Rider on the storm

Dewayne Hankins
October 6, 1999

The Show: “Quiet Storm,” Thursday nights (Friday mornings) 12 to 2 a.m.

The DJ: Steve Muhammad, junior in sociology and biology. His on-air name is Rebel X, and he’s been a DJ at KURE for the past four semesters.

The Menu: “Mellow, smooth grooves,” including R & B and a little jazz. The most-requested type of music during Muhammad’s show is R & B and listener’s favorite artist is Maxwell.

The Artists: “For the more diverse crowd: H-Town, Jodeci, Silk. For the more dedicated R & B fans: Temptations, Maze, Atlantic Star, Mint Condition, New Edition,” Muhammad said.

Popularity: “I have a broad listening audience on and off campus,” Muhammad said. “Since my style and format has not changed since I first started, people are now being more open and listening to my show. I get a lot of calls during my show … I also have fans.”

Uh-oh: Muhammad describes a close call that happened during his show, “One time when I first started DJing, I was talking to a student and I forgot the fact that I didn’t cue up another song to play,” he explains.

“I looked at the time left on the CD player and it had 20 seconds left on the song so I scrambled to put in a CD, and when I pressed play on the song, the song turned out to be an unedited version of a rap song. So you can imagine what that sounded like.”

The Beginning: An interest in radio, along with encouragement from friend and fellow DJ, Tricky Tre, motivated Muhammad to get involved at the station.

“I’ve always wanted to do a show that was designed to help students wind down and study, or just relax after a long day,” he added. “So I decided to do a show that played strictly mellow smooth cuts, and that was the ‘Quiet Storm.'”

Composing Playlists: “Since I’ve studied a little music theory, I have to do my show based on rhythms, beats, tones and type of songs,” Muhammad said. “If the beat doesn’t match or the song doesn’t fit the format of the sequence of songs that being played at that time, the song doesn’t get played.

“I’m sort of a composer in the station. I have to know how each of the songs that I play sound, and I also have to know the feeling or mood of the songs, because the music I play puts people in certain moods, and if the mood is not consistent, then you lose your audience.

“So I am constantly busy from the time that I am in the station until I leave, trying to make the show perfect.”

Best Part: Muhammad particularly enjoys the “morning after.” “That is when I get a chance to hear what people thought of my show,” he said. “I critique my show, and I like to hear what the audience thought about the show as well. I also enjoy being able to do something that people like and being able to make them feel as if they are a part of something, we are not just social security numbers.”

Worst Part: Since his show runs late at night, he can’t get as much sleep as he normally would, “which means I am very tired for my 8:00 Friday morning chemistry class,” he says.

Future Plans: “As far as DJing is concerned, I ‘m not really sure if it so happens that someone picks me up somewhere … maybe,” Muhammad explains. “But for now I’m just trying to get into med. school.”

— Dewayne Hankins

KURE Top 20

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

1. “Viewers Like You,” Tilt. Fat Wreck Chords.

2. “Something to Write Home About” The Get Up Kids. Vagrant.

3. “Cobra and Phases Group Play,” Stereolab. Elektra.

4. “Very Emergency,” The Promise Ring. Jade Tree.

5. “See It Another Way,” Macha. JetSet.

6. “Burn To Shine,” Ben Harper. Virgin.

7. “I Am The Freshmaka,” The Freshmaka. Moonshine.

8. “The Antidote,” The Wiseguys. Ideal-Mammoth.

9. “Showbiz,” Muse. Maverick.