WQSV Profile:
Rex Flynn

How did you come to be involved with WQSV? And how long have you been involved?
I’ve been on the team since the start of 2020, though that feels like an eternity ago after the rest of 2020! I actually wasn’t even aware we had a community radio station in Staunton, though I knew of similar stations in the valley. I ran into DJ Don Hawks of Winelight Jazz fame and discussed my experience in the voice over sphere and he told me about opportunities at the station, the rest was (recent) history!

When did you start DJing? Are there any DJs who influenced you? Or something/someone else who influenced you?
My mom was a DJ in the 80s, so I come from a radio family and had always wished I could get involved. I’ve done a variety of ads and remotes for radio stations over the years but never had the chance to be a DJ before WQSV. It’s been such a thrill! As far as DJs go, my gold standard will always be Armin Van Buuren, though I lean a bit less electronic-focused than him. His ability to paint a dynamic moodscape with music and craft the peaks and valleys a good musical roller coaster needs is unrivaled, though I like to think I do a pretty good job myself. Personality wise my idol is fictional; I can’t get enough of Johnny Fever from the old show WKRP in Cincinnati. That irreverent, avant garde, manic energy is what I strive for on the air. If someone’s gonna listen to my show, they’re turning off Spotify or Pandora or whatever gives them complete control over each song to do it. That personal connection with a DJ is the advantage traditional radio still has. Gotta give them a hell of a show to keep them listening!

Talk about your connection to music/the role music plays in your life?
I’m literally always listening to music. If I’m at my computer, I’m listening in headphones. If I’m in my room, I’m listening on my turntable. When I’m going to sleep, I have my Google Home play an endless smooth jazz playlist. It probably doesn’t help that I have horrible tinnitus; so it’s either music or a high pitched screeching in my ears at any given point in time. Given that choice, I’ll always choose music. I also view music as a soundtrack to the story that is my life–triumphant moments, scary moments, epic moments, battle music even if applicable, I’ll always have a fitting song in the background. The protagonist in the movie Baby Driver reminds me a lot of myself for those reasons, from the tinnitus down to the “soundtrack” thing.

The music I play on the show is …
A better question for me would be–what DON’T I play on my show? I pride myself with keeping a consistent vibe across an incredible swath of genres, some of which most could not imagine going together. Disco, Nu Disco, Italodisco, Italodance, Eurodance, Eurobeat, Dream Pop, Art Rock, Classic Rock, Vaporwave, Future Funk, Synthwave, Darkwave, New Wave, EDM, Electronica, Deep House, Trance, Goa Trance, J Pop, K Pop, City Pop, Hip Hop, Outrun, Prog Rock, Smooth Jazz, Jazz Fusion… I work a little bit of everything in, whatever lets me paint a coherent but dynamic soundscape. No two episodes are the same, either.

Describe your show.
A transcendent ride on the groove coaster! You could have a bingo card with dozens of genres on it and never get bingo! Each episode is its own self contained soundscape. I think if you enjoy one week’s, you’ll enjoy the next, but they won’t be the same. You might see some artists repeated, and perhaps some songs over time, but there’s a certain musical DNA and progression to each week’s show that is always unique. My biggest consistent goal is to have a show you can blare and jam to or have turned down in the background to chill out during a stressful work day. I don’t think those goals are at odds.

Who are some of your favorite musicians and why?
It’s hard to narrow this down, because I enjoy so many! I guess I have an even greater appreciation for the musicians I feel are on the cutting edge of music at any given point in time. Herbie Hancock is a favorite of mine because he kills jazz like nobody else but was also on the cutting edge of electronic music at the time. And when it comes down to pure showmanship and the ability to craft a musical moodscape, you can’t do better than David Bowie, or his underrated also-sadly-deceased contemporary Klaus Nomi. Looking broader than individual musicians, I’d say my favorite groups at this point in my life are jazz fusion greats like Passport, Weather Report, Spyro Gyra, and Shadowfax. I probably listen to them more than I do anything else.

What is your first memory involving music?
When I was incredibly young, I got addicted to a new album my parents had bought called Jive Bunny: The Album by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers. It was an avant garde novelty pop album made up mostly of sliced and diced samples from 1940s to 1970s music like Chubby Checker, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran… the result some something between pop, rock and roll, and I guess a bit of EDM in there. It’s no wonder my tastes ended up a bit eclectic.

What was the first concert you attended?
I think it was actually to see the late great Glen Campbell live in the Hampton Coliseum! My most memorable concert was seeing Styx, Foreigner and Kansas all live on tour together. I’ve always been a big classic rock guy, so as a teenager at the time that was unthinkable. I thought I’d missed that boat, you know? And then boom, there they were. Only bummer was that I didn’t get to see Dennis DeYoung since he’d already left Styx, but I caught him on a solo tour later.

How do you go about building your show?
I’ll usually decide the “vibe” I’m going for first and foremost–based on my mood, the weather, what color I have my lights set to, anything. Sometimes I’ll just do it as I go, but most of the time I’ll have a playlist in mind before I start an episode. In the latter case, I’ll often reach out to some of the artists I have a working relationship with and say, like, “the vibe this week is kind of a chill, city pop slash lowfi hip hop mood, got any tracks to fit that?” There’s an art to building a coherent self contained audio experience that integrates so many different genres, BPMs, etc. Which song goes where, which genres to pull in, how soft or heavy to have the most extreme songs of a week be, where to put those musical crests and valleys… those are all things I spend a good amount of time on when I’m putting an episode together, whether I set it up ahead of time or do it as I go. I also spend a lot of time just digging for rare tracks and albums to add to my library to use in the future. I’ve played several songs that have certainly never had radio play before in this state, many that have never had radio play at all, and some that were never even released. Nothing makes me happier than finding a lost gem and getting a chance to let people appreciate it again, even if just for a bit. Music wants to be listened to!

Do you have any particular criteria when selecting music for your show?
Again, it all comes down to the vibe of a given episode. There’s certainly a level of consistency… I think if you enjoy one episode you’ll probably enjoy the next; and I always make sure to have some of my main genres represented every show (classic rock, city pop, new wave, and jazz, mainly). But aside from that, I’ve worked everything from dubstep to progressive metal in at one point or another. I try to make a note of what the softest and heaviest songs in a given set are and to not have them be so far off from the rest that it breaks the groove. For instance, a really upbeat episode that’s mostly harder classic rock, synthwave, darkwave, eurobeat, etc… that might be an appropriate place to whip out a really crazy bassy techno track at 150bpm. A rainy Monday where I’ve been focusing on smooth jazz, love ballads, and Japanese lounge music… not so much.