Station Spotlight: Foothill College’s KFJC

Special thanks to Doc Pelzel, KFJC’s Station Supervisor, Cadillac Margarita, Assistant Promotions Director and Lord Gravestench, host of “Extinction Mass” for answering the questions!

Tell me a little history about your station and where your station is now?
Doc Pelzel: KFJC started in 1959 with pretty limited resources — few daily broadcast hours, low power, miniscule music library, and a skeleton staff.  As all aspects of the station developed, the most pronounced growth was in KFJC’s image for creative programming.  From the “Maximum Louie Louie” 63-hour marathon featuring 825 different versions of the same song, through the station’s annual “Month of Mayhem” barrage of special programming containing multi-hour showcases of specific bands, labels, scenes, genres, time periods or some other sonically-themed concept, to its more than 200 remote or in-studio live music broadcasts every year, KFJC has become known as a hotbed of the unusual.

What sets your station apart from other college radio stations?
Cadillac Margarita: I honestly don’t know that much about other stations, but one of the things I really like, that I believe may be different from other college stations, is the length of our individual programs. We have 3-4 hour shifts. I feel this allows the DJ on air and their audience to develop a special rapport. The DJ is given the time to hit their stride and magical things happen 🙂

Why did you choose to work at the radio station?
Cadillac Margarita: I wanted to learn about radio broadcasting specifically, and Foothill College had a Radio Broadcasting Program at the time. I had never listened to KFJC before I joined, so I had no expectations. Becoming as involved as I did came as a great surprise! Fun things happen when you open yourself up to the unknown. Almost eight years later, I still discover new things every day because of KFJC.

Lord Gravestench: I chose to work at KFJC because of a fanatical devotion to the metal and industrial undergrounds. I also didn’t have anything else to do with my time.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for your station?
Cadillac Margarita: I don’t know how this ranks on the crazy scale, but it was fun, and I acted crazy!! So … I showed up in full costume to show at the Blank Club in Downtown San Jose. It was a show we were co-presenting, and I really wanted to show the musicians (Quintron and Miss Pussycat), who I am a HUGE fan of, that I appreciate them and their music. KFJC introduced me to them, KFJC gave me the opportunity to meet them and see them play live. I wanted KFJC to be represented at that show as a place where creative weirdos and underground music are welcomed and celebrated. Unfortunately, that particular show was not very well attended, which is a shame because they put on a hell of show. Well I guess I felt the need to represent for KFJC, so I danced like a crazy person the whole time. Luckily I wasn’t totally alone, but my friend and I just went for it. I think the musicians were both flattered and a little scared. It was awesome.

Lord Gravestench: I had the opportunity this year to interview David Tibet of Current 93, who has been one of my favorite musicians for many years. That was crazy for me in the sense that it was quite surreal.

What’s the best part of college radio? And the hardest part?
Cadillac Margarita: The best part is the freedom we have as programmers. The fact that I have learned how to engineer my own show, I choose the music, the direction the show will go, what I can talk about, etc. … it’s such a wonderful outlet. The hardest part is that we are volunteers, so there can be a lot of turnover, and some people who aren’t as dedicated as others.

Lord Gravestench: The best part of college radio, hands down, is the chance to help support true underground music. Most of the best musicians (especially in the more ‘extreme’ genres) have too much integrity to live off their art and thus need all the help they can get.