This is almost like some kind of dream—I’m going to be discussing myself, and my (and my co-host’s) radio show throughout this article that I’m writing. The ideal result of this article is that the readers praise my writing, find my views on metal insightful, and listen to my radio show. Egotism and cross-publicity is fun!
Big Metal Fan on 90.3 the Core. Courtesy of the Big Metal Fan Facebook page.
So in case any of you didn’t know, my friend Matt and I run a radio show on 90.3 The Core, Rutgers’ student radio station, cleverly entitled “Big Metal Fan” that runs every Thursday night from 11pm-1am. See, it’s clever because we’re both avid listeners of the genre of metal…get it? Anyway, because of the genre that we play, we are technically a rarity amongst The Core’s ranks—according to the colored schedule labels (blue is metal), Big Metal Fan is the only traditional metal show on the station. For some bizarre reason, I’ve actually received a fair deal of backlash because of this—some of my peers have criticized or joked around with me (although there’s always some truth behind a joke, as they say), asking why I would join a “soft” station to play metal in comparison to a “heavier” station like WRSU, where more of its constituency is metal-oriented. Apparently, some members of WRSU enjoy denouncing The Core’s music selection; I’m new to the Rutgers radio world, so I’m still marginally unfamiliar with WRSU and what they do. Is it a feud? A joke? I don’t know and either way, I don’t care. I chose The Core and I enjoy being a DJ for The Core.
Although Matt and I enjoy goofing around and jamming out in the studio just as much as the next DJ, we probably both harbor a more serious, sincere reason for joining 90.3, even if we aren’t explicitly familiar with that reason. I’m unable to speak for Matt, and scarcely able to speak for myself, but I think my reasoning goes something like this: I would rather be the metal show than a metal show.
Maybe it’s prideful, but it feels good knowing that my co-host has complete authority over what gets added to the metal section, because he’s the metal director. It also feels good knowing that I could ask him myself to add anything I want to the metal playlist, and finally, it feels good knowing that between both of our interests of metal, we have a majority of the genre’s spectrum encompassed. Matt particularly enjoys the overdriven, muddier genres of stoner, doom, and experimental metal while I prefer the more polished genres of technical, groove, thrash metal and death core, but there exists a mutual enjoyment of what the other brings to “Big Metal Fan.” As overlooked as the factor may be (you’ll always want to find a co-host who enjoys the same style of music), agreement with each other’s tastes is imperative to a show—I would never want to play some guy’s 70’s anarchist punk, because I’m a contemporary, 90’s-to-today metal kind of dude.
Metal is often overlooked and wrongfully judged or condemned, because of its harsher tendencies and the fact that the wrong bands solely occupy the small spotlight that the genre possesses. In reality, the genre is filled with an endless amount of hard workers who are ok with making close to nothing, so long as fans enjoy their music and an endless amount of unique sounds. It’s good to me, that our show is on a primarily lighter station because as “Big Metal Fan” progresses for the rest of the time that we belong to Rutgers, we can prove to a different pool of listeners that metal is wrongfully judged, and a lot more interesting than society deems it to be. The best way to be disproven of your metal preconceptions is by listening to two interesting and handsome DJs who love to ramble and make face-melting puns on “Big Metal Fan!”
And for my final plug in: “Big Metal Fan” is on Thursdays from 11pm-1am on 90.3 The Core or on The Core’s website! We’ll melt your faces…kindly.
Link: http://thecore.fm/public/index.php
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bigmetalfan
Ian Barbour