WQSV Profile:
Randy Ruse
How did you come to be involved with WQSV? And how long have you been involved?
Actually your treasurer Melissa Terry overheard me playing a more recent live performance of Sinead O’Connor off my phone when I was pointing it at her at Blu Point and she asked if I had ever considered radio, she put me in touch with Ben Leonard, and then I, Randy Ruse have been on the air for a little over one year, and as I understand it is the most listened to radio show in history.
When did you start DJing? Are there any DJs who influenced you?
On a church retreat with my parents in the early/mid 90’s I played the soundtrack to the hit movie “Airheads” on a tiny CD player out the window of my cabin in an attempt to draw the attention and intrigue of some of the female counselors, and I’ve never looked back. In my humble opinion some of the best DJ work has been done by Vanita “Stretch” Brock out of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Hard Harry had a great pirate show outside of Phoenix, but my all time favorite voice has to be Stevie Wayne out of Antonio Bay in Northern California. Whether you’re one of the fishermen out on the water tuning into WKAB for weather reports, or picking up a hitchhiker, her smooth, sultry voice can put you right at ease, before seamlessly putting on a Coup Devilles track.
Talk about your connection to music/the role music plays in your life?
The science is still out but I’m almost certain I was conceived in Washington DC the same night Minor Threat played their first show and one time I got arrested for trying to sneak into the green room to shake hands with Percy Sledge so yeah, it plays a pretty big part.
Describe your show.
I play what I FEEL, so a ton of 80s ZZ Top and 90s Bee Gees, but I try to play tunes you wouldn’t typically hear on the radio; mid century electronic stuff, particularly from the Baltic, proto black metal, dungeon synth, cyber prog, African psych, disco, KBD and Nuggets standards, but you also need big butt nusting classics in there too. I like to keep my listeners in a state of confused arousal.
Who are some of your favorite musicians and why?
The Doors are my favorite band and I don’t have an excuse for it.
What is your first memory involving music?
There’s this song called ‘Left Field’ by a folk group called Windfall from this area. It’s about a boy who’s not good at baseball so they put him in Left field where he can’t do any harm, but then at the end of the song HE CATCHED THE BALL FOR THE BIG GAME!!! It really spoke to me, so when I was maybe 8 I took the cassette and put it in my little Fisher Price tape player and walked it across the street and made my neighbor Michelle listen to it to show her how good it was, and to display the emotional layers I possessed.
What was the first concert you attended?
White Zombie/Ramones, 1994
How do you go about building your show?
Usually I’ll just play whatever I think would go over well being preformed at Dices (RIP) by a cover band, sometimes that’s Moe Bandy, sometimes it’s Klaus Schulze.
Do you have any particular criteria when selecting music for your show?
It just has to make you feel man. Feel me? My show starts at 7pm so all kinds of moods need enhancing at that point. And as long as I can get it past the suits and the bean counters with out too much trouble it’s mostly passed the Randy test. Those corporate clowns just care about one thing ($$$$) 🤑🤑🤑🤪🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Stay crazy y’all,
Randy
🤘😈