Negotiating Boy Culture -- 18
show: "I feel like they’re not into us saying that we play feminist music or Riot
Grrrl music or we play queer music, but [that we play] ’women’s music.’"
xxvii
Other DJs talked about playing specific music that is anti-corporate and
anti-patriarchal. One DJ from the Pacific Northwest responded:
...I definitely like to play music on small independent labels whose
ideologies agree with me...I find it really important to me...music is
so much about politics for me, like an outlet to share your politics,
almost consciousness raising...going with major labels just doesn’t
really make sense... because it’s exactly the opposite of what you’re
doing.
xxviii
When asked about how difficult it is to keep up with truly independent music,
she said, "it’s tough. But that’s why it’s so important for me to do my show, so I
can get this information out there to other people who care about feminist and
queer positive music."
Another DJ with a Riot Grrrl sensibility talked about how she tried to
subvert the increasing standardization and professionalization by intentionally
not allowing her show to sound professional.
I experiment a lot on the air...if I don’t like some song...I’ll fade it
out, make a joke, talk to myself, sing to myself...like no big
deal...this station is for students...it’s not some corporate dominated
or sponsored gig...I don’t want to sound like the other DJs on
commercial stations...they sound fake...I try to sound real and
natural by making mistakes, having conversation, demystifying
what I’m doing.
xxix
One of the music directors described how she negotiates commodification:
I don’t really like to deal with the big corporate labels...they’re
really sleazy...I used to not call them back when they wanted to
know how a band was charting, but now I call them back and sorta
fuck with them...we’re one of the top college stations because we
Convention