The Playlist Collective: Your Hour as a Radio DJ

by Crystal Nay

If you’ve ever wanted to curate a music playlist and play it on the radio, your time has come. 

Launched in May as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, local community radio station KAAD-LP 103.5 FM kicked off The Playlist Collective– a new program welcoming hour-long playlist submissions to be played on air. 

“Since everyone was staying in, we were thinking of ways to encourage more people to become involved with the station,” says Ellen Stewart, Executive Director of KAAD-LP. “It’s a great way to uncover new talent and new listeners.”

Initially begun as a course teaching Cassina High students how to prepare a radio show, Stewart and her team expanded upon that to include a wider audience. 

“We wanted to experiment with what it would take to engage the public,” says Ron Edson, Educational Director and Project Manager for KAAD-LP and The Playlist Collective, respectively. 

Welcoming playlists from all ages, and music from a variety of genres, The Playlist Collective is an opportunity to not only feel like a radio DJ, but to commemorate the music that has appealed to you, past or present. Playlists can be built around a theme of your choosing, ranging anywhere from your favorite hits through the decades to instrumental rock ballads, from acoustic covers of 90’s pop songs to your favorite jazz romance songs. If it’s radio quality and in your digital music library, it could be on air. 

The Playlist Collective aims to be a station staple and is already being well-received, with playlists coming in from Tuolumne County residents and listeners. What started as a simple invite to friends, family, and others associated with the station, is now gaining momentum through word-of-mouth. “But we don’t draw the line at the county,” notes Stewart, especially since KAAD-LP airs both locally and is streamed online worldwide.

There is a slight level of technological knowledge necessary to participate. If you have a computer, some basic computer skills, and a digital music library with at least an hour’s worth of music, you can create a playlist for The Playlist Collective. A training video is available via a link on the KAAD-LP homepage, providing a step-by-step process for building and submitting your playlist. 

For required materials, additional information, or help, email getonair@kaad-lp.org.

The Playlist Collective airs Sunday and Monday, 1-3 pm, on KAAD-LP 103.5 FM.