The station’s DJs unpack the meaning behind their radio monikers
DJs file in and out of the KCPR station every two hours, filling the airwaves with their unique music tastes and occasional nods to their intriguing stage names. These names, often with personal stories behind them, hold a lot of weight for the ones who choose them. Dive into the backstories of eight KCPR DJs and uncover the mystery behind their names.
Helter Skelter
An alias was what graphic design senior Mairi O’Toole wanted as a DJ name; something that sounded cool and had personality brimming within it, not just a label.
After she started talking on air, going by Helter Skelter, some of her weekly listeners wondered where she got it from and even called into her show to ask. They questioned if it was a reference to The Beatles, Beastie Boys or Charles Manson –– the American murderer and cult leader to which O’Toole can promise her DJ name derived no inspiration from.
“I actually mainly meant it as the use of the actual word as in like kind of crazy in a skew because what I play tends to be,” O’Toole said. “I’ll do an industrial rock song and then I’ll go into a hyper-pop song.”
Grrrl Scout
Sophomore communications major Riley Petrocco wanted a name that fit her personality to the extent where if her friends saw all the names of the DJs at the station they could blindly pinpoint which one was hers.
She said she started to get into punk music while in high school, thanks to her punk loving dad. Petrocco was fascinated with the punk scene as she watched documentaries and read books on it with one punk band sticking out to her called Riot Grrrl. She said she did not like them just for their music, but for their fierce way of life. When she went back home to spend some time with her parents, they sat down together and started brainstorming a name.
“I was also a girl scout when I was younger for a really long time and then my mom and dad were like what if you were Grrrl Scout, but Grrrl like Riot Grrrl and scout like girl scout,” Petrocco said. “Also my middle name is Scout so it kind of all just comes together into Grrrl Scout.”
Robin Graves
One might have heard of this DJ name if they frequent local drag shows, as this is interdisciplinary studies senior Sarah Weisz’s drag name.
Weisz donned the name on air, which was given to her by her drag mother, after contemplating how it would fit with her DJ sets of darker music. It captures her goth aesthetic while still having her favorite thing in a drag name: a pun within it.
“We were just brainstorming cool drag queen names that were more darker like gothic,” Weisz said. “I thought that was perfect because it is like a play on words a little bit, a lot of people I talk to sometimes don’t realize that it’s like robbing graves.”
Lucky Rabbit
One of the first stuffed animals that psychology junior Shayda Shokooh received before she turned 1 years old was a rabbit Build-A-Bear, which can still be found among her things in her college apartment.
Shokooh’s fondness of rabbits has stayed with her since she was a child, attempting to catch the rabbits in her own backyard. Now, she has one tattooed on her bicep. While not being a self proclaimed superstitious person, Shokooh is a big believer in karma, inspiring the first word of her DJ name.
“Originally I was interested in the idea of it being a rabbit’s foot type thing, but I didn’t really want to have foot in my DJ name, so I went with Lucky Rabbit because it gives a similar energy,” Shokooh said. “Rabbits are just kind of my thing, they are kind of my brand, I mean I have one tattooed on my arm.”
Mezcalita
What senior journalism major Adilene Gomez wanted as her name was one that was deeply rooted in her culture, which is kind of a pun, now after her decision. Gomez lived in Mexico for multiple years as a kid in the town of Santiago Matatlán, where her parents are from. It is a small town, but not when it comes to producing mezcal, Gomez said.
She focused on having the word “mezcal” as her disc jockey name to pay tribute to her family ties, and to her grandpa who had just passed at the time. To add a feminine touch in homage to the many hard working women in her family that help produce mezcal, Gomez added “ita” to it.
“I was thinking of combining the word mezcal into my name somehow just because specifically that’s what all of my family from my mom’s side does and it’s mainly actually only the women [that manufacture mezcal],” Gomez said.
Lady Creedence
Back in Angie Stevens’ hometown, the journalism junior grew up with her parents filling their home full of tunes off of their record player. One band always in the rotation was Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Her family, passionate about music, was elated to hear the news that their daughter was hired as a disc jockey. Her father, a retired lawyer and avid painter, kickstarted a DJ name brainstorm over lunch one afternoon, and by the time they left the table, Stevens’ signature name was born.
“I just mentioned lady because I thought lady went good with a lot of things and then he just brought up Creedence and we thought it was just a cool little blend,” Stevens said.
Madi-Ree
Becoming a DJ as a freshman carried even more weight for now environmental management and protection junior Madeleine Colbert as she knew the name she picked for her alter ego was going to stay with her for the next four years. Colorado native Colbert felt homesick, having recently left her hometown of Fort Collins, over 1,000 miles away. Her family, she said, remained in her mind as she picked her name.
Colbert said she was named after her grandma and her middle name, Marie, is the name of her great grandmothers on both sides. After much thought, her childhood nickname, Mads-Marie, which her parents called her by, became the springboard to which she revamped it to Madi-Ree.
“I kind of just want to honor important people in my life, my grandmother is a really great pianist,” Colbert said. “I would love to honor all of us in my name, and so I was like, what’s something a little bit cooler than Mads-Marie, and I was like okay Madi-Ree.”
La Sirena
Journalism junior Fiona Hastings said she wanted her DJ name to symbolize who she was while also representing her Mexican culture.
Hastings grew up playing the traditional Mexican board game called lotería, with its iconic card drawings of a wide range of things. She also had a childhood affinity with mermaids and loved watching mermaid movies growing up –– with “Aquamarine” as her favorite. A light-bulb idea arose when she thought about fusing the two to create the name she would speak into the microphone every week during her DJ sets.
“There’s a card [in lotería] called La Sirena and I thought it would be cool because I played that game growing up and I liked mermaids so I wanted to combine it,” Hastings said.
Curious about the stories behind the names of other KCPR DJs? Tune in to their shows, give them a call and uncover the origins yourself. Check out the winter quarter schedule here.
