In the Spotlight: Chris Roberts

By the early hours of Sunday morning, most students are either giving up on last-minute cramming and going to bed or stumbling to the nearest Comm. Ave. bus stop to hitch a ride home. But Chris Roberts, A&S '04, is hard at work. Roberts is a DJ for WZBC - you can hear his jazz show from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Sundays, as well as 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on alternating Thursdays.

Roberts worked for the University of New Hampshire's radio station in fall 2000, and joined the ZBC crew when he transferred to Boston College. With musical tastes ranging from underground acts like Madlib, Sigur Ros, and Prefuse 73, to jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey, Roberts doesn't run with the MTV crowd. Though he grew up with more mainstream acts like Nirvana and Neil Young, Roberts began discovering exciting and interesting underground acts while at UNH.

"I always had distrust and a dislike of MTV and 'corporate-ness,'" he recalled, "but being in New Hampshire in high school, my exposure [to underground music] was seriously limited. Being involved in independent radio has made me much more interested and aware of the independent music culture. And clearly, being in Boston has helped."

Before long, underground hip-hop became his favorite genre. He believes that it is the best place for dissent in music now that progressive acts like Public Enemy are no longer around. Unlike most rock acts, which specialize in introspective angst-ridden songs, hip-hop is able to be more political with its message. Also, without pressure from record companies, independent artists can be very experimental with their sounds and lyrics.

"Not to say that all commercial stuff is bad," he said, "but with independent music there's less formulaic stuff, less playing to the lowest common denominator."

Roberts tries to play as many different styles as possible, including electronic, electro pop, post-rock, hip-hop, afrobeat, jazz, and noise. "Whatever I can fit into the show," he said. Though he believes that the station could benefit from a better collection of music, and that the equipment could use updating, he is grateful to be able to work with ZBC.

Edgie, a WUNH hip-hop DJ who does the "Mothership Connection," is someone that Roberts admires. "He always seems to have his finger on the pulse of hip-hop. I sat in with him a few times. He used to get collect-calls from the county jail, cats on the inside calling in with requests." Another inspiration is Danny Bedrosian, whom he met at UNH. Bedrosian plays in a funk band called Sweet Motha Child, and spent his summers with George Clinton, one of funk's founding fathers.

Though Roberts claims to be "utterly musically inept," he does enjoy playing around with ProTools and Cool Audio making beats and sound montages for friends who rap. His take on the current musical scene is that, "There will always be mediocre stuff out there, and there will always be gems. It's just a matter of digging around and finding the good stuff." He also believes that the best music comes from artists who own their own labels, such as Def Jux, Rope-a-dope, and Stones Throw, because environment seems to be the most conducive toward creativity.

Roberts' dream job is to be a music journalist, though he is quite content doing radio as well. "It's going to sound lame, but I love getting a groove on when I DJ. If I can get to a point where I'm rocking out in the studio, I know I've done good," he said. "I like DJ-ing for an audience but it's more for myself. College radio is sort of a game, where everyone tries to be savvier than everyone else. So when I can get people to call in and say 'Whoa, what is this? This is good!' then that's an accomplishment."