10 Questions with ... Elliott Garstin

NAME:Elliott Garstin TITLE:Programming Assistant/host of 'Sunday School' STATION:WNNX MARKET:Atlanta (#9) COMPANY:Cumulus BORN:Atlanta RAISED:Atlanta

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

College radio, 99X, intern, then 99X Programming Assistant/host of "Sunday School."

LAST NON-INDUSTRY JOB:

Video game peddler

FIRST RECORD EVER PURCHASED:

I got Van Halen's 1984 on cassette when I was 6, but my first CDs were Anthrax "Persistence of Time," Faith No More "Angel Dust," Metallica's "...And Justice for All" and "Ride the Lightning" (all purchased on the same day).

FIRST CONCERT:

Motley Crue on the Dr. Feelgood tour at the Omni in Atlanta in 1989. I was in 5th grade. It was dope.

FAVORITE BAND OF ALL-TIME:

Just one...no way. Guns N' Roses, Misfits and Fugazi would probably all tie for the lead.

1. How did you become interested in radio?

I've always been a big music fan, so when I moved to Athens to go to college, I didn't know a lot of people and I thought it would be the perfect way to make new friends and surround myself with a ton of rad music. Turns out I was right.

2. What part of your job do you like best?

Doing "Sunday School" is SO much fun. Just getting the chance for two hours a week to play the music that I love over the air and have people respond positively is the best feeling in the world. Least? Scheduling jocks. Ughhh!

3. What would an outsider find most surprising about Atlanta?

There is an amazing local scene here in town. A ton of great bands have come out of Atlanta over the past few years and it's only a harbinger of things to come. Mastodon, the Black Lips, Snowden, Deerhunter, the Whigs just to name a few are doing very well, and there are a ton more that you will be hearing a lot about soon. Hello, Manchester Orchestra.

4. In what ways has your role changed at 99X over the past year?

Last summer I took over "Sunday School" when Jay Harren left to take an A&R gig at Colombia, so that's been the biggest change and without a doubt the most fun and rewarding. I've also become more involved with the musical aspects of the station, so it has been a lot of fun meeting and talking to people on a daily and weekly basis about what's new in the music world. Helping craft the always evolving sound of 99X has been a fun and rewarding experience and could never be duplicated.

5. What makes 99X unique?

People always tend to think about Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco as really being the tastemaker areas around the country, but 99X has developed reputation as a station that you can count on to be ahead of the curve of new music, being able to provide the listeners with the best access to their favorite artists, and giving them a product that they can count on. I feel really proud to part of an extremely dedicated group of people that share the same core values when it comes to providing the best product possible. There are so many things that make 99X unique that it is hard to quantify it to one particular.

6. Tell us about your weekly "Sunday School" program, and what folks can expect when they tune-in?

Just good music. That's all there is to it. I love a huge variety of stuff, and I'm not concerned with trends or what's supposed to be cool and I think listeners appreciate that. I'll play everything from Mastodon to Ghostface Killah to Lifetime to Peter Bjorn and John. All tremendously different artists, but make sense when given the proper context. Plus, as I said before, there are a ton of amazing local bands, and I'm always excited to give plenty of air time to the ones that are working hard and are making good music.

7. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?

Coke-a-Cola and tight jams

8. What would surprise people most about you?

I played high school baseball

9. What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?

In middle school I used to listen to WREK (the Georgia Tech student station) on Friday nights. They had a metal show and it was so awesome, because it would be on from 10p-6a. It was the first place I heard the Misfits, Sepultura, and Morbid Angel and a million other bands that I still love -- all the really underground stuff that you would never see on the Headbangers Ball. Totally awesome.

10. What career path would you be following had it not been for this industry?

One that is not as rad as this one.

What are your hobbies?

Just like my man Loc-Dog said, "Drinkin', Smokin', and all kinds of ill shit."