Alex McCracken
Graduation year and major:
2019 and Art and Design
Position at KCPR:
I was the jack-of-all-trades. I was a radio DJ, worked on content, the marketing team and was the program director for a few quarters. The biggest thing I did was be the director of Club 91, which was the electronic music show that then got turned into bi-weekly club night downtown and provided [an] underground, electronic music dance scene for the San Luis Obispo community.
Favorite part about working for KCPR:
There are so many things to look back on. I’d say working with my team on Club 91. We not only hosted radio shows but also put on club nights downtown. My favorite memory was when we threw a show on St. Patrick’s Day – the biggest day to go out in San Luis Obispo. The night before, where Sidecar is right now along Broad Street, right along the creek, we set up [a] full sound system with three subs and four-point sound systems in that little basement, and also set up stage upstairs.
The next morning, we got there before all the bars opened around 4:45 am. It was absolute madness. I think there were five to 600 people who came through the door that day. I’ll never forget playing an hour and a half set with my best friends and then walking up the stairs at 6:30 in the morning. It’d be light out and, just seeing people from the front door of underground brewing, all the way past the art museum there, across the river, across the creek. It was a great little event [and] great dance.
I’ll never forget, two days after, we got the most heavily worded letter from the beauty salon upstairs. Apparently, the subwoofers shook so much that all the shampoo bottles and beauty products fell off their shelves. It was pretty funny.
Where do you currently work and what do you do?
I work for a biotech company in New York, called Longevity, which focuses on drug repurposing and compound repurposing.
How did, if at all, KCPR help or prepare you for your career trajectory?
Nothing for my nine-to-five job but on the weekends, I DJ clubs and bars in New York in the Bushwick area in Brooklyn, New York. I worked part-time at a radio station called Newtown Radio, in Bushwick in Brooklyn. In New York, there are so many amazing second-hand record stores that have some amazing gems from the 70s and 80s [and] 90s. I’ve been able to critically listen, put the needle on a record and be able to know within three seconds if it’s good or not. That was a skill that transferred over [from KCPR], as well as putting on events and knowing what it takes to host a show and play for a crowd.
One thing I’m currently working on is, I’m being a mentor with Bradley Zero, who runs the Rhythm Section International label in London. That’s been really great. Having this background of radio in DJing, and not necessarily being a producer and working with someone like Bradley Zero, it’s easier to relate.
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