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10 Questions with ... Justin Barney
November 23, 2015
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1. How did you become interested in radio?
When I was 17 years old, I was driving in the car with my grandma. She had NPR on and a show called This American Life was on. She told me, "I wish I had two lives, one to do my normal stuff, and one to listen to the radio." A couple days later I was listening to This American Life in the car on my own. I pulled into my parent's driveway and sat in the car listening until the program finished. That's when I fell in love with telling stories and fell in love with radio.
2. Who are your mentors?
Tom Waits, Elvis Presley and my mom.
3. How would you describe the music on the RadioMilwaukee?
It's everything I love. We play cutting edge indie stuff like Father John Misty, classics like James Brown and local Milwaukee bands. It's more driven by our hearts than our heads. Tomorrow I am playing a song from a band that has 500 plays on Soundcloud and doesn't have a physical release and that's alright as long as I give a compelling reason to listen.
4. How are the music meetings conducted?
Every week each DJ brings two recently released songs that they love. We all get together in the main studio, we listen, and we judge. The top songs make it into rotation, the bottom songs get swept under the rug.
5. You host many kinds of events at the station center. Tell us about some of the most special ones to you.
I think my favorite was Rhythm Lab Microfest. One of our DJs has been doing his show Rhythm Lab for 10 years, so we had a micro-music festival for the anniversary. Local inner city kids opened up, and Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf closed the show. At one point, Peanut Butter Wolf, founder of a record label was in the crowd, recording a 17-year-old rapper from Milwaukee on his phone. That is one of those stories you hear, but never actually believe. It happened in our space.
6. This is the seventh year for the Milwaukee Music Awards. Tell us about that has evolved.
Really, we just wanted to start this as a way for Milwaukee musicians to get together and understand that there a scene here, and it is a good one. Every year the talent has improved and musicians get together after it and collaborate. Because of that the whole scene here really gets together and supports itself. There is a movement happening right now in Milwaukee. We have a couple hip-hop artists who are starting to take off. It's really cool to see them grow.
7. Of the skills you have already gained, is there an area you'd like to improve?
Writing. Always writing. Being a good writer is being a good speaker. Being a good speaker makes others want to listen. We are in the business of communication. I always want to improve on that.
8. Besides your own, what is your favorite radio format?
Really, the only other station I've worked at was my college station. I could do whatever I wanted there. I had a show called Tom Waits and Tom Waits Play Tom Waits where my buddy and I both did Tom Waits impersonations, talked to each other, and played Tom Waits and music like his. Nothing could beat that.
9. Where do you see yourself in five years?
I don't think I'm going anywhere soon. I'm just getting my legs. I'll probably be in Milwaukee, unless I somehow get a tap from NPR, then I would run to D.C. in a hurry.
10. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ...
...checking Pitchfork.
Bonus Questions
Last non-industry job:
Resident Assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
First record ever purchased:
Elvis Presley's greatest hits. (Second Grade)
First concert:
Weezer and the Pixies. Summerfest 2004.
Favorite band of all-time:
Tom Waits
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time away from work?
Stopping at my local record store, reading (My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard currently) or snuggling with my cat, Slim Jim.
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