promotion, the Shuffle Show will really kick on. If people can’t tune in to Xpress for the scheduled time, they will always be able to catch up with the podcast. I’ve built a special page on djwezg.com where the Shuffle Show will be hosted and where podcasts can be accessed.
I put a lot of effort into the first show (which airs tonight – midnight to 1am) and managed to arrange interviews with some heavyweights in the clubscene. Henry Blunt – promoter of Time Flies, has a big event at the Student Union tonight and I will be interviewing him and also one of his guest DJs, the legend that is Jon Pleased Wimmin.
I look forward to the first show and will be posting lots of blogs each week from now to keep you up to date with each subsequent show. If you’re involved in the Welsh clubscene and want top feature on the show, take advantage of this great opportunity to contact the Cardiff student market (28000 students at Cardiff Uni) and drop me a line. I hope that listeners old and new will support the new Shuffle Show on Xpress and I certainly am keen to get it all started….
Listen: XPress Radio
Shuffle Show, Xpress Radio by Wez G on Mixcloud