Skunk radio

Jon Dahlager

The DJ: Skunk, otherwise known as Shar Macatangay, junior in industrial engineering and member of the Iowa State Pool and Billiards club.

The Show: “All Request Fridays,” from 6 to 9 p.m.

The Tunes: Macatangay’s sets generally consist of indie rock, alternative, punk and ska. “Sometimes I go crazy and go into the chick folk singer set, Lilith Fair style, but usually I have to play whatever people request,” Skunk says. “A lot of people like the newer skate-rock stuff like Korn and Limp Bizkit.”

But listeners don’t always call in with requests.

“Most of my show isn’t requests,” Skunk says. “My favorite set would have to be the angry chick set — a lot of Veruca Salt, L7, and Lunachicks.

“But not the angry folk chicks,” she specifies. “I hate Ani Difranco.” Macatangay cites Stone Temple Pilots and They Might Be Giants as musical mainstays on her show.

The Band That Won’t Go Away: “At least every week one guy requests Metallica,” Skunk says. “Every week.”

The Fans: Skunk feels the show is fairly popular, estimating that she gets 10 to 20 phone calls a week. “I have a pretty steady fan base. There are a handful of people who listen every week, which is kind of frightening, because they’re working all the time,” she says. “People usually call up and say, ‘Dude, you rule.'”

The Fans Who Wouldn’t Go Away: Initially, Skunk did not have a moniker when she went on air. “But then I got some freaky stalkers, so then I changed it so people would stop e-mailing me and calling me and stuff,” she says. Her obsessive fans would sit outside of the station, waiting for her to leave.

The Nickname: It all started in high school after she bleached a blond streak in her hair. “My team members, I ran track, started calling me ‘Streak,'” she reveals. “The coaches didn’t like that much, so they just started calling me ‘Skunk.'”

In the Beginning: WONC, Skunk’s hometown college station, inspired her to pursue college radio. “It was really, really cool,” she explains. “I made friends with some of the people who worked there, and hung out there a lot.”

The Wackiness of Radio: “I had a caller who said he was a 6-foot-tall blue-haired freak, and that he would visit my show dressed in nothing but a Speedo and Vaseline. But, he never came,” she says, sounding disappointed.

“And there was the time that I got a bomb threat because I was playing Green Jello,” she recalls. “They said the station was going to explode if I played that song by them.” But, it didn’t.

Members of Skunk’s legions of fans have also proposed to her while she was doing her show. “That’s always fun.”


KURE Top 20

Top 20 for Ames’ Alternative 88.5 FM KURE as it appears in College Music Journal:

1. “From Here to Eternity Live,” The Clash. Epic.

2. “Emergency & I,” The Dismemberment Plan. Desoto.

3. “To The Teeth,” Ani DiFranco. Righteous Babe.

4. “Let It Bomb,” Zoo Bombs. Emperor Norton.

5. “Jesus Life For Children Under 12,” Kid Loco. Atlantic.

6. “So, You Think It’s Hot Here?,” Paris Texas. Polyvinyl.

7. “Bright Apocalypse,” Stuart Davis. Post Apocalyptic Records.

8. “State Songs,” John Linnell. Zoe-Rounder.

9. “Lovesongs,” Sister Sonny. Jetset.

10. “So How’s Your Girl?,” Handsome Boy Modeling School. Tommy Boy.

11. “Halfway Between Here and There,” RxBandits. Drive-Thru.

12. “LeTigre,” LeTigre. Mr. Lady.

13. “The Best Place For You,” Molly Cuddle. Guilt Ridden Pop.

14. “The Long Walk,” Whippersnapper. Lobster.

15. “Dead Letter Chorus,” Llama Farmers. Beggars Banquet.

16. “Central Nervous System,” Ledenhed. 4:20 Records.

17. “The Days Of Our Nights,” Luna. Jericho.

18. “Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci Spanish Dance Troupe,” Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci Spanish Dance Troupe. Mantra.

19. “Happily Deceiving Culture,” Tom Daily. Thick.

20. “Dark Dancer,” Les Rythmes Digitales. Astralwerks.