WOZQ is bigger than ever this semester with a record-setting 114 applicants. Because of this, it may be a bit difficult to decide which shows to listen to. To help aid in that confusion, here are five WOZQ DJs, their ultra-specific shows, what they play, their inspiration behind the themes and what makes their shows special.
Caroline Smith ’26 hosts “Something Not to Say”, which airs from 3-4 p.m. on Thursday afternoons. Their show serves as an indie-bedroom pop music hour, as well as a crowd-sourced art piece. Their website: SOMETHING (NOT) TO SAY (somethingnottosay.com) has a forum, where they post weekly questions and prompts, offering up a space for listeners to answer semi-anonymously and honestly. Smith told me when I visited during their time in the studio, “It’s a space for intimate stuff, but not radio rebel, not Confesh … it’s more about understanding and appreciating what it means to be vulnerable.”.
And the answers can get vulnerable. Smith shared some answers to last week’s question: “What’s something you can’t keep yourself from throwing away?” They ranged from silly (though relatable): “My Ozzy containers” to “Art done for me by an ex.” The submission continued, “Some of them are really bad … ”
In the future, Smith told me they plan on fleshing out the website even more and adding new sections, such as anonymous hot takes and a question archive.
Charlotte Kaczmarek ’25 hosts her show from 12-2 p.m. on Thursdays. It focuses on electronic music produced by women. Kaczmarek said her inspiration for the show emerged through personal interest, though they also wanted a challenge. “Trying to find music to play takes a while, especially since my show is pretty niche,” Kaczmarek said, but added that places like Soundcloud are good for finding “well known and pretty much unknown DJ’s sets/songs and what they have enjoyed, too.” Boiler Room, an organization that streams DJ sets from all over the world, is an inspiration too, both for the show and for Kaczmarek’s own DJing skills.
Kaczmarek said they’re currently working on learning how to use the controller, and “watching a lot of Boiler room to see how DJs DJ.” According to Kaczmarek, it’s really hard work, requiring an understanding of how music sounds, how it could blend with other music, and an ability to do it all pretty much on-the-spot. She plays a diverse range of music with sounds new to the techno scene as well as sets performed by women. Her favorite artist to play and to listen to is Arca, a Venezuelan DJ who’s been performing since 2012. “I’d absolutely love to see her perform and DJ in person one day,” Kaczmarek said.
Wells Wells (DJ Wizard) ’23 and Rebecca Mills (Fastbreak) ’24 host “Stolen Record Archive,” from 8-10 p.m. on Saturdays. All of the music they play comes from records they’ve collected. Both have been interested in vinyl for a while. Mills described how she used to go through her family members’ childhood vinyl collections. “It feels very similar to looking at baby photos, lots of ‘woahs,’ ‘no ways,’ and general excitement,” Mills said. The two of them went to a record fair together and were given a load of free records. After hanging out to listen, they decided to start the show. They play a lot of music that would’ve been recorded on vinyl, such as classic rock/70s. They also play more niche songs from around the station — especially those with cool or weird album covers.
Wells said they found their “crown jewel” record in the Davis Ballroom DJ hangout: “Ratzilla” by “Rats of Unusual Size.” “The title and the album art are incredible enough, but it turned out to be a fantastic punk record. We can’t play it on air or the FCC would get mad, but the best song is ‘8 Million Dicks.’ The best song that we can play is ‘Sharkbite,’” said Wells.
Fiona Park, Zahra Tshai and Mia Steinberg, all ’26 host “Woman Moment” from 1-3 a.m. on Saturdays. It focuses on songs written by, about, or titled after women. They said they got the idea when Gloria Steinem came to speak. “We were joking about the song ‘Gloria’ by Laura Branigan, as well as all the numerous other songs titled ‘Gloria.’ From there we came up with the idea for our show,” Park told me. In the time between their songs, they also discuss funny monologues about being a woman. The three of them have different and eclectic music tastes, which ends up being helpful in curating playlists: Park contributes indie folk, Tshai plays rap/R&B — especially foreign music — and Steinberg plays classic and folk rock.
They’re committed to their show, willing to come in late on Saturday nights and DJ for two hours. Park finds it “pretty peaceful. It’s very tiring by the end of the night, but I like walking around to the CC when no one is really around.” Tshai feels similarly. “It’s definitely a tough shift. Once I’m in the studio and playing my songs I find it pretty fun, but I worry about my enthusiasm as the weather gets colder,” Tshai said. You can get involved with their show by emailing anecdotes to wozqwomanmoment@gmail.com, or by listening to the archive on wozq919fm | Showreel | Mixlr.
Ava Fleisher ’23 hosts “Stovetop Espresso” from 8-10 a.m. on Tuesday mornings. She plays music you’d expect to hear in a coffee shop — inspired by her hometown of Seattle and the Northampton coffee shops she’s visited during her time at Smith. Fleisher has aired “Stovetop Espresso” on WOZQ since the second semester of her first year, after she was inspired by visiting a friend during their time slot. Reflecting back, Fleisher said, “The show’s theme has remained the same over the years, but my own interpretation of it has changed. When I was a first year, I stuck very strictly to one genre of music, but these days I try to expand a bit and ask what would I hear in a café?And it’s not always super mellow.”
One memory that stuck out was her very first show. “It was on my 19th birthday which was a really good way to start the morning [even though] it had every possible technical problem and so many awkward pauses,” she said.
Fleisher said she’s thankful she’s had this project throughout her time here, and she hopes that Smithies will tune in if they have the time.
