By Nick Piccinino
JMU couple Julia Pasquale, junior dance major, and Ian Buchanan, fifth year senior media arts and design major, take to the mic with their new show Cheese Date, which you can learn all about below.
Why did you decide to call it Cheese Date?
Julia: “So, our show is called cheese date because we love cheese.”
Ian: “It was inspired by many cheese plates that we’ve eaten together.”
Julia: “I prefer brie.”
Ian: “I’m a parmesan guy.”
Julia: “So our DJ names are DJ Brie.”
Ian: “DJ Parm.”
How did you get involved with WXJM?
Ian: “[His freshman year roommate is] from Baltimore and … his older brother actually knew Alec Moss who used to be a DJ here … and he was like, ‘You guys should go check it out.’ So, we rode our bikes to the station when they were having training. I had a show freshman year and then sophomore year I subbed, and then I’ve had shows ever since.”
Julia: “I’ve yet to be on a show. I’ve been involved with Macrock the past two years now, and I go to shows. I feel like I’ve had my foot in the door but not quite involved.”
What is your favorite thing about WXJM?
Ian: “I have made so many friends through it. I think it’s kind of shaped who I am. I really was interested in music and didn’t know, like, where I fit in it. Then after joining radio, I was like ‘Oh, I get it now. It was like an epiphany.’”
Julia: “WXJM itself is, like, this independent, niche radio. To be able to play music that’s likewise. [It] kind of webs this community of artists that do deserve to be heard but don’t necessarily have that avenue in mainstream.”
Ian: “It’s really exciting to see progress with, like, a group. It’s cool to play someone on your show and then see on instagram that they’re playing, like, a big venue or something.”
What do you think can be improved?
Ian: “My freshman year we just had, like, Spotify and we would just plug in an aux cord. We just got the new board last year and just kind of, like, got thrown into the fire with figuring out everything, and I think now after a year of that … it’s going to be much more efficient.
Julia: “I don’t know if I can even speak to that because I wouldn’t know where it could improve. Just looking at that database and hearing how excited you are, and how everyone else at the station is talking about how much it’s grown and developed is exciting.”
Ian: “Morgan [Dowsett, sophomore health sciences major] who’s the database manager, has spent a lot of time over the summer, like, organizing stuff, so she should definitely, like, get a special shout-out.”
Is it true that you met through WXJM?
Julia: “I was on committee with Macrock last year, the twenty-first year, and we had our volunteer meeting at the station. The first time we talked was at the end of the volunteer meeting.”
Ian: “I didn’t even, like, have to go. For some reason I was, like, bored. I wanted to be around people and I was like, ‘I feel like I should go to this meeting.’”
Julia: “The moment Ian left he followed me on Instagram.”
Ian: “That’s when it was real.”
Julia: “That’s when I knew it was real.”
Ian: “There have been many cheese dates since.”
xX Long live college radio Xx
